229: On And Just Like That: They Wanna Have Fun

Summary

Episode Summary: Every Outfit Podcast – Episode 229: "On And Just Like That: They Wanna Have Fun"

Release Date: July 12, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 229 of the Every Outfit podcast, hosts Chelsea Fairless and Lauren Garroni delve deep into the latest episode of HBO's "And Just Like That," titled "They Wanna Have Fun." This episode combines sharp fashion commentary with incisive pop culture analysis, staying true to the show's blend of fashion and societal observations.

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**1. "And Just Like That" Episode Analysis

Lauren opens the discussion by addressing her recent life events, including her cesarean section, which led to the absence of the usual co-host. The conversation quickly shifts to the "And Just Like That" episode's reception and narrative choices.

• Season Shift and Audience Reaction:

  • Lauren Garrone ([05:10]): "I did not think this season is particularly worse than season two."
  • Chelsea Fairless ([05:39]): "There's been a vibe shift. People are starting to question the direction of the show."

• Character Developments and Plot Points:

  • LTW's Storyline:

    • The hosts discuss ongoing confusion regarding LTW's father's status, highlighting discrepancies between different sources.
    • Lauren ([06:03]): "Another thing, before we get into this truly bonkers episode is... Have you ever seen the Comeback?"

  • Michael Patrick King's "The Comeback":

    • They speculate on the show's renewal and its implications for "And Just Like That."
    • Chelsea ([07:15]): "I think it's the latter because 'And Just Like That' is still successful."

  • Episode's Central Plot:

    • Charlotte's birthday party serves as the main setting, bringing characters together and introducing tension through unexpected interactions.
    • Lauren ([10:16]): "Speaking of gaslighting, I just want to say that my TikTok feed this morning was filled with videos of clips of this episode being like, best episode yet."

• Guest Stars and Their Impact:

  • Patti LuPone's Role:

    • The hosts critique Patti LuPone's portrayal of Giuseppe's mother, questioning the character dynamics and authenticity.
    • Chelsea ([15:04]): "Patti LuPone, fresh from her cancellation... her reputation would have been tarnished like this."

  • Giuseppe and Anthony's Relationship:

    • Concerns are raised about the age disparity and potential grooming implications.
    • Lauren ([53:52]): "It is giving grooming. And I hate to put that label on a grown man..."

• Karaoke Party Scene:

  • A significant portion of the episode revolves around a karaoke party, which the hosts find both campy and ineffective in advancing the plot.
    • Lauren ([43:46]): "She was like, in another world. Like, she was like, transported to, like, fucking Narnia or something."
    • Chelsea ([40:56]): "I think that this episode did have good clothes, but they were on more minor characters..."

• Friendship Dynamics:

  • The tension between Miranda and Carrie is a focal point, with discussions about their evolving relationship and unresolved conflicts.
    • Lauren ([66:07]): "Which shifts, but it's like, at this point, Miranda has to put Carrie on ice."

Key Takeaways:

• The episode showcases significant character development but suffers from inconsistent plot execution.
• Guest stars add depth but also introduce questionable character dynamics.
• The karaoke scene, while visually engaging, lacks substantive narrative contribution.

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2. Pop Culture Insights

Beyond "And Just Like That," Chelsea and Lauren explore various pop culture phenomena, offering their trademark blend of humor and critical analysis.

• Anne Hathaway on Vogue:

  • Discussion centers around Anne Hathaway's August issue cover and the accompanying editorial.
    • Lauren ([69:22]): "This cover really highlights what Dire Straits Vogue is in."
    • Chelsea ([71:34]): "The color grading is really getting increasingly extreme."

• Rumors and Industry News:

  • Speculation about Jeff Bezos potentially buying Vogue for Lauren Sanchez sparks debate.
    • Lauren ([69:54]): "I don’t think Conde Nast is on such..."

• Fashion Shows Recap:

  • Margiela's Couture Collection:

    • The hosts dissect Glenn Martin's first collection for Margiela, noting its academic nature and polarizing reception.
      • Chelsea ([78:15]): "All of the models' faces are covered... it feels like corpses."

  • Robert One's Collection:

    • Comparisons are drawn between Margiela’s and Robert One’s dark, avant-garde styles.
      • Lauren ([83:26]): "It was like a little tiny person on top of someone's head."

  • Schiaparelli and Balenciaga:

    • Daniel Roseberry’s work at Schiaparelli is lauded, while Demna's influence at Balenciaga is critically examined.
      • Chelsea ([85:46]): "I don't think it's his best collection, but I think it was great."

Key Takeaways:

• The fashion world remains a central theme, with hosts providing insightful critiques and drawing parallels to iconic styles.
• Anne Hathaway’s Vogue cover and the ongoing evolution of fashion houses like Margiela and Balenciaga are spotlighted.

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3. Voicemail Segment: Jane Birkin Auction

The episode concludes with an engaging voicemail from roving correspondent Marissa Meltzer, who attended the auction of Jane Birkin's prototype Birkin bag in Paris.

• Auction Highlights:

  • The prototype bag sold for over $10 million, breaking previous records.
    • Marissa ([93:50]): "It sold for just over US$10 million, which is wild."

• Atmosphere and Attendees:

  • Marissa describes a cinematic auction environment with high-profile attendees, including celebrities and fashion insiders.
    • Marissa ([94:32]): "People were hugging strangers and getting very excited afterwards."

• Personal Anecdotes:

  • Marissa shares her excitement and experiences at the auction, including interactions and observations.
    • Marissa ([94:46]): "I was getting a glass of champagne a little bit afterwards and Tracy Ellis Ross was at the same bar."

Key Takeaways:

• The Jane Birkin prototype auction was a high-stakes, glamorous event, reflecting the enduring legacy of the Birkin bag in pop culture.
• Marissa's firsthand account adds a vibrant, on-the-ground perspective to the podcast’s content.

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Conclusion

Episode 229 of Every Outfit offers a comprehensive and engaging critique of the latest "And Just Like That" episode, intertwined with broader discussions on fashion and pop culture. Through sharp analysis and personable banter, Chelsea and Lauren provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of current trends and media narratives.

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Notable Quotes:

• Lauren Garrone ([05:10]): "I did not think this season is particularly worse than season two."
• Chelsea Fairless ([05:39]): "People are starting to question the direction of the show."
• Lauren Garrone ([10:16]): "Speaking of gaslighting, I just want to say that my TikTok feed this morning was filled with videos of clips of this episode being like, best episode yet."
• Marissa ([93:50]): "It sold for just over US$10 million, which is wild."

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Timestamps Reference:

• 00:58 – 03:52: Hosts discuss Lauren’s absence due to childbirth and the impact on podcast dynamics.
• 05:10 – 06:03: Analysis of season changes and audience reactions.
• 10:16 – 12:14: Introduction to the episode’s main plot and guest stars.
• 15:04 – 18:47: Deep dive into Patti LuPone’s character and her interactions.
• 25:03 – 34:09: Examination of Seema’s storyline and the implications of her character development.
• 43:46 – 65:22: Detailed critique of the karaoke party scene and its significance.
• 69:22 – 91:57: Discussions on Anne Hathaway’s Vogue cover, fashion show recaps, and industry rumors.
• 93:50 – 94:57: Voicemail segment covering the Jane Birkin auction.

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Final Notes

For fashion enthusiasts and pop culture aficionados, this episode of Every Outfit provides an insightful and entertaining exploration of contemporary media and fashion narratives. Whether you're a fan of "And Just Like That" or keen on the latest fashion show critiques, Chelsea and Lauren deliver a rich and engaging listen.

Transcript

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[Lauren Garrone]

I spent $40,000 on sh. What's the matter, Morty?

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[Lauren Garrone]

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[Chelsea Fairless]

Fashion has changed. No, it hasn't.

[Lauren Garrone]

Hi, I'm Lauren Garrone.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And I'm Chelsea Fairless.

[Lauren Garrone]

Ooh, feels good to say. And welcome back to the Every Outfit podcast.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, guys, Lauren is back. Back from the delivery room at Cedar Sinai.

[Lauren Garrone]

Back from the C section operating room.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. How is that going?

[Lauren Garrone]

I'm doing all right. I do feel like I owe the Fuckettes an explanation, because if I were them, I'd be like, lauren, if your due date was so close to recording, why wouldn't you have just pre recorded that episode? Or did you want to torture Chelsea and not only have to scramble to find guest hosts, but also film spawncon by herself?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, I have to say, that was one of the most dehumanizing things I've ever done in my entire life.

[Lauren Garrone]

You know what? That might have been the cruelest prank I've ever pulled. Except it wasn't a prank. I was not due to go into labor for a few days with your first child, I was told you go into labor, like, on your due date or afterwards. We were going to record this episode. I was so not about to give birth that truly, the day before I went into labor, the doctor was like, we need to book an induction because this is not happening. And even when I was having contractions Thursday night into Friday morning, I still thought that I could pull it together and record because I had read all of these stories about women that were in active labor, and then it just stopped. And then they had a baby three days later, but no such luck.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So how long has it been now? Like, how long have you had a baby? I have no sense of time. Was that like a month ago?

[Lauren Garrone]

It was a month ago. I have no sense of time either. And frankly, I have a little beef with the baby because the baby came early. Fucked up our recording. Fucked up force you to do sponcon on your own. Frankly, I'm surprised you don't have beef with the baby. And then after 30 hours of labor and four hours of pushing, I had to get an emergency C section because the baby was not coming out because.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Your pussy is just that tight.

[Lauren Garrone]

As we subsequently learned, the baby was over eight pounds and 21 and a half inches, which in baby terms is very long. And even my OB GYN was like, you hit it very well. So there was no way that that baby was coming out of me other through my stomach.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right.

[Lauren Garrone]

Anyway, I'm back.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, congratulations on your little bundle of joy. He is so precious.

[Lauren Garrone]

He's pretty cute.

[Chelsea Fairless]

He's very cute.

[Lauren Garrone]

I know I'm biased, but I think. I think we got a good one. I just want to thank Carly, Jonathan, Lauren, Patrick, Tat, Brock, Marissa, Gabriel and Queenie, who picked up my hater mantle expertly. I must say, before we get into the episode, in my absence, I just want to do a temperature check on. And just like that, because we pre recorded most of the recaps before the show aired, we had made a decision to, I guess not go as hard on the show as we had been for a multitude of reasons. One of which is, could we possibly say the same shit for the third year in the row?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, that was number one.

[Lauren Garrone]

That was number one. But number two was we felt that we had alienated a certain part of the audience who did actually enjoy this show and we didn't want to do that to that segment of Fuck ads. Now color me surprised to learn that I'm not even the biggest hater of this show. I don't know what it is about this season. I do not think this season is particularly worse than season two.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't either.

[Lauren Garrone]

But the hatred for this season makes us look like we are fans of this show.

[Chelsea Fairless]

No, it's true. There has been a vibe shift. I think in the beginning it was very much like we're happy to see these characters and we were giving the end just like that creators a bit of a pass. They were coming out of the pandemic, everyone went a little cuckoo. But I think at this point people are starting to be like, wait, what happened? Why is it like this?

[Lauren Garrone]

So much so that it is getting headlines like the commentary about and just like that has broken containment. And I really felt that way when Indiewire did an article Last week or earlier this week about how LTW's father was undead and now is Redead, which is a mantle that we have been carrying since 2023 for two years now.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I know we barely even talked about it this time because, again, we've been talking about it for years. This was revealed in season two that.

[Lauren Garrone]

The dad was still alive, played by Billy Dee Williams. I don't know if you saw this, Chelsea, but Entertainment Weekly then did an article in response to the Indiewire article, and they dropped. Not by a source, but they were like, we can confirm that actually it was LTW's stepfather who passed away in season one. And nuh. People have gone back and found the clip. She says my father.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, it was also in the pilot. She was basically like, hi, my name is ltw and my father died. Nice to meet you. Like, that was like the one thing we did know about her, aside from the fact that she is, like, fabulous and the queen bee of the Upper east side ladies.

[Lauren Garrone]

Anyway, I will not be gaslit by this show. Another thing, before we get into this truly bonkers episode is, and I don't believe you talked about this last week, the fact that Michael Patrick King's other HBO show, the Comeback, has been renewed for a third and final season. Have you ever seen the Comeback?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, this is really bad, but I watched the first few episodes and then I just, like, never revisited. Not because I didn't think it was fab, but it's one of those things where it's like, now I have to start from the beginning, but I think we're actually going to have to watch season one and two of the Comeback Now. It's a huge oversight for us especially.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yes. I have not seen the show either. And I agree with you. We will watch this show. I'm sure we will love it. But I have been trying to figure out what this renewal means. Does it mean that. And just like that will be getting canceled at the end of this season and the Comeback is a consolation prize to Daddy MPK from hbo? Or does HBO have such confidence in Michael Patrick King that they're like, you know what? And just like that is going so great. Three more seasons of that, and guess what? We're giving you back the Comeback.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I kind of think it's the latter because as I understand it, and just like that is still successful and it's still so talked about.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah. I mean, not for the right reasons, but Daddy MPK does seem to be the type of person who's like, any press is good press.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, also the comeback, while I haven't seen it, I understand the format of the show and it makes sense that it would come back again like this because the first two seasons were what, like 10 years apart or something?

[Lauren Garrone]

So it's the Before Sunrise trilogy of HBO shows.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Exactly.

[Lauren Garrone]

By the way, did you notice we're back to HBO Max.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Are we?

[Lauren Garrone]

Yes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Did it just change or do we have to update the app or something?

[Lauren Garrone]

We are people who never deleted our HBO Max app. I did not check if that just sort of disappeared like the parents in Back to the Future in the photo, but I think they just turned the thumbnail of the Max app to HBO Max very quietly.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right. Is it still purple?

[Lauren Garrone]

No, we're black now. No, no, no. That had already changed.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, I just wanted clarification.

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[Lauren Garrone]

Shall we get into this episode?

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's time, bitch.

[Lauren Garrone]

Speaking of gaslighting, I just want to say that my TikTok feed this morning was filled with videos of clips of this episode being like, best episode yet. We're back to Sex and the City basics. I've never laughed so hard. Is HBO Max planting people on TikTok?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know. I do not think that this episode was a high point of the season. Although I did appreciate the fact that all of the characters did exist in the same world. Even for a moment, it was deeply awkward and upsetting, but still that happened. It felt a little more integrated.

[Lauren Garrone]

The episode description is Carrie throws a party for Charlotte to lift her spirits, and when Paul saw that, he went, in what world would Carrie ever do this? So for those who are not watching this season, which I applaud you and and your dedication to your mental health, just know that this is basically the episode. And previously we have broken down episodes by character. There is no point Doing that for this episode. There's literally like three scenes and then the rest of the episode is at Carrie's townhouse because we must throw Charlotte a birthday party.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So this episode is titled they Want to have Fun. It is directed by Anu Valia, written by Lucas Froehlich, Lick, Lich, Pick youk Poison.

[Lauren Garrone]

Even though this episode made my skin crawl, I do need to give this writer his flowers. Because scanning his IMDb, Lucas has put in the work with Daddy MPK. He started as a post production assistant on 2 Broke Girls, then became Daddy MPK's assistant on projects like AJ and the Queen. Then he was a writer's assistant on and Just like that for the first few seasons. And now finally he gets a solo writing credit on an episode. So congrats to him.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, he's put in the work.

[Lauren Garrone]

Even though I did say out loud several times during this episode, I don't want to be here. Which is an odd thing to say when you are in your own home.

[Chelsea Fairless]

This episode starts with a scene with Carrie and Duncan. She goes downstairs. He's smoking a pipe, which automatically makes me like him because Aiden is so anti tobacco.

[Lauren Garrone]

The woman goes downstairs. So Carrie knocks on Duncan's door to say that she loved the first chapter again.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, the first chapter.

[Lauren Garrone]

Okay, so just the first chapter. I'm sorry, in what world would Carrie love a biography about Margaret Thatcher?

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's true. Like if this man wants to write a biography about like Mary Quant or something, like, she would definitely read that. But there's no chance that she gives a shit about this.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, maybe she does, because whatever rewatch episode we did before, and just like that started that Season 1 episode, at the end, there's this voiceover where Carrie uses the troubles as a metaphor between singles and coupled up people. I believe the IRA did try to assassinate Margaret Thatcher. So maybe she does care about this. I don't know.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Then it is revealed that Diego has broken up with Lily. Finally.

[Lauren Garrone]

Look, I don't want more storylines involving the children, but what was the point of this? They get broken up with. Or Lily gets broken up with via text message, I assume. I mean, she just looks at her phone and screams comically. And then it's like, Diego broke up with me.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, I did think that this plotline would amount to something more, but here we are. I'm fine with it, I guess.

[Lauren Garrone]

I mean, I think the craziest thing about this breakup is. We learn in the following brunch scene that Charlotte considers Lily the easy child.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, like what Has Rock ever done. I mean, Rock is annoying, but certainly less annoying than Lily.

[Lauren Garrone]

Clearly Charlotte is still holding a beef with their child. Because didn't Rock not go through with the they mitzvah? Wasn't it Charlotte who ultimately took their place in the they mitzvah?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, you're right. That was annoying.

[Lauren Garrone]

Charlotte's like, we're still paying off the they mitzvah. You wouldn't have. Okay, so they're at brunch, which. How do we feel that? Clearly Hot Fellas, the brick and mortar location is now the stand in for the diner.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know. I think Hot Fellas is something that I have appreciated in the past, but, like, they're stretching the material a little thin at this point. Let's be real.

[Lauren Garrone]

Which guest star of the episode, Patti LuPone, I think makes a very pointed point about.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, Patti LuPone, fresh from her cancellation. Also, I feel like we should note that she was canceled because of an interview she gave to the New Yorker which was promoting this appearance on end. Just like that. If she hadn't dared to play Giuseppe's mother in one or maybe two episodes of and just like that, we're not quite sure. I don't think her reputation would have been tarnished like this.

[Lauren Garrone]

So before we get into the Patti LuPone of it all, I do just want to note that Carrie references in response to Lily's breakup, which I guess is her first high school love, even though this seems to be a college ballerino. Whatever. Carrie references her first heartbreak with her high school boyfriend, who is not David Duchovny. Remember, that's her high school love.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right, Right.

[Lauren Garrone]

To be fair, she could have had a first love and then her steady boyfriend was David Duchovny. Or the writers forgot. It really could be either.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So Anthony is dressed because Patti LuPone is coming, and he reveals that he's very anti therapy.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah, I don't associate Italy with therapy, but Italian fuckettes. Let us know if that's a thing. Feels more American personally, but they are really giving Patti LuPone a lot of business. She's there to create tension between Giuseppe and Anthony. She is there to be some sort of avatar for Carrie of where her life might go if she stays with Aiden. I guess with. We'll get into it. My question to you because there's not much to this scene other than clearly Patti lupone and Anthony don't like each other. But Anthony comes into the scene very stressed out because he was trying to get really great flowers at the flower market and he Couldn't. The flower arrangement isn't of flowers.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's leaves. Yeah, but, like, gay men love, like, lots of leaves. You know what I mean? Like, if you've ever seen Jeremiah Brent's work on Queer Eye, like, he is getting those leaves. I don't know what that plant is called. Someone can tell me. But, like, that checks out. That's a legit flower market choice. I actually even saw those same leaves at the flower market in West Hollywood yesterday and thought to myself, should I do the Anthony Marantino special in the foyer?

[Lauren Garrone]

It's just a bit of business so that Anthony can be very blue and curse a bunch and then not realize because the leaves are so voluminous that he cannot see Giuseppe's mother. We should note, for the fuckettes who are not watching this episode, Patti LuPone thinks that one of the hot fellas, clerks, waiters, bread boys, is Giuseppe's boyfriend.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So clearly, I think it's definitely not Clark.

[Lauren Garrone]

Bread boy. Bread men. Kind of like medmen. Bread men. Anyway, clearly between the way that Anthony speaks to the group and the way that Patti LuPone mistakes a much younger guy for Anthony, that Giuseppe and Anthony are running some sort of con against Giuseppe's mother to make her think that Anthony is a younger guy that Giuseppe is dating. Which I guess brings me to the question, how old is Giuseppe?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I assumed he was, like, 27. Okay, how old do you think he is?

[Lauren Garrone]

I don't know. I had not contemplated it until this episode.

[Chelsea Fairless]

He's 14.

[Lauren Garrone]

No. Now I'm like, wait, is he our age or is he. Is he a millennial or is he Gen Z? I cannot tell.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think he's supposed to be Gen Z.

[Lauren Garrone]

All right, then, you know, we'll get into it. But I'm on Patti LuPone's side. Anyway, we learned that Patti LuPone doesn't like Anthony because she immediately says to the group, the lady group, you could call me Gia. And then to Anthony, she's like, you can call me by my full name.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Which is very long and complex and.

[Lauren Garrone]

Italian, which we won't begin to pronounce. Here's a thought. What if Giuseppe's mother wasn't Patti LuPone but instead was Amalita, and we bring her back.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I would love to see Amalita, but I feel like, especially after watching this episode, it is the guest stars that have completely made this season. Sheri o', Terry, Jennifer Lewis, Rosie o'. Donnell. It has been so long since that, like, I feel like I have no sense of time. Like, I feel like I've aged 100 years since we saw that Rosie O' Donnell episode.

[Lauren Garrone]

I had a whole ass baby in between that episode and now. Oh, we should also explain to the fuck who are not watching the show of like, wait, why is Patti lupone playing an Italian woman? Don't worry, they go out of their way to have an expositional line that is like, oh, actually I grew up in Buffalo and was there until I was 19 and then I moved to Italy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She can easily pass as Italian, though.

[Lauren Garrone]

Let's be real, 110%. And by the way, I don't know if you notice this, but her Italian accent sort of wanes the longer the episode goes on. I guess the more time she's on the ground in Manhattan, she loses that accent.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So then we get a walk and talk with Miranda and Carrie lobotomized. Miranda is officially back. We had a few episodes there where she was gone, but now she's back. And Carrie's basically like, I want to throw this birthday party for Charlotte because.

[Lauren Garrone]

She'S going through so much. To which Miranda correctly is like, well, what is going on? Is she sick? Are the kids sick? Is Harry sick? And I will say one of my favorite Carrie attributes is when she has to lie because she's very bad at it. And yet Miranda, because now she's lobotomized, doesn't take the bait. And instead Carrie comes up with a lie that it is not Harry who is sick. She decides now is not the time to break her friend's confidence, even with their other closest friend. Instead, she makes up, in my opinion, a far worse lie than the truth, which is that Richard Burton has an incurable tumor and has dog cancer.

[Chelsea Fairless]

My literal nightmare, by the way.

[Lauren Garrone]

Harry telling Charlotte not to tell anyone that he has cancer is fucked up because I feel like he should understand that doesn't include Miranda and Carrie. It reminds me of the scene towards the end of the series where Big acknowledges to the to Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha that you guys are the loves of her life. You know, a guy is just lucky to come in fourth place. That's why we gave Big a pass, by the way. We were like, you know what? You've been an asshole for six seasons, but now you get it, so you go get our girl. Like, I would hope that if Paul told me something in confidence, he would understand. Like, that doesn't include Chelsea, though, obviously.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And by extension, it doesn't include Tat either, because I'm obviously going to tell her.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yes, there's not telling your friends, but there is a level of Friendship. And it's been established that these three women have really ascended friendship into family for sure.

[Chelsea Fairless]

But I couldn't help but wonder, is Carrie ever going to tell Miranda and Charlotte about the fact that Aiden fucked Kathy? Oh, right, she has kept that in this entire episode.

[Lauren Garrone]

I guess I created a false memory from the last episode. Cause it's been so long that Carrie and Charlotte just held each other in the Walgreens. And Carrie was also sobbing being like, aiden, fuck Kathy. So we've got lobotomized Miranda on one side. We also have no fun Carrie on the other side. Because Miranda immediately Keely's like, oh, I would love to host a party at my new apartment. It could double as a housewarming party. Seeing that this is not a big Charlotte birthday, I. E. This isn't her 60th birthday. And Carrie's like, I think we need to like have a really big blowout party. And you know, I have all this room and well, you got that small ass apartment Miranda. It's like you.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I know the Miranda in this scene. I was thinking about it and I realized it's like this is the Miranda that we've only previously seen in Abu Dhabi.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, it really becomes so when she brings a karaoke machine to the party for sure.

[Chelsea Fairless]

But this level of enthusiasm we never saw in the first Sex and the City film or the series that started in Sex and the City two when she was weirdly excited about doing all sorts of touristy shit in Abu Dhabi. And I don't begrudge Cynthia, like with the dialogue that she is given, she has no choice to be like, Charlotte needs fun.

[Lauren Garrone]

Look, you can't accuse Cynthia Nixon of half assing it.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh no, I would never, but I'd sooner kill myself.

[Lauren Garrone]

There's something about this episode where it was like, Cynthia, you did not need to go this hard.

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[Lauren Garrone]

Shall we get into Seema's singular storyline, which is she gets eyelash extensions.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay. I feel like this show has really done everything in its power to sort of recover from Sex and the City two and how problematic that was. Yet this minute long scene manages to be both racist, classist, and homophobic.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, before we get into that, there's something about this scene that made me realize. What? Watch again. Just like that feels like. It feels like I missed the film Inception. Because in that film, to establish you're in the dream world, scenes just start. Because in dreams, there's no context. You're just there. And that's how this show makes me feel. Like Seema just being in the eyelash extension. Not just place, but like the chair about to get eyelash extensions. It feels like a mistake. Like, we weren't supposed to see a scene of her doing Eren the well.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Also, I don't understand the logic. It's like she lives on the Upper east side. She doesn't have her driver to take her downtown to go to her, like, fancy Lash place, so she has to.

[Lauren Garrone]

Take a dirty cab.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't get it. The best Lash places are uptown, like, the fanciest places that you could get eyelash extensions.

[Lauren Garrone]

And the lash technician has a point because she's like, well, what am I gonna do? Take a cab downtown? He's like, why don't you take an Uber? Where it's like, yeah, Seema, there's definitely a point between giving up your driver and having to take a dirty. In your words, dirty cab. It's like, just start taking black car Ubers.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, girl, get an Uber black. I love when he's like, I got three people waiting. Diva, period.

[Lauren Garrone]

Also, what are we supposed to glean from what we have seen over the last few episodes with Seema? That she's destitute. That she's some kind of Upper east side version of Marquesa Casadi.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know. It's really weird because I'm down for someone to lose all of their money for some reason. I hope it's Carrie.

[Lauren Garrone]

One of these six characters needs to, right? Are there six?

[Chelsea Fairless]

No, there's five now.

[Lauren Garrone]

All right, we're down one, which we're.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Down two if you count Shay.

[Lauren Garrone]

I don't. I think it was Patrick who discussed the casual classism of the show, and I'm truly unsure what the writers were trying to do with this scene because I thought that the joke. And I'll Put that in quotes. Was going to be that this lash technician gives her, like, crazy eyelash extensions, which, by the way, is not great. But instead, this young, flamboyant poc runs a what? Dirty shop that infects her eye, I guess.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Look, I've been on the receiving end of some questionable eyelash extensions, so I certainly don't begrudge them for making this a plot point. I just question the logic of why it's happening.

[Lauren Garrone]

I guess the only saving grace is knowing that if Kim Cattrall did indeed come back as Samantha for the show, they would have given this terrible storyline to her.

[Chelsea Fairless]

True.

[Lauren Garrone]

And now we have Charlotte and Harriet Bergdorf. This show continues to have the dramatic tension of a Disney Channel show. And what I mean by that is any potential conflict immediately resolved. Because this scene starts with Charlotte shopping at Bergdorf and we learn she is getting a bag for Lily. So she doesn't. What did she say? Life is worth living bag? Where it's like, I don't need this. If Charlotte was just shopping, it's like, that's what I assume she does when she leaves. Hot fellas.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, it's nice to see a scene in Bergdorf's.

[Lauren Garrone]

Absolutely.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Let's go somewhere fab. An iconic in old school New York.

[Lauren Garrone]

Especially because there's something about this season in particular that even though we've seen paparazzi photos where they are shooting in New York on the streets, it does kind of feel like they are in Canada shooting the show on soundstages, which is not true, but it kind of reminds me of the original L Word shot in Vancouver for tax reasons. And they would do like two weeks of exteriors in la.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, like all on Sunset Boulevard.

[Lauren Garrone]

Okay, so Charlotte sees Harry and is like, Harry. And he immediately freezes and then runs out of the room as if Charlotte can't see him again. Like a Disney Channel show. And then he stops. And instead, by the way, as this scene is unraveling, I'm like, oh, we know that Charlotte's birthday is coming up. He's at Bergdorf getting her a birthday present, of course. And then a woman dressed head to toe in Schiaparelli. Kind of the most exciting outfit of the episode to me.

[Chelsea Fairless]

What are the better outfits? I actually think that this episode did have good clothes, but they were on, like, more minor characters, like this woman who has a name. Bonnie.

[Lauren Garrone]

That's right, Bonnie and Harry. And I suppose the show is trying to make us think that Harry might have lost his mind and is having an affair, but because there Is absolutely no setup. And we are immediately in Bergdorf and that woman is in head to toe Schiaparelli. I'm like, oh, it's Harry's personal shopper. And guess what? Doesn't matter. Thirty seconds later, we learned, yes, indeed, that is Harry's personal shopper who buys stuff for Charlotte. Which again, I'm like, yeah, I don't assume that Harry would buy any of Charlotte's presents.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, why would he? Also, I love how he's like, do you want another Van Cleef and Arpels lucky animal dog clip? As if that's a reference that the average person would understand. I'm not super well versed in the land of Van Cleef and Arpels. I know, like, the major pieces, but I was not aware of these animal brooches which. Did you look this up?

[Lauren Garrone]

I didn't actually. What are they?

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's basically like etsy for the 1%. It's like brooches that are like little dogs and little squirrels and little owls and shit.

[Lauren Garrone]

To me, the more shocking revelation is the idea that Charlotte believed that Harry bought all of these gifts for her. Like, Charlotte, you thought that Harry picked your, I don't know, Carolina Herrera top. He's a partner at a law firm who's obsessed with the Mets. Like, he's not keeping up on the latest collections.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's true.

[Lauren Garrone]

Also, is this supposed to be a betrayal? I guess not. I mean, it's just a clunky way of setting up or I guess resolving Harry's cancer storyline. Because we learned that Harry told his sales associate, she has a name, Bonnie, that he has cancer.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, that is a betrayal because she wasn't even allowed to tell Carrie.

[Lauren Garrone]

Right. But I'm sorry, I'm on Harry's side because he goes, look, Bonnie doesn't intersect with our lives. Like, she doesn't count. And it's not the same.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know. I'm completely on Charlotte's side with this one.

[Lauren Garrone]

No, I did already establish, like, it was fucked up from the beginning to say, like, don't tell people. I assume he meant ltw. Like Charlotte and Carrie shouldn't count in this.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah.

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[Chelsea Fairless]

So meanwhile, in Gramercy Park, Carrie's hanging out with the gardener or the landscape architect, whatever we want to call him.

[Lauren Garrone]

He has a name, but I don't believe that this is his name. His name is Adam. Which Adam? From Girls, played by Adam Driver, I believe. I do not believe that Logan Marshall Green's name is Adam.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, we can call him Logan Marshall Green then. Whatever you prefer.

[Lauren Garrone]

He's the gardener.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So Seema rocks up and like, immediately starts bullying him. Like, why haven't you finished Carrie's garden yet? She has an infected eye.

[Lauren Garrone]

She explains it in such a bizarre way that her eyelashes started falling out. Which, because you get eyelash extensions, I've learned from you. This is something that happens, but I guess we're supposed to understand that she got fucked. Eyelash extensions, because they're immediately starting to fall out because they are infected. Question mark.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, I don't know. So he fishes a loose eyelash out of her eyeball in an erotically charged moment.

[Lauren Garrone]

His dirt impacted fingernails gets this rogue eyelash out of her eye.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Then they invite him to Charlotte's party.

[Lauren Garrone]

They don't have friends. This is something we've noted in previous episodes, is how thin all of the group scenes are.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Their only friend is Bitsy Von Muffling. Literally.

[Lauren Garrone]

By the way, who does show up? Breath afresh. So is this where we get the scene where Carrie's on the phone with Anthony and she reveals that she is about to go have lunch with Giuseppe's mother?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think that happened earlier, but we forgot about it. But who cares? She's like, I'm going to lunch with Gia. He's like, what the fuck? And she's like, we really hit it off. It's like when, yeah, this show is.

[Lauren Garrone]

At times twice the length of Sex and the City. And you're telling me, not showing me that in a scene I didn't get to see that Patti LuPone and Sarah Jessica Parker hit it off. I would like to see that. Also, Anthony does have a point, which is, why does she have that accent? She is from Buffalo, New York.

[Chelsea Fairless]

True. So they go to lunch somewhere fabulous looking. No idea what this restaurant Is if anyone knows, tell me. And they have a bit of a therapy sesh.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah. I mean, this is just an incredibly transparent scene where Patti LuPone explains to Carrie that she too, had stepchildren who hated her. And it's very clear that she's trying to tell her without even knowing about the Aiden situation. Like, don't wait for Aiden. But I'm like, I don't think the kids hate her. Like, Tatum and Homer seem to be very chill. I don't even think Wyatt hates her. He's just going through it.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know. I think Wyatt kind of hates her.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, but Patti LuPone is talking about her own stepchildren that were, like, actively sabotaging her relationship with Giuseppe's father. Which, by the way, she establishes that she was 21 and Giuseppe's father was 50 something when they met. To which she goes, in America, it was scandalous. In Roma, not so much. Giuseppe was born in, like, 1997. What are you talking. You're acting like it's nice. It's like La Dolce Vita, Fellini times in Rome.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So then Carrie puts in a good word for Anthony and is like, this is one of the most loving, authentic people. And it's like, Anthony. That Anthony? Charlotte's Anthony. Interesting.

[Lauren Garrone]

The one who shit on your no label vintage skirt suit that led you down a mental path where you had to wear a Vivienne Westwood dress. And ultimately your husband left you at the altar. That Anthony.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So the party is finally starting.

[Lauren Garrone]

Oh, I'm sorry. You did warn me that I couldn't nitpick as much this season. But seeing everyone else's reaction, I feel like I can discuss how weird the editing is. The Seema scene with the gardener takes place right before the initial party scene. And I know that because Carrie is wearing one outfit. She's wearing sweats and, like a cutoff T shirt or whatever. And. And then inexplicably, they don't show the lapse of time. But the very next scene, when Miranda walks in the door, she's now in that bizarre white terry cloth onesie jumpsuit. She's switched outfits.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Wait, Miranda?

[Lauren Garrone]

No, Carrie.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, okay, I totally missed that.

[Lauren Garrone]

I clocked it because it's such an uncari outfit. The white, what appears to be terry cloth jumpsuit. And the shoals. The shoal sandal. That I think is a Sarah Jessica Parker thing.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, Carrie did wear those on Sex and the City, and now Balenciaga is making them, so joke's on us.

[Lauren Garrone]

So Miranda comes through the door In. We didn't think it could get worse from that Marigold jumpsuit a couple episodes ago, but now we have an asymmetrical half long sleeve, half sleeveless silver lame jumpsuit.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I know. It's like waging war with her body. It feels a little bit like Cole's New Year's Eve section type vibes. And it's upsetting because Cynthia looks so great in clothes and her stylist is doing such a good job with her.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, this is where the Miranda that we had previously seen up until this point in season three completely goes off the deep end. Did someone order fun?

[Chelsea Fairless]

God, Miranda, those are.

[Lauren Garrone]

Wow. Gosh, those are very pink. Her favorite color. Oh, where do you want the karaoke machine? I can't carry.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Um, is not here an option?

[Lauren Garrone]

I told you.

[Chelsea Fairless]

You rented a karaoke machine.

[Lauren Garrone]

No, I bought it. It was cheaper. You said all out. Nothing says all out like balloons and karaoke. Isn't it great?

[Chelsea Fairless]

They have confetti in them. She's taking Wyatt's Adderall.

[Lauren Garrone]

Okay, I have a theory as to why Cynthia Nixon is performing in this manner. And I feel like there's no other explanation than there was a Mrs. Doubtfire situation going on where she had to be on set for the Gilded Age Anna, and just like that at the same time. So she's running in between sound stages, and she forgot when she was Ida, when she was Miranda.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's actually kind of a role reversal, because if Carrie came in with a karaoke machine, I would think Miranda would be the one to be like, hell no.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, I mean, Miranda up until Sex and the City two would have felt that way, correct?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. Sex and the City 2 is when they established that she loves karaoke and was the instigator of the infamous rendition of I Am Woman.

[Lauren Garrone]

Now, this is not a bad impulse for a storyline, right? It does feel like a Saved by the Bell episode where it's like, we got to have a party for Charlotte to lift her spirits. And, you know, Slater's got one idea for the party. Or, you know. No, this is more of Jessie Spano. Jesse Spano has, like, one idea for the party, and Zach wants it to be a different party. I'm sorry, pink balloons doesn't fudge up the vibe that Carrie's trying to go with. Like, what exactly is the esthetic? Or does she just think that balloons and confetti balloons are day class A?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think so. I think she just wants, like, chic.

[Lauren Garrone]

White balloons, which, by the way, and I'm sorry, that I keep invoking pop culture references, but that is what I'm here for. This is done much better on an episode of Friends where they're trying to have a birthday party for Rachel. And Monica has a very boring adult party that has flan instead of birthday cake. And then the boys just have a kegger next door, which is way more fun. Right, but that's the end of the tension at the party. Except for the fact that everyone hates karaoke.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right.

[Lauren Garrone]

Which. How do you feel about. I know that you enjoy karaoke. We did karaoke last year for your birthday. But how do you feel about like in house karaoke at a house party versus going to a karaoke place?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I've never experienced it at a house party. It scares me a little bit. You're supposed to be in like a dark, dimly lit shitty room somewhere and.

[Lauren Garrone]

It should be the second or third location of the night. Like bar, dinner, then karaoke. Maybe you sandwich bars before dinner and after dinner, then karaoke.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, exactly. So at some point in the beginning of this party, Miranda encounters the woman Carrie's manuscript and briefly reads it. When I first saw this, I was like, wait, is this Duncan Reed's manuscript? And is she going to like steal this or something and it's going to be like an issue? Or is that random purple haired caterer gonna steal it and like leak it on the Internet? That's where I thought that was going. Cause I didn't understand why she would have her chapter back already.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, yeah, because Miranda picks it up in this way and looks at it and reads it at least the first page very meaningfully. And then you're right, there's this business where the caterer comes in and then Miranda moves the manuscript several times within the kitchen. So I thought the thing was given, what was it, last episode or the episode before that her manuscript was going to get destroyed because Miranda yet again like knocks the champagne over or something.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right.

[Lauren Garrone]

And washes away Duncan's notes on Carrie's manuscript.

[Chelsea Fairless]

But no, that did not happen.

[Lauren Garrone]

How do we even want to talk about this party? Because nothing happens. And yet so much business happens during this party.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, I say we just go through.

[Lauren Garrone]

The karaoke ltw's gay slash musical theater middle child. I just want to bring up the fact that Lisa Todd Wexley has three children. This is not the daughter, this is not the eldest son with the girlfriend. This is a middle child that we have seldom heard speak until this moment.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And he gets on the mic and immediately sings I Dreamed a Dream from Les Mis. Actually don't we have a call about this?

[Lauren Garrone]

We do indeed. Because Miranda takes the mic away from him and is like, does anyone want to sing non French revolutionary songs? And this fuckette has a note about that. Hey, guys. Day one fuckette and huge musical theater nerd. Just calling to say that Les Mis is not about the French Revolution. It's about the 1832 June Rebellion.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, I know.

[Lauren Garrone]

No one cares. I do. So whatever. Bye.

[Chelsea Fairless]

See, I've seen Les Mis, and I thought it was about the French Revolution, although I was a child.

[Lauren Garrone]

To be fair, it does feel like something Sarah Jessica Parker or Cynthia Nixon would comment on. Like, it feels like those two theater.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Stars would be like, actually, yes, but again, another musical. We've had Wicked. We've had Pippin. Now we have Les Mis. We've had Jennifer Lewis. Now we have Patti LuPone. Like, this is crazy.

[Lauren Garrone]

Oh, by the way, guys, for those that are not watching the show, if you think that this karaoke storyline has a payoff where Patti LuPone and Sarah Jessica Parker sing karaoke, you'd be wrong. Why would they do that?

[Chelsea Fairless]

No, we get three songs from this middle child. He then does Grease.

[Lauren Garrone]

I think he does Hopelessly Devoted, and.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Then Copacabana, which they lost the thread with that one. Then Miranda tries to get someone to sing Girls Just Want to have Fun and it's really sad. Which. Interesting choice of song. Interesting callback to obviously a very iconic Sarah Jessica Parker film. But if we're going to do this, I'm sorry, we need Carrie to get on the mic and sing tomorrow. Like, if we're acknowledging that Sarah Jessica Parker movies exist in the world of. And just like that, we need songs from Annie.

[Lauren Garrone]

Right?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Like, straight up.

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[Lauren Garrone]

Who else is there?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, Giuseppe and Anthony. Patti LuPone show up. Giuseppe, I think, looks Fabulous. Although he does look like the little twink from Death in Venice. Or perhaps the boy from Fanny and Alexander. Like one of those, like, nautical children.

[Lauren Garrone]

I don't know if you clock this, but Anthony goes up to Carrie after going up to Charlotte first and is like, if anyone asks, I'm. What is it, 48? 53. All right, 58 is my last offer. So he's clearly lying about his age. Then he goes up to Kerry and goes if she asks, if Patti LuPone asks, I was never married. And then Carrie goes, okay, neither was I. What is this? Stanford and Mr. Big Erasure?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Wait, that's actually crazy. I didn't even clock that with Carrie. Yeah, why does she care that.

[Lauren Garrone]

Is that a sarcastic line? We'll get into this when Miranda and Carrie get into a tiff in a little bit in the episode because there are some interesting Sarah Jessica Parker line readings. I'm not sure if she was being genuine joking or sarcastic by saying that.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, Rock and Lily are there. Lily sad because she's going through her breakup. I forgot, like, Lily is a character that actually does sing. Not like I needed her to get on the mic, but I guess that would have made sense. You know, she could fuck up some Olivia Rodrigo song about a breakup.

[Lauren Garrone]

Maybe they couldn't get the licensing from that song. Rok does have a great moment earlier in the episode where they're essentially in what seems to be an 80 yard line. Get the fuck up, Lily.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, it was like Ariel. Oh, yeah, they called her Ariel. And yeah, no, I agree. That ADR was insane. Fully insane. Although, Rock, another excellent outfit, I think, worn by a minor character. Also, Bitsy is here. Bitsy looks great.

[Lauren Garrone]

A breath of fresh. When she comes in and starts talking about how she needed a distraction because her hot trainer is moving, I was like, more of this.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay. But they are giving us more of that. Like, I feel like we get more Bitsy every single season. Like, every single season, they give her another episode.

[Lauren Garrone]

Bitsy in Real Housewives Parlon. She's a friend of. She's the friend of that you want to be fully in the cast.

[Chelsea Fairless]

But she's their only friend. And why is she the only person that ever comes back?

[Lauren Garrone]

And again, do not want more children. But I would love to know how her daughters are doing. Liza and Lorna.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yep.

[Lauren Garrone]

By the way, I did know a gay gentleman, a very good family friend of ours who had Pomeranians. And every Pomeranian was named after Judy Garland's children.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, you know where they were born. Cedar Sinai also.

[Lauren Garrone]

And really, the Most minor of all points about this episode. But why is Carrie's townhouse so goddamn bright?

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's really bright for a party at night, especially a karaoke party. Like, you don't really want to see people in a karaoke setting, because doing karaoke and watching karaoke is shameful.

[Lauren Garrone]

I will say I did enjoy this moment where clearly the karaoke is not working. So Miranda, who I think is doing a decent job being the MC of this party, seeing that Carrie clearly doesn't want to host or, like, program this party, right? Miranda shifts into, like, when no one wants to sing, girls just want to have fun with her. She goes, girls just want to open up presents.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, but why wouldn't Miranda sing if she likes karaoke so much? Like, how is it that there's a karaoke sequence and it's like, none of the main girls sing?

[Lauren Garrone]

That is true if you are bringing karaoke to a party. If you're. If you've bought a karaoke machine, you would think you're the one that loves to do karaoke.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Also, like, we don't get to see Anthony sing. Mario Cantone can actually sing also.

[Lauren Garrone]

You're right. Instead, we get Giuseppe singing with Bitsy Bomb muffling, which we'll get into in a second. But one of my other favorite lines of the episode is Charlotte's gallery co workers. When they hear that Charlotte will now be opening gifts, one of them says, I don't get gifts for anyone who owns in New York. Which I was like, correct.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. That's great.

[Lauren Garrone]

Have we mentioned that Seema shows up at a certain point with an eyepatch that she's crafted from a Louis Vuitton tote bag?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Another look that I thought was good. I love a fashion eye patch. It feels very Helmut Newton, although she looks insane.

[Lauren Garrone]

Very true. Oh, we didn't even get into the fact that when Miranda picks up the manuscript that Duncan has delivered back to her, Duncan says to Carrie that he loves the first chapter of her book. Which I was like, in what world?

[Chelsea Fairless]

That was, like, truly, like, the most surreal part of this episode, apart from when Miranda says where my girl's at? When he's like, the woman is so alive. And, like. What does he say?

[Lauren Garrone]

Propulsive.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She's vibrant, and she's completely alive.

[Lauren Garrone]

Which, again, I get what the writers are doing. Duncan's talking about her, but I couldn't help but think, because I'm just so cynical, and I just don't believe that he liked her vomit draft of a first chapter that he can tell that this is auto fiction and clearly about Carrie and he's trying to bed her and that's why he's giving her so many compliments.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. It's so wild. Also, I was a guest on Sexy unique pods Patreon this week. Also talking about this episode pulling double duty. And Laura had a really great theory that was like, the woman is like Carrie's alter ego, like a split personality.

[D]

Ooh.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And the times in the show where she's like, not Carrie, that's when it's like the woman.

[Lauren Garrone]

I mean, she's definitely being the woman with Duncan while they share a scotch that she doesn't sip at all.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, she like kind of pantomime sipping it, but you can tell she didn't really drink it because of the editing or whatever. But, you know, it's good to see her having fun. I'm with Miranda, but we'll get to that later. Also, we haven't talked about another great outfit, LTW. LTW's poochie outfit. Perfect. I think one of her better looks.

[Lauren Garrone]

But her storyline is just being embarrassed by her son the entire episode. At one point she's like, I'm gonna have to send out apology notes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

That's fine. We don't need more plot from LTW in this episode. We got a lot of LTW last week.

[Lauren Garrone]

Also, LTW's husband, that actor was in Hamilton, right?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. He also sings again. So many Broadway stars in this room, yet none of them sing.

[Lauren Garrone]

Patti LuPone goes up to Giuseppe and is like, I want to stay. And he's like, at the party, because I don't. I was just made to sing the Shallow with this older woman. And she's like, no, I want to see Stay in New York. And he's like, I kind of don't want you to because you don't like my partner. And then there's some weird beef or tension between Anthony and Patti LuPone. And I just have to say that Giuseppe's mom has a point. Or at least I think her point is she doesn't want her young son dating an older man. Again, I'm not sure what her beef with Anthony is because it's never explained. Anthony just says something kind of shitty to her and then walks away. But I'm sorry, I would be alarmed if I visited my son in America and his entire friend circle were made up of people three times his age. And I'm not advocating that Giuseppe get a side character his own age. But in the absence of that, it does feel like Anthony is isolating him. It is giving grooming. And I hate to put that label on a grown man, but again, we don't see. We don't even see Giuseppe talking to Charlotte's gallery friends. That would at least be something like. It just makes it seem like Giuseppe cannot speak to anyone below the age of 40.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, he has to find some friends his own age.

[Lauren Garrone]

Which, by the way, this is so weird. If this is indeed Gia's beef with Anthony, it's super weird because she admits that she had a baby with a 50 year old man when she was in her 20s.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So at some point, one of the gallerinas sings River Deep Mountain High. At least she can sing. Although again, a random person to jump on the mic. As you mentioned, Bitsy Von Muffling sings Shallow with Giuseppe. But did you notice the continuity of the song, like, in that scene?

[Lauren Garrone]

No, I think I blocked it out.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It was like performed out of order because they said sang the like, you know, the moment of the shallow. And then it started back at the beginning in the background of, like, other scenes.

[Lauren Garrone]

If you were Giuseppe's mother, wouldn't you be alarmed that this is your son's life in New York?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't know. At least, like, that house seems pretty fab, you know, you could do worse.

[Lauren Garrone]

Oh, right. That's the conversation between Patti LuPone and Anthony where she's trying to psychoanalyze him and the reason why basically all of the hot fellas have like, dick prints, essentially. And she's like, you're selling sex. And he's like, no, I'm not. And it's like, she has a point.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, of course she has a point.

[Lauren Garrone]

You are using sex to sell bread. That's fine.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So Seema runs into the gardener in her eye patch. She's very embarrassed. He's flirting with her. He's disclosed that he's dumped his girlfriend.

[Lauren Garrone]

His yogi girlfriend, by the way, you're forgetting the fact that she just straight up accuses him of infecting her eye.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Infecting her eye. And like, continues to give him shit for still not being done with Carrie's garden. Anyway, just as she's about to leave, he hops on the mic and does a pretty spectacular rendition of Bette Davis Eyes. No, no, I'm joking. I don't think it's spectacular.

[Lauren Garrone]

What I couldn't understand is this man, Logan Marshall Green, is very hot and they have made him look so schlubby. His body language while singing this seems like he is jokingly doing it bad to make Seema laugh and feel more comfortable at the party, but everyone's reaction is like, this is good.

[D]

Good.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yes. I was very confused. I thought it was supposed to be good because we've seen this trope in many movies and TV shows and I know you never watched Schitt's Creek, but there is a very pivotal scene scene like this in Schitt's Creek that is actually quite affecting. And I think that that's what they were going for, I guess.

[Lauren Garrone]

And I know this was certainly not on the minds of the and just like that writers and producers, but who knew that this week was going to be such a big week for the song Bette Davis Eyes. We actually got a call about it. Who knew Bette Davis Eyes would have.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Such a comeback this week between Jojo.

[Lauren Garrone]

Seawall and Just like that. Also, I guess we finally got that musical episode. And just like that, regardless if we wanted it or not.

[Chelsea Fairless]

No, I Am Woman.

[Lauren Garrone]

I did stick around to the credits because I was like, maybe as the credits roll, we'll get Charlotte, Miranda and Carrie singing I Am Woman over the.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Credits with Seema filling in for Samantha. Yeah, this has been a big week for Bette Davis Eyes. And you know what? It's a great song. It's a timeless song. I don't think that either of these renditions did it justice. And while I actually really enjoyed the live version of Bette Davis Eyes as originally sung by jojo Siwa, the recorded version has left something to be desired.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, when I was listening to JoJo Siwa's Bette Davis eyes in the chorus, the instrumentation sort of feels like that Elton John, Britney Spears.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think that's giving it a lot of credit. I think the production of the song, it sounds like the Muzak in like a Ross dressing room, which is like, how hard is it to just copy a sort of like Jack Antonoff 80s esque production style at this point?

[Lauren Garrone]

Also, I'm realizing with the COVID art, is JoJo Siwa attempting to look like Bette Davis?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yes, but they really dropped the ball with the eyebrows. The eyebrows are what would make her actually kind of look like her potentially.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, JoJo Siwa more looks like our favorite Criminal Minds episode where the person is making live dolls.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, it definitely doesn't look like Bette Davis. But also it's like, I think JoJo could have done less with her voice. I think JoJo's voice is actually perfect for this, this song because it is so deep and breathy and like, kind of akin to the. The Kim Karnes original, but she was just doing too much with her vocals more than what is necessary.

[Lauren Garrone]

You know who was doing too much as well? The gardener.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, he was doing a lot. So Seema is not only, like, into this. When I saw her face watching this, I was like, is she rolling? Like, she was like, in another world. Like, she was, like, transported to, like, fucking Narnia or something. In that moment, you know, it reaches.

[Lauren Garrone]

An almost peak level of camp that I thought that she was gonna take the eye patch off to just like, get a closer look at him.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And then she makes out with him in the cab, fucks him in a.

[Lauren Garrone]

Cab, and we get the, oh, maybe cabs aren't so bad. And then the camera drifts from the taxi cab to another car and it lingers on another car for a few seconds too long where I was like, oh, is like, ltw in that car, like, yelling at her son for singing. But no. And then we are back at Carrie's still too brightly lit townhouse and we get a conversation between Carrie and Miranda that descends into a fight, which I did not see coming. And you and Duncan seem to be having fun as well. Kind of caught a little vibe there. Saw you across the room laughing and sipping his drink.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yes, I laughed and I sipped a drink.

[Lauren Garrone]

What are you saying? Wait, are you upset? I don't understand what's happening right now. We were just doing a fun little party debrief.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Miranda, I'm in a relationship.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, of course you are. I was just saying it was nice to see you having fun.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't have fun.

[Lauren Garrone]

No, Carrie. Not that I've seen.

[Chelsea Fairless]

No, she definitely doesn't have fun.

[Lauren Garrone]

Now, like the line delivery to Anthony earlier in the episode where she's like, ooh, neither am I, in reference to being married. I took the line delivery of oh, I don't have fun as a sarcastic line. But we were talking about this off mic and you took it genuinely that she.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, I thought she was like, I don't have fun.

[Lauren Garrone]

I don't think Carrie's self aware enough. Like the fact that you and I can't come to a consensus of whether she's being sarcastic. Like, oh, yeah, I don't have fun. Miranda.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, I think she was saying, like, I don't have that kind of fun. Like, I'm not like, flirting with random guys is how I took it. But I also listening to it just then. I see your side of it as well. I do think it's just very ambiguous.

[Lauren Garrone]

Do you think it should be ambiguous, though?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, I was a little confused.

[Lauren Garrone]

I will say that this fight escalates in a very realistic way, because I think we've all been there where we're having one conversation with someone, and someone's mood turns and you're like, wait, hold on. What's happening right now?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. And you're like, wait, are you joking? Like, are you actually mad?

[Lauren Garrone]

And as we learned, yeah, Carrie's actually mad.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Not all relationships are effortless.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yes, I got it.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I know.

[Lauren Garrone]

Joy and I have only been together for.

[Chelsea Fairless]

For what, a few weeks?

[Lauren Garrone]

A month.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, that's great. Aiden and I are over 20 years in, and it's. It's complicated right now. So, yes, maybe I laughed and had a sip of scotch. I am allowed to laugh and sip scotch.

[Lauren Garrone]

Of course you are. That's what I'm saying.

[Chelsea Fairless]

No, that's not what you're saying. What are you really saying?

[Lauren Garrone]

Nothing.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm scared for Miranda.

[Lauren Garrone]

Aiden and I have been going for 20 years. Have you? Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Like, weren't you fully married to other people for the majority of those years?

[Lauren Garrone]

Okay, the best I can figure, when they first get together. What do you want to say? They're together for 10 months. A year.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Also, hasn't it been more than 20 years? If the kid is in college and it was his 21st birthday, that obviously happened way after. Yeah, Carrie and Aiden started dating.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah, Carrie and Aiden started dating in 99. 2000. That's not the point. They haven't been together for 20 years. This would be. By the way, I was trying to think of, like, what's a couple that's known each other for a long time and, you know, maybe dated and then got back together. It would be like if Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, who, like, starred in movies together in the early 90s, were friends and then, like, got together in 2009. Were like, yeah, we've been going for 20 years. It's like, well, you've known each other for 20 years. That doesn't even apply to Carrie and Aiden. You dated for a year, let's say once. Then the next year or 18 months later, you date again for another year, let's say then you.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Maybe even less.

[Lauren Garrone]

You get engaged, you break up, you do not see him again until 2010. I mean, you run into him on the street, but you don't see him until 2010. You kiss him, you freak out, you don't talk to him for another 15 years after that. On 12 years after that, you haven't been together for 20 years.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Although I am on Carrie's side in the sense that, like, Miranda should not be bringing up her relationship with Joy at all in this context. They've been together for a month.

[Lauren Garrone]

And by the way, a more relevant point would be Carrie kind of referencing the Che affair and being like, I'm not gonna be like you with Che and Steve. You know, I'm with Aiden.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I mean, that would be a really nasty thing to say to Miranda.

[Lauren Garrone]

I mean, this is all pretty unnecessarily nasty. After this clip, Miranda invokes the woman. The woman. And Carrie has to explain, like, actually, I'm writing fiction now, so that's not even me.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And Brandy's like, oh, thank God. I'm so relieved. I thought that was you. Praise be.

[Lauren Garrone]

There's also this crazy moment that caps off this scene. Brady comes in and breaks the tension. Miranda tries to give Carrie at the top of the scene the karaoke machine. And she's like, I don't want that thing. And at the end of the scene, Carrie's like, oh, no, you're not taking that home with you. I'm going to take that karaoke machine. You leave it here. And then as Miranda is leaving, Carrie gives Miranda some leftover flower arrangement as if nothing happened.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, well, they had to move on. But I do think that this is all building up to a bigger fight.

[Lauren Garrone]

I hope so.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Why else would they be creating all of this tension between Miranda and Carrie in two separate episodes?

[Lauren Garrone]

Here's what is confusing about in Just like that. Because their impulses are correct. Like the clash between Miranda and Carrie that they've showed over the last few episodes. Them living together, their different lifestyles, the different ideas for a party. This fight could be a transgressive and relevant storyline about a lifelong friendship ending because you don't have that much encounter common anymore. Like actually showing what they told us was the reason Samantha and Carrie fell out. That, you know, there was this incident where Carrie didn't want to pay Samantha anymore, and then Samantha just stopped talking to her and their. Their friendship is no more. That would be something interesting to see for sure.

[Chelsea Fairless]

But that's not what they're doing. That's not what they're doing. But also it's like, we don't want Carrie to end up with no friends.

[Lauren Garrone]

She's pushing it there because it seems.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Like it's what she wants.

[Lauren Garrone]

Honestly, Miranda and Carrie are not us, but I sometimes transpose our friendship over these situations and it's like, who's who? It's hard to say.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Depends on the day.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah. It shifts, but it's like, at this point, Miranda has to put Carrie on ice in the sense that, like, if you spoke to me this way, I'd be like, you know what? I'm going to cool things off. I might not, you know, respond to Chelsea's text messages for a while. I'm going to live life with Joy for a couple weeks and maybe we. Maybe my friend cools down and comes to her senses. Yeah, sorry, we didn't even get to the fact that there's all of this insanity during the gift opening where Joy has gotten a gift for Charlotte that is CBD gummies for her dying dog. Because Miranda explained to Joy, like, please come to this party. My friend's dog is dying.

[Chelsea Fairless]

But I didn't get that either because it's like. It's not like they make serious CBD gummies for terminally ill dogs that, like, say that on the packaging. Or do they. Is this like hospice gummies? Like, I don't know. Anyway, that was weird.

[Lauren Garrone]

But that then causes Harry to finally pull LTW and Miranda and Carrie into Carrie's way too small kitchen to explain the dog isn't dying. I have cancer. It's gonna be fine. I fucked up by telling her that. She couldn't tell you guys.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't like the way we got there, but I'm glad we got there. It was nice to see Harry course correct in that moment.

[Lauren Garrone]

And then the final scene of this episode involves a voiceover, involves Carrie again in her too brightly lit townhouse as the party crew is cleaning up the chairs. So many chairs for so few people at this party, but whatever. And she holds on to Shue, and we hear the woman held on to what she knew to be true. And then she just keeps saying, it's fine, everything's fine.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Wasn't it what she thought she knew?

[Lauren Garrone]

I don't.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Who the fuck knows? One of us is right.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, also, who cares?

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's the same thing.

[Lauren Garrone]

What is true? The cat? Or the fact that Carrie's essentially just like, rocking herself in a chair, being like, everything's fine, everything's fine.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Wow.

[Lauren Garrone]

And then one of the glitter balloons explodes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Which I actually liked that. Liked that callback. Although it made me sad.

[Lauren Garrone]

Why?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I mean, I don't know. Carrie. Just the facade of her life deteriorating in front of her. You know what I mean? I took it to mean as, like, things are not as they seem.

[Lauren Garrone]

Of course not. Like, again, this show is incredibly transparent. I think an issue with this series in particular is as the audience we have More information than even Carrie. Yeah, Carrie is obviously lying to herself. There is tension with Duncan that she doesn't want to admit. She is alienating all of her friends, and it sucks.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. Anywho, we'll see what happens next week. God only knows.

[Lauren Garrone]

Let's get into some pop culture stuff. Anne Hathaway is on the COVID of Vogue. It is the August issue, which I kind of want to start there. I'm a little confused as to what is going on with Vogue, because the Hailey Bieber issue that we talked about was defined as the summer issue, which made us feel very sad that, you know, what used to be, like, June, July had been reduced to the entire summer. Then you had the Lauren Sanchez cover, but I guess that was just a digital cover. And now we have the.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, I didn't even realize that was digital.

[Lauren Garrone]

I believe so.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right, of course. Right. Duh.

[Lauren Garrone]

Or perhaps that is why, as the rumor is saying, Jeff Bezos is buying Vogue magazine for Lauren Sanchez. He learned it was only a digital issue, and he was like, baby, I'll get you a print issue. By the way, that rumor doesn't even make any sense. I would believe if Jeff Bezos was buying Conde Nast wholesale. But you think that Conde Nast is on such.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, that's the rumor.

[Lauren Garrone]

Right. But I've seen it purported as, like, he's buying Vogue for her. It's like, no, he'd be buying Conde Nast. Conde Nast would not be selling the most profitable publication in their portfolio. They're definitely going to make him take all the. The other stuff too, for sure. Anyway, Anne Hathaway's on the COVID of Vogue.

[Chelsea Fairless]

She was shot by Annie Lebovitz in Sarah Burton's Givenchy at the Met and in Central Park.

[Lauren Garrone]

I wanted to talk about this issue because I think it really highlights what Dire Straits Vogue is in. Because I enjoyed this cover and editorial so much. Mostly because it just reminded me of the Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Knoth, Vogue editorial. Like that era of Vogue where. Like that era of Vogue where we were like, look how bad the Photoshop is in these Annie Leibowitz photos. And why is everything so, like, blue and dark and gray? And now I'm like, I missed you.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, yeah, the color grading is really getting increasingly extreme. But, like, I think the issue with this is, is that we've seen all of these things before, right? We saw the metal in the Sarah Jessica Parker shoot. We've obviously seen Anne Hathaway on the COVID Annie Levi. All of these things are too familiar, right?

[Lauren Garrone]

You know what wasn't familiar? How bonkers this cover story is about her.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, the weird thing about it is it wasn't even so much about her. It was about this movie coming out that she is in with Michaela Cole called Mother Mary. She's in several movies that are coming out, but this film in particular was the focus of the article. And just the description of this film sounds so insane because they describe her character as a Gaga Taylor Swift hybrid who is in the midst of some sort of personal crisis. And apparently, like the defining moment in this film is a scene where she does a solo dance in a barn.

[Lauren Garrone]

Excuse you? A 13th century barn.

[Chelsea Fairless]

A 13th century barn. Oh, and also, most of this movie takes place in the same bar. I was like, I've already seen women talking.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, we should with this movie heavily, because it seems like it is heavily inspired by the bitter tears of Petra von Kant, which is a movie that we love. You certainly are down for a lady Gaga Taylor Swift pop star hybrid. Michaela Cole plays a fashion designer. Anne Hathway is this pop star going through crisis and their relationship together.

[Chelsea Fairless]

And Charlie XCX and Jack Antonoff are making the music for this fictional pop star. So I can't wait to see this.

[Lauren Garrone]

Right, but there's a section of this article where they're describing, I imagine, the climax of this film in this barn where the director, David Lowry, who did the Green Knight, is explaining that it felt like shooting Apocalypse Now. At one point, Annie broke down and said, I have to apologize because I think what's going to come out of me will hurt you. And Mikayla took her hands and said, I love you. I trust you. What is this? Us before we record an end. Just like that, Rika.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm afraid about what's gonna come out of me.

[Lauren Garrone]

I also think there's a very interesting tension in this Vogue article because the message of the piece is all about reinvention. The writer describes Anne Hathaway as a woman who is in a moment of transition, powerful, vulnerable, embodied in a new way. Only now she's giving birth to herself, and yet no reference. And I completely understand why there wouldn't be to the work that Anne Hathaway clearly has gotten done that would lead to this reinvention.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, but they don't talk about people's plastic surgery in Vogue ever.

[Lauren Garrone]

No, but I just find it interesting that it's so much about reinvention and how Anne Hathaway has fully become into herself. And it's like she is looking great. I have to Say she's got whatever. Whatever seemingly everyone is getting. I sent you Alanis Morissette. Yes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I have to say I haven't looked at other photos of her beyond that one that you sent, but I was kind of shocked by that.

[Lauren Garrone]

I do have to say friend of the show, Heather Taylor is the one who sent me this photo of Alanis Morissette at the Chanel fashion show. I think it is. If you have not seen this photo, Alanis Morissette has gotten the Lindsay Lohan treatment. She looks incredible, but truly looks like a yassified version of Alanis Morissette. Yeah, there is something going on, and it is very spooky. It feels like a wide swath of Hollywood women saw the substance over Christmas, did not understand the satirical elements of it, and just thought it was, I don't know, a blueprint, a handbook.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Look, I am happy about it because I hope by the time that I need to get, like, a whole ass facelift, the technology and techniques will have improved so much because of these pioneering doctors.

[Lauren Garrone]

Oh, it's going to be a face off situation where you're, like, back to normal. We could actually swap faces.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I'm going to look like I'm 25 again.

[Lauren Garrone]

Bitsy von Muffling has that great line when she's giving Charlotte her gift.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, we need to stop talking about it. And just like that, I. I can't do it. Also, when I was in New York, I immediately heard gossip from multiple sources that Molly and Danny, who costume and just like that, are currently working on Devil Wears Prada too. Although I haven't heard this come out in the press, so take that with a grain of salt. That obviously does make sense. Like, obviously, Molly, did Danny work on Devil Wears Prada? I remember Molly talking about working on it when we interviewed her. I remember she said that it was incredibly stressful working on that movie. But if this is true, congrats to them. But also, I think it's safe to say that Patricia Field has quietly retired at this point. If she's not doing that movie, because people think that she's still doing Emily in Paris, but she actually only did the first season of Emily in Paris. She was a consultant on the second season. In the last two seasons have been a completely different costume designer.

[Lauren Garrone]

Dani started with Sex and the City too.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah. You would imagine if Patricia Field was involved, we would have gotten that announcement because we got a bunch of cast announcements for devil wears Prada 2, which is about to start filming, and we have two sex and the City Guest star alums. It was announced that Lucy Liu and Justin Theroux will appear in the film. Oh, fun. So I can see Justin Theroux playing either Anne Hathaway's husband, or he's the new version of whatever Simon Baker's character was in Devil Wears Prada.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right, that makes sense.

[Lauren Garrone]

And I hope Lucy Liu is some, I don't know, moda operandi esque threat to the fashion magazine establishment.

[Chelsea Fairless]

That would be perfect. So shall we talk about some fashion shows? Because we have some noteworthy ones finally. That doesn't always happen for us.

[Lauren Garrone]

I've been waiting to come back to the podcast just until there were worthwhile fashion shows to talk about.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I guess we should just start with Margiela. We got Glenn Martin's first collection for Margiela, a couture collection, which I imagine was a lot of pressure after that last Galliano one.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah, I'm wondering what you thought of the show, because people online seemed to be gagged by it. But then reading critics like Cathy Horne and Vanessa Friedman, they seem just whelmed by the collection.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I didn't read Vanessa Friedman's, but Cathy Horne liked it.

[Lauren Garrone]

She did. But she did say these seemed more of an academic exercise than a resolve proposition. They didn't push anything forward, in my view. And I can imagine they must be bloody hot. A heat dome, which sounds like a woman who's staying at a hotel with no air conditioning during a European heat wave.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, I'm kind of surprised that there wasn't a bit more backlash to this collection just because it is like a second wave feminist's worst nightmare. Like the fact that. And obviously this is a Margiela ism, but like, all of the models faces are covered. Like they're in these very punishing looking corsets that almost like, aren't even there to emphasize the waist. It's almost to emphasize the rib cage. And they kind of. They don't look like people, they look like corpses or something. Like, it's a very scary collection. Like, I liked it, but when I first saw it, I was like, this reminds me of that scene in Silence of the Lambs where the coroner, like, removes like, a fully intact butterfly cocoon from like, the throat of a dead woman. And it's like, that's what this collection is. It's like death and rebirth. And it actually literally looks like models from the Martin Margiela heyday were like, buried in a cemetery for years and now they've escaped. Like, it's like the Thriller music video or something.

[Lauren Garrone]

There was something very ominous about a lot of these couture collections also. I mean, it's tough, right? You're damned if you do. You're damned if you don't. Meaning Glenn Martin was going to get shit if he didn't reference Margiela, and he was going to get shit if he did reference previous Margiela collections.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, he went, like, full blown previous, which Galliano tried so hard to get away from all of that and immediately introduce, like, a very, very different silhouette. And this was more of a return to the sort of OG Margiela isms that we know, which Cathy Horne makes.

[Lauren Garrone]

A point that I found really interesting about the couture collections, which is starting with the Glenn Martin collection, they will start taking couture orders, which was something that, according to Kathy Horne, was not possible during the Galliano years because the company didn't have the structure.

[Chelsea Fairless]

That's, like, insane.

[Lauren Garrone]

Well, it just makes you think that the executives at Margiela during John Galliano's tenure, we're like, look, we're selling so many tabbies with you. You know what? We're going to fund a couture collection that no customer is going to be able to buy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Super crazy.

[Lauren Garrone]

And according to Kathy Horn, for Glenn Martin's couture collection, about 30 people have already booked appointments. I would.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I mean, some of these gowns were incredible. I actually liked the plastic stuff in the beginning, as scary as it was and as much as it did remind me of that part in Twin Peaks where they find Laura Palmer's body.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah. I just want to get into. I didn't read Vanessa Friedman's New York Times review, but she tweeted from the show after it ended. Well, it's not namby pamby, which I took as her British way of saying she hated the collection.

[Chelsea Fairless]

What does that mean?

[Lauren Garrone]

Namby pamby is defined as lacking in character, substance, insipid, weak, indecisive. So she's saying his collection wasn't that.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Okay, so she did like it.

[Lauren Garrone]

I don't know.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, I need to read this review. Clearly.

[Lauren Garrone]

What did you think were some standout pieces?

[Chelsea Fairless]

I think it was, like, a trio of gowns that were made up of sort of like, iridescent, crinkly, twisted fabric that felt reminiscent of the couture stuff that he had done for Gaultier, one of which was worn by Jada Pinkett Smith to the Oscars. The infamous Oscars.

[Lauren Garrone]

I was gonna say the one where Will Smith smacked Chris Rock.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, yeah, I really liked those. And I liked that other Trio of those sort of like, comparatively simple monochromatic gowns that felt more like Rick Owens or Gareth Pugh or something. Do you know what I'm talking about?

[Lauren Garrone]

Right.

[Chelsea Fairless]

That was beautiful. But there was a lot to process in this collection. Like, it kind of was information overload. And it was like a collection where like 80% of it was, like, looks that could be a finale look, you know what I mean? Like, I'd be curious to see more, like, normal clothes, I guess. And obviously we'll get that from him. I think his Ready to wear is going to be amazing. But I like that he went so hard with this and did something so scary and so extreme.

[Lauren Garrone]

You know what? Vanessa Friedman was right. The collection isn't namby pamby.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, also, did you see that Billy Corgan was there?

[Lauren Garrone]

I didn't.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, he was a guest. And they played Disarm as the finale song, which was amazing.

[Lauren Garrone]

That's cool. I'm now getting his wife, who is a TikTok content creator, or at least posts on TikTok. And so I've now been seeing clips of their family vacation. They went to the Liberty Bell recently, but I didn't get a dispatch from Paris.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, I'm sure it's called because she was there too.

[Lauren Garrone]

All right, what other spooky couture collection would you like to get into?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Oh, yeah, I feel like we should touch on Robert One, just because, I don't know, was it scarier than Margiela? Probably not, but, I mean, they both.

[Lauren Garrone]

Are giving nighttime paralysis. Demon.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, the first look was terrifying. It was like a puffy silk gown with bloody handprints all over it. Very Lily from Sex and the City too.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yes. With the handprints on the Valentino skirt.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Also, the last look. So scary.

[Lauren Garrone]

I mean, the last three looks, which were all meditations on mannequin limbs.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, they all had, like, extra arms.

[Lauren Garrone]

Extra arms. The last look you're referring to, it was giving. And again, can't wait for the Every Outfit studios where we can visually show this stuff. But to explain it, dear listener, it was like a little tiny person on top of someone's head. Sort of like, you know, when the twin devours the other twin.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. It was like a headpiece of a tiny, creepy person. It was like as if the model had, like, had an abortion and the fetus was coming back to haunt her or something. Like, it was so scary.

[Lauren Garrone]

Okay. I mean, that's why I used. I tried to explain when the twin devours the other twin, but suffice to Say it's dark.

[Chelsea Fairless]

It's very dark. I think with his stuff, it's like. I think it works really, really well on celebrities. And that's. Who is gonna wear this shit? Like, this is for Lady Gaga specifically.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yes. This is for editorial. This is for Lady Gaga on tour. This is not for a couture client.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Someone must be buying it, though. I don't know. I just. I don't think I've ever seen, like, a really rich person out and about. I mean, obviously I wouldn't, but, like, even on Instagram or whatever. But he's certainly very talented and, yes, disturbed, I would say, but puts on an incredible show. Yeah. So speaking of adding body parts to clothing, should we get into Schiaparelli?

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah, I don't think we have much to say about Schiaparelli. I just find it fascinating that Daniel Roseberry and his work at Schiaparelli has sort of ascended to this level where he's just unassailable. Like, every collection, everyone is like, this is incredible. And it's like, is it?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, I think this collection had a lot of beautiful clothes in it, but the ones that didn't hit, like, really didn't hit for me. I don't know. I think it's so over the top. It's very conducive to Instagram, and it's obviously impeccably constructed.

[Lauren Garrone]

And we should say, for those who have not seen the collection, it's very.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Matador forward, which, as someone that loves the Madonna Take a bow video, I'm not mad at that.

[Lauren Garrone]

And I was reading through the reviews of the show because I was waiting for him to say that an inspiration was Madonna's Take a bow video, where he was invoking the matador in the video and Madonna in the collection. But alas, he did not. Instead, he wrote, the collection is dedicated to the period when life and art were on the precipice, to the sunset of elegance and to the end of the world as we knew it, which Vogue explains that he. And it's in the collection, reference several pieces from Elsa Schiaparelli's 1938 Zodiac collection, which she made just before she fled Paris ahead of the Nazi invasion. So.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Right.

[Lauren Garrone]

We can sort of understand what he's trying to reference with this, which I always have mixed opinions about when designers try to comment on the current political landscape through their work.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Well, it works for some people better than others.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah. Willy Shahria notwithstanding.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. But, yes, this collection had very literal references, like that black cape that has, like, that Gold sequin likeness of Apollo is like, to me, what I think of as Elsa Schiaparelli or is like, one of the most famous pieces.

[Lauren Garrone]

Right. And I would say that the collision between Elsa and then Daniel Roseberry's aesthetic would be what I would say is the standout piece, or at least the most discussed viral piece, which is the backwards dress with the beating heart right.

[Chelsea Fairless]

In the back and the tits on the back. I think the beating heart was overshadowing the fact that he's putting breasts on your back.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Also, can we briefly just talk about Cardi B's outfit? Because I thought it was pretty sensational the way that they just sort of presented her tits in this very extreme way. And the fact that she did this full stunt. I don't know if you saw the video of it where a crow landed on her shoulder. Again, your lack of watching Schitt's Creek is really fucking me up right now. But also certainly giving, like, Alfred Hitchcock kind of glamour.

[Lauren Garrone]

I did see it. I saw the video of her shushing the paparazzi. Not to scare the crow. The crow away.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Very campy and fun. Balenciaga.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Fairless]

People are hating.

[Lauren Garrone]

I couldn't agree less. I thought this was Demna's best collection and certainly his best couture collection.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I don't think it's his best collection, but I think it was great. And over his time there, he has really honed in on these highly specific, highly recognized, recognizable kinds of looks, which, yes, we've seen repeated in the various couture collections over the years. But this one had Kim Kardashian as Elizabeth Taylor in Elizabeth Taylor's actual jewelry.

[Lauren Garrone]

I was gonna say yes.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Amazing. And also, of course, Isabel Huppert in a turtleneck that just was sort of fused to her jawline. Did you ever see that Melissa McCarthy movie the Boss? Yeah, because that was the whole costuming bit with that character, that the turtlenecks were just, like, glued to the bottom of her face for the entire movie.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah, you know, it's the extreme turtleneck. There's, like, her walk had a laissez faire, French wine mom kind of attitude to it. You know, final collections are always interesting because they're clearly a meditation on whatever designer's time, their tenure at a particular design house. And so, you know, I thought the last six or seven looks. The dress portion, we'll say, was breathtaking. In particular, that leather dress where, you know, he's known for an exaggerated silhouette. But I thought that he kind of tamped that down, and there was sort of a subtle exaggeration to everything. But that leather dress where it was like the shoulders were pointy, it was a high neck, the tits were pointy, the waist was pointy.

[Chelsea Fairless]

So beautiful. Also, like that bodybuilder looking guy, like in a couture suit. I continue to find the casting fascinating. Also that, like, woman of a certain age with like a huge bouffant hairdo and like a white sort of glittery ostrich gown and cape, I think, or something like that. Incredible. No one else would do that. And also, Kyle MacLachlan was there.

[Lauren Garrone]

I saw that. I clocked him in the audience.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Tragically, not modeling because a lot of other people, including that woman, were in that Hollywood campaign shot by Nadia Lee COHEN that Kyle McLaughlin was in. But he did not model tragically.

[Lauren Garrone]

I don't know if you saw Pierre Paolo at the show, or at least I saw him a photo of him smoking outside the show. But I think what Demna leaves at Balenciaga is an attitude and a silhouette that has certainly redefined fashion, certainly what luxury fashion can be. It's also a legacy that there's no way that Pierre Paolo will be picking up and running with when he gets to Balenciaga. So I just think we're in a really interesting time in fashion where the house kind of means nothing. I mean, the designer has sort of outshined the fashion house. They're just sort of installed in different places every two or three years or six years or 10 years.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah. And it's definitely to the detriment of these brands for sure. But Balenciaga has reinvented itself many times over the years, so hopefully this next chapter will also be fab. But also, I think Demna said we're not getting a Gucci collection from him until like March or something.

[Lauren Garrone]

Until 2026.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, yeah. So this is the last that we're gonna see of him for a while. Another show apart from Margiela that I feel like has gotten an overwhelmingly positive response. Response was Michael Ryder's first show for Selene. If you're not familiar with him, his background is he worked under Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga. He worked under Phoebe Filo at Celine. Then after that he took over Polo Ralph Lauren, and now he is back at Celine.

[Lauren Garrone]

And so it's a pretty reductive take, but I'm going to have it anyway, which is this collection asked the question, what if Ralph Lauren was more French?

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, it does feel very much in the polo world, but I feel like he did a good job of sort of synthesizing that look that he had been doing, the Eddie Slimane era of Celine and also Phoebe Filo stuff here and there. Like, I love the way that he reinterpreted the Phantom bag and updated it and made it something that, like, a man would want to carry. I feel like everyone is going to buy those, or at least everyone that's in the market for, like, a $6,000 weekender bag will buy those, you know, and they should, for sure.

[Lauren Garrone]

I did see people writing that that bag coming back is a recession indicator.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Yeah, I kind of didn't think it could exist in this time period.

[Lauren Garrone]

Again, we just make it bigger and.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Pointier, but also, like, less structured, too, you know, which I think was important and smart. And he also brought back a lot of, like, the Celine stuff, like the poor man's Hermes look that they also do, you know, which I've never really cared about that much personally, but I feel like people will buy this. I'm interested to see where this goes, and it's nice to see people be excited about something.

[Lauren Garrone]

Yeah. I have to say, it was a really strong fashion week, and I'm glad that it was. Seeing that all of these models and editors and buyers had to suffer through what seems to be the worst heat wave that Paris has experienced.

[Chelsea Fairless]

I know it's sounded truly brutal. And on a similar note, while Lauren and I are done talking about fashion shows, we are going to leave you with a very special voicemail that we got from our roving correspondent, Marissa Meltzer, who is in Paris covering the auction of Jane Birkin's original Erbez Birkin. She is giving us all of the goss about this historic sale. And Lauren and I will be back next week.

[Lauren Garrone]

Bye, guys.

[Chelsea Fairless]

Bye, guys.

[D]

Hi, Chelsea. Hi, Lauren. It's Marissa, your Birkin auction correspondent. I am in Paris. It's just after midnight, and the auction for Jane Birkin's prototype Birkin bag was today. It was, I think, the first, like, real auction I've ever been to in my life. And it was thrilling. Like, I. It was such a rush. I would. I would love to go tomorrow to another one. I could. I could see how this kind of thing could be. I don't know, slightly addictive. But so, you know, there was a lot of talk le to Paris, as one says, was discussing, you know, who's going to come to this auction. You know, is Lauren Sanchez going to come? Are the Kardashians going to come?

[Lauren Garrone]

Come.

[D]

None of those women showed up, but it Was okay, because there was some random bag influencers, including a guy who showed up in a tuxedo and kept his sunglasses on the entire time. There was a man of a song certain age from Poland who is, I believe, a couture collector. Who was there. Carlene Cerf de d', Ozel, the famous stylist, was there and she was carrying a sick ass Hermes manjoir, the feed bag. And now I really want one. Who else was there? Bryony Raymond, the jeweler from New York. And then just like all those chic people who work for Sotheby's. Anyway, so it is kind of like like that Sex and the City episode or, you know, First Wives Club. Like, people are on the phone taking phone bids. You know, we didn't know what they were gonna start the auction off with. So when they announced that starting bids were going to be like over a hundred at over a million, it was pretty wild. And there was like a gasp in the room, which is so funny. It all just seems very cinematic, but it's true. And then it just, you know, goes quickly from there where it was like, you know, again, like a movie, like, do I have 1.4? And on and on and on. And then there would be a pause and someone on the phone taking bids would be like, you know, 3.5 million. And there would be like, you know, applause in the room. And then it kept going and going. And then, you know, it sold. For once, all of the, I don't know, like, commissions and stuff were said and done for just over US$10 million, which is wild. Catherine Benier, the former owner, bought it in 2000 for, we don't know, but, like, I think, like, around a hundred thousand or so. So she was making a tidy profit. And, yeah, I mean, it was just a lot of fun. Like, people were, like, hugging strangers and, like, getting very excited afterwards. It was. It was wild, like, to the point where I was getting a glass of champagne a little bit afterwards and Tracee Ellis Ross was at the. Was at the same, like, bar. And I was talking to my friend and was truly like, I'm gonna go say hi to her and just be like, hey, I've interviewed you on the phone. Or like, I use your hair. I don't even know what my idea was, but I was like, I'm gonna go talk to her. And he was sort of like, she's with her friend. Leave her alone. Which, in retrospect was good, but I was just high on fucking auction life. It's great. Anyway, it's a big deal. The Birkin broke, like, every record for bag sold. It sold for more than, you know, Princess Diana's sheep sweater. It sold for more than Carolyn Biss sets clothes. It's sold for more than Napoleon's hat. It's pretty wild for a bag named after a woman who is, you know, somewhat obscure at least, like kind of a cult figure in the US And England. But, you know, it just shows how big of a part of pop culture the Birkin was. And I think that Sex and the City, you know, that plotline of Lucy Liu had so much to do with it. So anyway, I feel very lucky to have been in the room. I'm gonna do sort of a larger. I did a little news piece for the New York Times that came out tonight, and I'm gonna do a much longer piece that should come out on July 20th. But yeah, I'm just here vibing with with Birkin energy. And I'm happy to be your correspondent. Anyway, love you guys. Bye.