Fashion People — “Leandra’s Theory of Everything”

Host: Lauren Sherman
Guest: Leandra Medine Cohen
Date: October 21, 2025

Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Lauren Sherman sits down with fashion writer and entrepreneur Leandra Medine Cohen for an incisive, free-ranging conversation covering Leandra’s new Swedish Stockings tights collaboration, the contemporary state of fashion and design partnerships, Hermes’s secret to stability amid big changes, and what recent red carpets reveal about personal style. Expect sharp insights, practical lessons, and vibrant fashion banter.

Major Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Style, Dresses, and “Breakthrough Points”

• Both Lauren and Leandra share a reluctance to wear dresses, feeling that dresses can be more “armor” than personal expression:
  • Leandra: “I find it really hard to find a breakthrough point with dresses. They just feel like armor.” (09:25)
  • She explains “breakthrough points”—the moments in an outfit that reveal personality or “humanness” (09:07).
• Tights, in Leandra’s view, create an opportunity for breakthrough:
  • “I did a whole newsletter about tights being the main event of an outfit...it would actually be amazing to create a complete collection of tights that feel like they can be an outfit centerpiece.” (11:18)

2. Leandra’s Collaboration with Swedish Stockings

• Leandra was already organically a fan, attracted to their subtle compression and comfort.
• The collection seeks to make tights an “outfit centerpiece,” challenging their typical role as functional/hygienic/everyday—or only holiday-wear.
• Design details: Opaque dove gray with silver shine (“dirty snowflake twinkling in the sun”), red shiny, sheer white—each with styling flexibility.
• Notable Moment: Lauren notes that even in LA, "the idea of wearing tights even when it's kind of chilly would be...kind of feel crazy here." (14:42)

3. The State of Collaborations in Fashion (and Why They Work)

• Leandra feels collaborations succeed because of “the energy burst” that comes from merging two creative visions—far more than simple marketing.
  • “There’s something that is, like, almost more fulfilling about the challenge of finding, like, creative expansion after all of those nos have been, like, deployed.” (18:53)
• Essential Insight: Tension is necessary—a sense of creative pushback ensures substance.
  • Lauren: “When there’s no tension in a project, you can tell and...not as successful. Tension is what makes the thing good.” (19:13)
• Stylists, Leandra argues, play a vital analogous role inside brands: “You need a second set of eyes that are different...to spin [the clothes] into something else.” (20:09)

4. Hermès: Change Without Drama

• Lauren details visiting Hermès’s Nashville store opening—a carefully considered, drama-free operation despite concurrent leadership changes.
  • “There is change and we move on and we do the next thing...They operate from a place of practicality.” (29:12)
• Reflection on how Hermès maintains stability and creativity by treating designers as focused collection-makers rather than business managers.
  • “Someone designs a collection, they should not be responsible for the profits of the entire business for the next 20 years. The collection needs to sort of enhance the rest of the business.” (32:56)

5. Changing Silhouettes and Desire for Authenticity

• Style is visibly changing: silhouettes are moving downward (low-rise, heavier belts over silk), and there’s a shift in cravings—less about trends, more about authenticity and “the original thing.” (24:40, 40:03)
• Leandra: “I'm kind of like, just gimme the pants, give me the shirt...then I’m gonna be thoughtful with my jewelry. It feels like a yearning for more thoughtfulness.” (41:11)
• Lauren and Leandra touch on the cultural gravitation toward established, heritage brands that do one thing exceptionally well (e.g., Charvet), and a disdain for over-marketed, “fashionified” versions.

6. Connection, Clarity, and Information Overload

• Both discuss the emotional/mental toll of the fashion industry’s constant stream of newness and social media:
  • Lauren’s anecdote about losing phone access highlighted her dependence on “the dopamine hit of Instagram,” sparking a desire for boundaries and clarity. (42:34)
  • Leandra: “Being on social media necessarily takes you outside of yourself...I come back from these bouts of time off a phone and I’m like, ‘Oh. I’m like in dialogue with my intuition again.’” (45:02)

Red Carpet Review: Academy Museum Gala

[47:00–53:41]

• The gala, positioned as the start of Oscar season, showcased both custom and runway-fresh looks.
• Danielle Goldberg’s styling prowess, especially with Zoe Kravitz (Saint Laurent) and Greta Lee, stood out:
  • Leandra: “These are like real cool girls, and seeing them dressed for red carpet is...quite arresting. It’s the tension.” (49:03)
• Notable looks:
  • Emily Ratajkowski in electric blue Gaultier (49:16)
  • Olivia Rodrigo and Sydney Sweeney in Armani Privé (51:02–51:11)
  • Kirsten Dunst’s consistently killer Rodarte—“She is Rodarte. She really represents the brand to me. And she wears it so softly. It’s very tender.” (51:24–51:28)
  • Elle Fanning’s Balenciaga: mixed reviews, with Lauren desiring more “shrunken” pieces lately (50:41–50:58)
  • Noted a new red-carpet trend: “sweatshirty relaxed thing and a skirt” (50:25)
  • Shout-out to Alessandro Michele’s “very cool menswear” (52:12)
• Lauren’s “favorite of the night”: Greta Lee in Dior (53:41)

Notable Quotes

• Leandra on personal style:

  “There are no breakthrough points. I wrote a newsletter about...the crack or the opening in an outfit that allows someone else to see your...humanity.” (09:07)

• Leandra on collaborations:

  “There’s something that is, like, almost more fulfilling about the challenge of finding, like, creative expansion after all of those nos have been, like, deployed.” (18:53)

• Lauren on Hermès:

  “The way they operate is so...from a place of practicality that this was not going to be a big drama, no matter what.” (29:12)

• Leandra on clarity and social media:

  “Being on social media necessarily takes you outside of yourself… I come back from these bouts of time off a phone and I’m like, oh. I’m like in dialogue with my intuition again.” (45:02)

• On red carpet style:

  “These are like real cool girls, and seeing them dressed for red carpet is...quite arresting. It’s the tension.” (49:03, Leandra on Danielle Goldberg’s styling)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 07:59 — Leandra joins; weekend and motherhood chat
• 08:41 — Dresses vs. separates; "breakthrough points" in outfits
• 10:16 — Swedish Stockings collaboration: creative approach and vision
• 16:32 — The evolution and future of fashion collaborations
• 20:09 — The essential role of stylists and creative tension
• 24:40 — Low-rise silhouettes, what excites now in fashion
• 25:36 — Hermès’s legacy, designer transition, and management lessons
• 32:56 — Retreat to traditional design structures
• 40:03 — Why “the original thing” is so appealing; authenticity in shopping
• 41:11 — Yearning for thoughtfulness in dressing and purchases
• 42:34 — Information overload, boundaries, and clarity
• 47:00 — Academy Museum Gala: red carpet trends and style favorites

Tone and Language

The tone is conversational, candid, and insight-rich, with both Lauren and Leandra blending deep industry knowledge and personal anecdotes. The episode is peppered with humorous asides, warm self-deprecation, and sharp cultural criticism; both speakers are optimistic about fashion’s future, but advocate for intentionality, authenticity, and joyful experimentation in a world oversaturated by trends and content.

Perfect for listeners who want to understand not just what’s stylish, but why it feels meaningful to real “fashion people”—and how the industry’s biggest shifts are happening quietly, beneath big headlines.