The Glossy Podcast

The Vogue September issue is the most important issue of the year for the storied fashion magazine. And this year's edition is the first one published under the new direction of Chloe Malle, head of editorial content, who took over for the legendary Anna Wintour last September.

On the Glossy Podcast this week, hosts senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff take a look at Malle's first September issue and break down some of the ways that both Vogue and the larger fashion media industry have evolved.

Chief among those changes is that print magazines are no longer the primary source of style information for the vast majority of fashion enthusiasts. The September issue of old was a bellwether for trends, informing the public about what was in style now and coming down the pipeline. But print can't compete with the speed of online publishing, where much of that timely trend analysis has moved, meaning that print has to be more timeless.

The result is a sometimes contradictory product, full of ads for brands that are hot right now, but with editorial content that feels detached from the fashion business.

"It's interesting that Chloe Malle is coming from a digital background," Manoff said. "I was a Vogue subscriber for years, and I used to read things that were buzzy and new. This issue had stories about improving your mood with Botox or one about the dangers of clenching your jaw. I was just like, 'What am I reading here?'"

"A lot of it doesn't feel very timely," Parisi said. "Part of that is that people are more likely to buy print magazines today as a collector's item, as a coffee table book. That's why you see so many of those commemorative issues of random magazines in the grocery store aisle. They're not meant to give you timely information, which has all moved online."

The hosts also discuss the cover story, featuring Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere, two children of famous parents, and the connection to Chloe Malle, herself the daughter of actress Candice Bergen and filmmaker Louis Malle. The issue ties the theme of children of famous parents to the many designers who have taken over at legacy fashion houses in the last year.

And the September issue would be nothing without the clothes. This issue continues a trend in fashion editorial of single-brand looks.

"We've definitely moved away from the stylist-driven looks, which haven't been the norm for a while," Manoff said. "I like when you see 'stylist-owned ball cap' or 'vintage jeans' in the credits. It's unfortunate that that's gone, because that is very inspiring to me. When you see a head-to-toe look that's all one brand, you're not getting ideas on how to style it. Nobody dresses that way."

On this week’s Glossy Podcast, international fashion reporter Zofia Zwieglinska joins senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi to explain who Mike Ashley is, why the Harvey Nichols deal matters and how Frasers is gaining influence across the fashion industry.

It started with the Palantir chore coat. Then it was the Anthropic "thinking cap." Now, OpenAI has its own regular merch drops through its apparel arm, Supply Co.

Over the last year, big tech and AI companies have started to get into the fashion game, releasing streetwear-inspired drops, hiring people into roles like "head of vibes" and opening pop-up shops to show off their merch.

The reaction has been split. Many in the fashion community have lambasted these releases, calling them inauthentic and using fashion as a means of reputation laundering. Many of the companies involved, particularly Palantir, have been widely criticized for reasons including their environmental impact, unethical data acquisition models or contributions to mass surveillance.

Highsnobiety style writer Chris Erik Thomas joined the Glossy Podcast this week to discuss why these companies are entering the fashion game and why the reaction from streetwear communities has been so negative.

Copenhagen Fashion Week has spent the past two decades growing from a regional trade event into fashion’s unofficial fifth city. Along the way, it helped define the Scandi aesthetic, pioneered sustainability requirements that have influenced fashion weeks around the world and launched brands including Ganni, Cecilie Bahnsen and Saks Potts onto the global stage.

But as many of its biggest success stories move to Paris, what comes next?

This week, Glossy international fashion reporter Zofia Zwieglinska is joined by fashion editor and broadcaster Natalie Salmon to discuss Copenhagen’s rise, the legacy of the “Scandi girl,” the evolution of Ganni, why editors increasingly prioritize the week and what the next 20 years could look like.

Method dressing is once again dominating the red carpet.

At the Los Angeles premiere of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” on July 27, Zendaya arrived in an Ashi Studio fall 2026 gown with a plunging neckline framed by sculptural elements resembling a spider’s appendages. Three days later, she and longtime stylist Law Roach continued the narrative at the film’s London premiere with a cream Tamara Ralph couture gown traced with metallic, web-like lines.

The London look was finished with a diamond-encrusted gold spider brooch by couture jewelry designer Keren Wolf, placed at the base of Zendaya’s back. The piece was originally created to form part of a spiderweb headpiece designed by Shani Dvorkin with Wolf, before being reworked as an embellishment for the gown. Tom Holland joined in with an articulated spider brooch by British jeweler Pragnell, worn on the knot of his tie.

The appearances were the latest demonstration of the red-carpet strategy Zendaya and Roach have helped turn into an entertainment-marketing event of its own, from “Dune” to “The Odyssey”. Instead of treating each premiere as an isolated fashion moment, they build a visual world across photocalls, press events and carpets, giving fans another reference to identify and circulate with every appearance.

During the current “Spider-Man” tour, that has included a vintage Giorgio Armani dress covered in silver cobwebs at the film’s Rome premiere on June 23 and a $34.99 vintage Spider-Man T-shirt sourced on eBay for a Paris photocall two days later. The pair have simultaneously been promoting Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” shifting between literal spider references and contemporary interpretations of Greek dress.

But as increasingly recognizable references become a fixture of movie promotion, celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger believes the most successful looks should not resemble costumes.

Erlanger, whose clients include Lupita Nyong’o and Meryl Streep, prefers the term “meta dressing”: using colors, silhouettes and more discreet cultural references to connect an actor’s wardrobe to a project without overwhelming the person wearing it.

“For me, it hasn’t always felt like it has to be that literal,” Erlanger said on the Glossy Podcast this week. “I like the idea of referencing a character, or referencing a film, a moment, a dialogue or a period in time, without it having to feel gimmicky or obvious.”

Erlanger used that approach while styling Nyong’o, who plays Helen of Troy, for “The Odyssey” press tour. At the film’s London premiere on July 6, Nyong’o wore a silver Christian Cowan gown with a relatively restrained silhouette from the front, but deep sculptural cutouts beneath the arms that revealed her figure from the side.

Rather than reaching for an overtly Grecian chiffon dress, Erlanger wanted the look to communicate Helen’s legendary beauty more indirectly.

“She’s playing Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world,” Erlanger said. “You don’t need a lot of clothing or a whole lot of look when it’s about who the woman wearing the dress is and how she stands on her own.”

Erlanger had limited information when she began working on the wardrobe. Nolan is known for keeping his films private, while Nyong’o initially disclosed little beyond the identity of her character. Erlanger instead drew from Homer’s poem, Greek mythology and her own interpretation of Helen.

For an earlier New York appearance, Nyong’o wore a custom Sally LaPointe look with ostrich feathers. The idea was developed by Erlanger and Nyong’o as a reference to the story that Helen was born after Zeus took the form of a swan.

“If you know, you know,” Erlanger said. “Lovers of the book and Greek mythology might be able to pick up on that.”

The outfit still worked independently for audiences unfamiliar with the reference, which is central to Erlanger’s distinction between meta dressing and simply recreating a film’s costume.

She applied the same thinking while styling Streep during the press tour for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” At an April 12 event in Shanghai, Streep wore a cobalt-blue Saint Laurent military-inspired coat dress with oversized sunglasses, subtly recalling both Miranda Priestly and the original film’s famous cerulean monologue.

In the speech, Priestly describes cerulean military jackets supposedly shown by Yves Saint Laurent before the color filtered down through the fashion system. The collection described in the screenplay never actually existed, making Streep’s coat what Erlanger called “a reference within a reference.”

“If you were paying attention, you would pick up on these kinds of things,” she said.

Social media has made such details increasingly valuable. An obscure reference decoded by fans can become a viral post, generating attention for the actor, stylist, designer and film simultaneously.

It has also brought stylists themselves out from behind the scenes. Erlanger said their work now extends far beyond choosing attractive clothes, encompassing public-image management, brand exposure and the strategic positioning of clients.

“We are responsible for shaping the public image of some of the biggest names in entertainment,” she said. “There’s a whole business to all of it.”