The Party Girl & The Chanel Dip

Summary

Fashion People Podcast Summary: "The Party Girl & The Chanel Dip" (May 27, 2025)

Hosted by Lauren Sherman of Puck for Audacy | Puck

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Introduction

In the episode titled "The Party Girl & The Chanel Dip," Lauren Sherman welcomes Parker Posey, acclaimed actress and star of HBO's "The White Lotus." The conversation delves deep into Parker's portrayal of Victoria Ratliff, the intricacies of costume design in the show, and broader discussions about the fashion industry, including the current state of Chanel.

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State of Chanel: Transition and Challenges

Lauren Sherman opens the discussion by addressing the evolving landscape of Chanel. She highlights the brand's ongoing transition under CEO Lena Nair, who has been at the helm for nearly four years. Despite significant structural changes, Chanel faced a decline in both sales and profits in 2024.

"Chanel is a full machine and will require something a little different from Matu Blasi." [03:15]

Lauren contrasts the previous concentration of power with Karl Lagerfeld's team, particularly in image and marketing, against the current more distributed operations. She hints at upcoming exclusive details in the next issue, enticing listeners to stay tuned.

Favorite Daughter: Retail Success Analysis

Referencing a recent interview with Sarah and Aaron Foster, Lauren discusses the success story of Favorite Daughter, a brand analyzed by Puck's retail correspondent, Sarah Shapiro. Sarah's analysis uncovers that Favorite Daughter's business is more substantial than perceived, underpinned by their extensive reach and strategic market positioning.

"Favorite Daughter is a much bigger business than you may realize and it speaks to their incredible reach." [04:10]

Interview with Parker Posey: Exploring Victoria Ratliff

The core of the episode centers around an in-depth conversation with Parker Posey, focusing on her role as Victoria Ratliff in "The White Lotus."

Character Development and Costume Design

Parker shares insights into her character's development and the collaborative process with costume designer Alex Bovaird. The caftans she wears are meticulously designed to reflect Victoria's Southern matriarch persona, balancing style with functionality.

"It's a relationship to the character from the outside in and then from the inside out." [19:15]

She elaborates on specific fashion choices, such as the use of Tuckernuck and Jim Thompson designs, highlighting how these pieces embody Victoria's opulent yet self-soothing nature.

"I got a bunch of shoes and some caftans. We did a little bit of back and forth to perfect the look." [20:12]

Impact and Recognition

Parker discusses the surprising level of recognition she's received due to her role, transitioning from indie fame to widespread meme culture.

"Yes. I'm seeing, like, someone in a cab lean out of the cab and be like, Parker, White Lotus. Great. Loved you." [07:46]

She recounts memorable interactions with fans, including humorous exchanges on airplanes, underscoring the show's cultural impact.

Philosophical Insights and Personal Growth

Delving deeper, Parker reflects on her personal experiences during filming, including her time in Thailand, and how immersing herself in a different culture influenced her perspective both personally and professionally.

"Anywhere you go for a long amount of time in another country, in another culture changes you." [14:20]

She shares her newfound interest in wellness practices like sound baths and Reiki massage, illustrating the holistic growth she experienced during the show's production.

"I got into sound baths, Reiki massage. It's a country, a kingdom that's never been colonized." [15:27]

Television vs. Film: The Evolving Landscape

Parker expresses her appreciation for long-form television storytelling, praising writers like Mike White for their ability to craft intricate, sustained narratives that allow for deep character exploration.

"This long form TV thing that we've got going to build a character and then to sustain was very satisfying to do." [17:50]

She advocates for more adaptations of novels into long-form TV to tap into diverse storytelling avenues beyond traditional genres.

Final Thoughts on Costume Collaboration

The conversation circles back to the collaborative nature of costume design, with Parker emphasizing her active role in shaping Victoria's wardrobe to align with the character's essence and narrative arc.

"What is the look of the family? What is this? Mike had an idea. He really wanted the blue and white of the preppy. The iconic thing in the yacht, everyone to have this blue and white." [19:15]

She draws parallels between her character and iconic figures from "Gray Gardens," highlighting the intricate layers of Victoria's persona.

"I have been reading about Gray Gardens. This kind of eccentric, moneyed, Southern projecting constantly of their own desires and needs." [22:15]

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with heartfelt thanks to Parker Posey for her candid and engaging discussion. Lauren Sherman acknowledges the collaborative efforts behind the scenes, including producers and the editorial team, ensuring the seamless delivery of content to listeners.

"Fashion People is a presentation of Odyssey in partnership with Puck." [23:16]

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Key Takeaways

• Chanel's Transition: Under Lena Nair, Chanel is navigating structural changes amidst declining sales, signaling a potential shift in its market strategy.

• Favorite Daughter's Growth: Sarah Shapiro's analysis reveals Favorite Daughter's significant market presence and expansive reach.

• Parker Posey's Insightful Portrayal: Parker's role as Victoria Ratliff showcases her depth as an actress and the intricate collaboration with costume designers to bring a character to life.

• Cultural Impact of "The White Lotus": The show's resonance with audiences is evident through Parker's increased recognition and the show's thematic exploration of affluent societal classes.

• Evolving Television Landscape: Emphasis on long-form storytelling in TV allows for richer character development and opens avenues for diverse narratives beyond traditional genres.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Lauren Sherman on Chanel:

  "Chanel is a full machine and will require something a little different from Matu Blasi." [03:15]

• Sarah Shapiro on Favorite Daughter:

  "Favorite Daughter is a much bigger business than you may realize and it speaks to their incredible reach." [04:10]

• Parker Posey on Character and Costume:

  "It's a relationship to the character from the outside in and then from the inside out." [19:15]

• Parker Posey on Recognition:

  "Yes. I'm seeing, like, someone in a cab lean out of the cab and be like, Parker, White Lotus. Great. Loved you." [07:46]

• Parker Posey on Long-form Storytelling:

  "This long form TV thing that we've got going to build a character and then to sustain was very satisfying to do." [17:50]

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Stay tuned for more episodes of Fashion People, where Lauren Sherman continues to unravel the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the multi-trillion-dollar fashion industry with industry insiders and notable guests.

Transcript

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[Lauren Sherman]

Hello and welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's Fashion and Beauty Memo line sheet. And today with me on the show is Parker Park Cozy, star of the White Lotus. We chat, Caftans, Mike White and so much more. Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope you had a great break. If you're in the States, if you're in Rome for the Dior show, I hope you're having a great time too. I can't wait to hear about it. I am back in New York for a very brief trip. Rachel Strugatz and I are hosting a Puck dinner with Tri Woodall of Trini London fame, but also of what not to Wear UK Edition fame. It's funny because I actually ran into Stacy London, who I love in Beverly Hills the other day doing a walk and talk with my therapist so I couldn't chat. But I love her. She's so great. I would love to have her on here. I should do that anyway. Very and I should have Trini. Well, we'll make it all happen. Maybe we could have both of them that probably not, but that would be interesting. Anyway, very excited for this dinner with Rachel, who has a big story coming on Wednesday as well. Earlier this week in Line Sheet, I looked at the state of Chanel, which is still in transition and experienced a decline in both sales and profits in 2024. Lena Nair, the CEO, has been there for I think nearly four years and she has already made a lot of structural changes. The way I describe it is that previously the power was very much concentrated with Karl Lager Feld and his team in terms of like image and marketing and all of that on top of the Runway. And the difference now is Chanel is a full machine and will require something a little different from Matu Blasi. It he just started a couple months ago. There's certainly more to come and I have some exclusive details in Monday's issue, so check that out. Riffing on my interview with Sarah and Aaron Foster on the podcast last week, our very own retail correspondent Sarah Shapiro looked at the state of their business Favorite Daughter and did a little bit of analysis about why it's working so well. She also Sarah also has some very interesting never before release numbers on Favorite Daughter. It's a much bigger business than you may realize and it speaks to their incredible reach. Today's podcast is a short one as it's an outtake from my interview with Parker Posey at Puck Stories of the Season event last week in Hollywood. I only had about 15 minutes with her on stage, so I didn't get to ask her about her outfits from Party Girl. I'm very sorry. If you check out Puck's Instagram, I think that Becky, our head of social, actually did ask her about the Party Girl outfits. So you can, you can go there, but you should also go on Instagram and to the account looks on screen, which is amazing. It's just about fashion in films and you will get your Parker posy Party Girl fill on there. We did discuss the costumes from season three of the White Lotus though, and Parker chatted pretty extensively about how she worked with costume designer Alex Bovaird to get the caftans just right for her character, the Chapel Hill graduate and Southern matriarch Victoria Ratliff. Thanks again to Parker for carrying us both through the evening's festivities. I would love to have her on here at some point for a longer chat. And if you are a listener of the Town, my colleague Matt Bellany's podcast, watch out for his conversation with John Mulaney. Also from stories of the Season. And here's Park.

[Parker Posey]

Welcome Parker Posey to the stage.

When you wear something like this, it's what you have to do.

You look amazing. Who are you wearing?

Thank you.

We need all the outfit credits.

I keep forgetting her name.

[Unknown Host]

Jody.

[Parker Posey]

Dora Aksu.

Dora Aksu. You knew it.

I did. I identified.

Did you plan this?

I didn't, but I think we planned all around your Doro Axu dress.

Thank you. Thank you. It's kismet. It's meant to be. I could put this in my hair and it would look really good. Right? How are you guys? Hi, I'm in Hollywood.

What'd you have for breakfast this morning?

Fruit and yogurt and very sweet granola at the Chateau Marmont. What did you have? And then I had tacos for lunch because that's what I do in la.

I didn't have breakfast.

You didn't?

No. We can talk about it afterwards. So first question is, how do you feel about being solely responsible for the largest day of Google searches for the word lorazepam?

Did that happen?

It really happened. I looked on Google Trends. We can fact check it.

Oh, my God. I think. Do you think a lot of people take lorazepam?

I think they do.

I think they do. Cheers for lorazepam.

It seems like a great medical miracle.

Yeah. But also it's a funny word which I. Which I like a lot. I looked on Etsy and I saw some merch for Victoria Ratliff because I was visiting my mom and I wanted to make her proud and show her all the things that were, you know. And one of the things says live laugh and lorazepam and there are these T shirts, there's like tea towels and they just say lorazepam. I'm just so happy about this.

You've really gone mass. You were the queen of Indies and.

Now I'm a meme queen.

So obviously things you've done in the past have had the same viewership, but does this feel bigger? Are you getting recognized on the street?

Yes. I'm seeing, like, someone in a cab lean out of the cab and be like, parker, White Lotus. Great. Loved you. Yeah. And on airplanes. Can I tell you a funny story that happened on an airplane? The flight attendant asked me if I wanted Something to drink? I said, I'll have a club soda with ice. And he said, I just want to make sure you're living a comfortable life. And then when I got off the plane, he said, I'm sorry we didn't fly over the North Pole. Isn't that great? So people love the show and it's just, it's. It's. Oh, my earring.

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Do you love movies, books? All things pop culture? Same on for the Love, we talk with incredible guests like Stanley Tucci, Yvette Nicole Brown, Maddie Korman, even the queen of comfort food herself, Ina Garten. We celebrate the stories and creators that bring joy to our everyday lives. Come hang out for the Love is wherever you get your podcasts.

[Parker Posey]

I feel like that quote about living a comfortable life is the sort of defining moment.

Yeah.

Do you think that obviously, Piper. No, but what does. Does that define the character for you?

That really did define the character for me.

What do you define as a comfortable life? I'd say not going camping.

Yeah, but are you this person who says, I love camping? No, See, I say I love camping, but I've only been camping once because I love the idea of camping. It's beautiful when you look at pictures.

What do you think that that sentence says about Victoria Ratliff?

What do I think what that sentence.

Not wanting to live a comfortable life says about that character?

I'm trying to think of the entire sentence. Hold on.

I have it written down here somewhere.

He asked her. It's such a. Just made, you know, he asked her, if you tell me what happened, I.

Don'T remember that part, but I said, oh, I'm just not Meant to live an uncomfortable life.

Oh, God. I know. It was more than that.

I think he was being like, what if we didn't have any money?

No, I don't have the will. And to know what he's in, in that position in the story and for her with her scents and her perfumes and her lotion, like, I got all this, like expensive lotion and you know, from the props department because I wanted her to be self soothing. You know, there's something in her life. Anyway, I won't give you the long version because I know we don't have a lot of time.

We have a whole 10 minutes. Go for it.

When she says, I don't think I could live an uncomfortable life at this age. I don't have the will, I mean, that is like, that's where we know how far gone she is. And I, and I love that line. It's a really strong line.

You have been a part of so many incredible casts, so you have very good taste. You pick, you know how to pick them. What was different about this cast and this role that you think the reason it's kind of flying off so much?

I think it's Mike White in his writing. I mean, thank you, hbo, for supporting his singular, hilarious voice. I mean, he goes for the jugular. He's like going for this class of people. It's like an upstairs, downstairs. The people who are affluent and rich and have money that we see, but we never get to go on that plane. We never get to go to that place that they're going to. And then you have the people that. The hospitality industry, which is huge and it's never been exposed like this. I think that's the joy of, you know, one of the joys of the show and also the dynamics between the people.

What was. There has been a lot written about the time spent the six months, almost seven. Almost seven. What was the hardest part of that experience for you?

I knew it would be an experience. Right. I knew that at this age, I'm not meant to live an uncomfortable life.

Was it, was it like incredibly hot?

Constantly incredibly hot? Yes, it was incredibly hot, but it was also so exotic that, you know, I was like, I have no comparison to this. I've never been to Asia, Thailand. Like, the, the plant life, the people. Like, it's so alive, it's so green. And that alone just made me feel the oxygen from the plants in the ocean. And my idea of it was like, it's going to be like a meditation app, that kind of horizon and the Waves of the ocean and there was that beauty there. And I tried to go outside and learn my lines at the beach and I couldn't because I got so. I was so soothed by it, right. That I had to go back into my room and do my homework. So I knew, I knew it would change my life. Any. Anywhere you go for a long amount of time in another country, in another culture changes you. And I felt like, why do I love this so much? You know? And then you go like, oh, now I believe in reincarnation. You know, like, we're everybody, you know, I was, I really, I kind of fall in love with places and I love Thailand so much. If anyone can go, I mean, it's going to be really hot. But people, people live there from and never come back here. And it's really hot and they're like, that's fine. I love it. The people are so warm. And I love the Buddhist culture.

Heard you got into sound baths.

I got into sound baths, Reiki massage. It's a country, a kingdom that's never been colonized. So a little story that I have was this dog named kk, a little dog who had keke, means crooked and Thai. And she was rescued from a monastery. And the doctor showed me at this wellness place these pictures of KK with like a huge dead leaf in KK's mouth at the front door. Because even KK knows to bring, to offer something for a treat. So she would bring these offerings, this dog. And it was just so. It's very reciprocal. The women there, the beauty there. Yeah, I loved it.

I'm booking a ticket. That's great.

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[Parker Posey]

So I think you've probably heard that TV is the new film.

Yeah.

And You've obviously done a lot of TV at this point, but it is a different experience from. What do you feel like right now the best roles are on television and. Or does it just have to do with the writer and, you know.

Yeah, I think it just has to do with the writer. Right. Like, I don't. I feel just really lucky that I happen to land in the right part. You know, it feels like there's a whole other cosmology that happens in order for me to be right for something. So this long form TV thing that we've got going to build a character and then to sustain was very satisfying to do. And I loved it. I like long documentaries, I like long form storytelling. I hope there are more novels that get adapted into these long. This long form TV that we've got going because there are some writers out there that I'd love to see their stories brought to life instead of the, you know, the action, the genre stuff. And I think I just love Mike White's writing. I think he's great.

Let's talk about the clothes for a minute.

Sure.

How much are you involved in the costume? Do you have a close relationship with the costume designer? Usually you mentioned going to the production department to get some lotions, but are you. I know some actresses are very engaged or actors generally very engaged. Some don't want to be involved. But how much is that part of.

I love it. It's like my. It's my favorite thing. I think it's like a relationship to the character from the outside in and then from the inside out. And so you're like, what is the hair? What are the shoes? What is the look of the family? What is this? You know, Mike had an idea. He really wanted the blue and white of the preppy. The iconic thing in the yacht, everyone to have this blue and white. And it was right after the strike, so there wasn't a lot of time for prep for, you know, wardrobe and to. To call in all the people. And it came together very quickly. So I went on the realreal and I got a bunch of shoes and some caftans. I went on Tuckernuck.

Tuckernuck. This is a company I write about quite frequently.

Yeah. So I went on that and I got some clothes and so we did a little bit of back and forth.

Can you quickly explain Tucker Nut to the audience? Because it is a very southern thing.

Yeah, it's a Southern thing that my cousins and my aunt were ordering from. And it's really. I guess it's preppy kind of High, you know, not high. High end. But, you know, you explain it.

It doesn't cost a dollar. It's very particular. It is very much something that Victoria A Ratliff would work, right?

[Lauren Sherman]

Yes.

[Parker Posey]

Yeah. How. How long has Tucker Nuk been around?

Like, 10 years.

Okay. So I was new to it, but that, to me, kind of defined it. And then. But when I got to. To Thailand, this whole. This designer named Jim Thompson, who's a Thai designer, and he. He reinvigorated the Thai silk industry in the 70s, and his company is still around. And I wore a lot of his caftans with these prints on them, and I had some kind of cottony, like, nightgown stuff. And then that's when it really came together of, like. That's right. Victoria doesn't really want to be in Thailand. She doesn't really care. She wants to be in bed, cozied up with her family and lorazepam. So I like. And her lorazepam. So it was fun to have these, like, dresses that look like sheets and just. Oh, she ran to the gift shop to pick up a little caftan to bring it back to her room. You know, like that kind of. And, like, the random hat, you know, she's. I asked Mike White, this is one of the. What I loved about creating this character. And directors can. Sometimes they don't tell you a lot. And Mike didn't. You know, you let the actor kind of find it. But I said, is there anyone, any reference that you can give me for Victoria? And he said, the movie Gray Gardens, Big Edie, when she was younger. And I was like, yeah, okay. Yeah. And I happened to be reading a book at that time that Jerry who was in the Gray Gardens, he was a teenager. He wrote a book called the Marble Faun of Gray Gardens. And I was reading that anyway. This kind of eccentric, moneyed, Southern, projecting constantly of their own desires and needs and longing and the power of the mother, because the mothers have that power. So that was so enjoyable for me to do as someone who's not a mother, but to experience that. I can't believe I matched this stage. It's like you obviously planned.

Got the memo.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah.

[Parker Posey]

Parker, thank you so much.

Thank you.

We all idolize you.

[Lauren Sherman]

Fashion People is a presentation of Odyssey in partnership with Puck. This show was produced and edited by Molly Nugent. Special thanks to our executive producers, Puck co founder John Kelly, executive editor Ben Landy, and director of editorial operations, Gabby Grossman. An additional thanks to the team at Odyssey, JD Crowley, Jenna Weiss Berman and Bob Tabador.

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