- Text Clara Malley
- Design Jasmine Bae
Welcome back to One Offs: a mini segment on Day One FM, where we ask our guests to give their latest takes, gripes, and recommendations.
This week, we spoke with Lauren Sherman. She’s the chief fashion correspondent at “Puck” and co-author of “Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon.” We got a sneak peek at some of the topics she explores in the book among other things like:
The return of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
Why someone (maybe Lauren) should launch an inventory management start up for fashion brands and retailers
How everyone’s gonna try to copy Loewe’s zeitgeisty approach to product and social
Tune into the full episode below and scroll for Lauren’s one-offs.
Social niche or account we should all tap into?
I don't know if this guy is fringe, but I've just become obsessed with him over the last month or so. It's this guy Meech on Twitter. Everything he says is exactly right, it's so funny. He’s a writer. He has a newsletter. I should probably subscribe to it.
Offline-ish recommendation?
Please read “Selling Sexy” and buy it. I was just talking about this on “Puck's” recent podcast, The Powers That Be. A big inspiration and one of the books we talked about when we were pitching the [Selling Sexy] to publishers was “Disney War” by James Stewart.
If you're interested at all in Disney, it's worth reading. But if you're also just interested in Hollywood or the way corporations worked in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, the rise of cable television, and the decline of network news, it's like all in there, in one place, and it's just really well done. I just think corporations are fascinating, and there should be more books about how they operate.
What’s your screen time like?
I used to wear an Apple Watch, and it was much lower. The average is four hours, 22 minutes. Down 19% from last week. So I guess it's not a lot. Some weeks it's six, but usually I'd say it's between four and five.
Hot take?
Here’s one: you shouldn't do everything your kids want. Like, I'm not listening to a bunch of kids’ music. We listen to normal music. [My son] is very into Oasis. He loves REM. He thinks the band is named REM Essentials because when we use Apple, you say “REM essentials” instead of “greatest hits.” We bought tickets to see Waxahachie in Portland. He came to the show at 1pm with us, and it blew his mind. He could not believe that Katie, his friend who sings, was there in person, singing his songs.
So the point of this story is that—and I'm not judging people's parenting—you do not have to do everything your kid wants to do. There's something in our culture about catering to children, and we do. We do a lot for him, but he eats the same meal we eat every night. We do not do special food for him. He was like, I don't want chicken in my quesadilla. And I was like, “you know what? Don't eat the chicken.”
Internet gripes/crimes you’d prosecute?
My thing is when everybody reposts the “happy birthdays” [to IG Stories]. That drives me completely insane. I'm just like, “yes, everyone loves you.” If you want to say one thing, like, “thank you all for wishing me a happy birthday,” I think that's fine.
The other gripe is when people comment on celebrities’ posts who they sort of know so that you know that they're friends with them. That’s something in LA that happens a lot. A lot of people do it to Gwenyth Paltrow’s Instagram. If you look at her birthday post, I guarantee there are people you all know who have commented in a very familiar way.
