Vanity Fair UK 10.2021

time. When the script came around, King recalls, “I was like, “That’s where we are as a nation. We

‘You know, it’s cool, but—it’s a Western, Lorrie.’ Then she was are now interested in revising the revi-

like, ‘This writer-director, he’s smart and something about sion,” says King. “We are thirsting for the

him is special, and I really think that he’s going to do really big true story.”

things.’ ” King promised to at least have a conversation with him. Treacherous Trudy is a revision and

She had been in Atlanta, shooting Watchmen, and the only an amalgam. King has taken all of the

way they were able to meet was over video. Samuel picked up trappings of the Western hero and made

his guitar to play some original music he’d composed for the them Trudy’s: She is hard-eyed, quick-

movie. And they talked. He was “a force,” she says. “The way witted, ambitious, crafty, and seemingly

he was able to illustrate the landscape of the Western that he directed by a unique moral compass. King

was going to do, and so clearly, I was able to visualize seeing all sees Trudy as a departure from her oth-

of these different shades of Black people just in a way that I had er characters. “I can see how someone

never seen before.” could watch Watchmen and see a bit of

King compared it to “like what I felt when I saw Pulp Fic- Lydia Adams that I played in Southland,

tion—like, I’ve never seen anything like this before. In this day see a connection between them in some

and age, it’s really hard to come up with something that you’ve ways,” she says. “Someone might see a

bit of the Sam Fuller char-

acter in Miss Congeniality 2.

DAMON LINDELOF SAYS KING CAN MAKE ANY I could probably see a little
SCREENWRITING “COME OUT SOUNDING bit of those characters hav-
ing similarities.”
AWESOME. IT’S THE GREATEST
GIFT IN THE WORLD.” The cast had to learn
how to ride and shoot for
The Harder They Fall. RJ
Cyler—whom, along with

Stanfield, King saw as her

“little brothers”—learned

never seen before.” And so, she says, “I felt like, You know what? gun skills on roller skates. Unfortunately

I’m going to take a ride with this cat. Either it’s going to be awe- for him, Elba is allergic to horses. When-

some or it’s going to be terrible. But I’m willing to take the ride. ever they had to be on horseback, Elba had

I’m going to go through the fire with him.” to dose up with Benadryl or Zyrtec. “And

Now, King can’t wait to watch it—no, she hasn’t seen a final you could tell when the antihistamine or

cut, or any cut. She doesn’t like watching herself, she doesn’t whatever that he was taking would start

like hearing herself—“for double digits of years, something wearing off, because he would start to get

that I’ve acted in.” She will walk the red carpet, she will do nasal, and his eyes would start to get red.”

this cover of Vanity Fair, but she won’t stay for a premiere. There will be no naps during this

For this film, however, there will be an exception, as there Western. The music is hip-hop, inject-

was for Beale Street. ing Samuel’s fictional world with all

“I just felt like Barry probably wasn’t going to be my friend any the boastful swagger and bravado of the

more if I didn’t see Beale Street,” she laughs. “Barry…was like, music genre. The title, The Harder They

‘You got to see it; you can’t not see it.’ And I was like, ‘I know, Fall, evokes Jimmy Cliff ’s 1972 reggae

but….’ He was like, ‘I understand that you don’t like to watch classic, “The Harder They Come” (also

yourself.…’ And I’m so glad that I did. I saw it with my son. Watch- the name of the film starring him):

ing how it moved him as a young Black man was powerful.”

I tell King that before researching some of the real-life Black The oppressors are trying to keep me down

outlaws in The Harder They Fall, I had no idea that people like Trying to drive me underground

Stagecoach Mary and Cherokee Bill existed. “The way to think And they think that they have got the battle won

about it is that our town, the setting in The Harder They Fall, I say “Forgive them, Lord

would be the beginning of a Tulsa. You know what I mean? They know not what they’ve done”

The beginning of an Elaine, Arkansas,” she says, referring ’Cause as sure as the sun will shine

to the 1919 massacre of more than 200 Black sharecroppers I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine

who dared to ask for fair wages. “Everything has to start And then the harder they come

somewhere.” The harder they fall, one and all.

Stagecoach Mary was born Mary Fields, an enslaved person

who became the first Black woman to carry mail for a U.S. star “This isn’t Gunsmoke,” King says.

route. Like so many Black Americans who sought freedom in “But as Jeymes would say: ‘But the film

the West, she was seeking not just to survive the trauma that is bringing all the smoke.’ He loves when

had been inflicted on them but to thrive in spite of it. This is Stole by Prada; you just improvise. On a take, he’ll come
why they went West. I never learned any of this in school, in earrings over to you and say, ‘Oh, do that again! I
history class. by Taffin. want all of this smoke!’ ”

VA N I T Y FA I R OCTOBER 2021 49

k had doing a film called Year of the Dog as an airy, flighty woman
who “probably doesn’t even watch the news.”

“Those people exist. They exist in all cultures and races,” she
says. “There is a part of me that sometimes actually feels like
that—like, I don’t really want to think about or talk about shit
that’s deep.” She shrugs and relates it to an impulse to be com-
forted, and to comfort:

“You know what? I’m just gonna watch these Golden Girls
reruns because they always make me feel good and they always

make me laugh, and I always feel like I see me and my friends,

my mother, my grandmother, in these women, some way, some-

KING’S HORIZON IS all the smoke. She’s how. And, I want to tell those stories as well.”

developing a feature adaptation of the We need that. It’s been a traumatic time for many these past

comic book Bitter Root, about a family of few years, as violence and illness have taken our loved ones,

monster hunters in 1920s New York City. undermined our most ordinary moments, uprooted them with

When I ask King why she chose this for paranoia and fear. Storytelling gives us connection. It allows us

her next project, she extols the glories revision. We need stories to take us out of our lives for a moment,

of Harlem in its renaissance, that dizzy- to alleviate our worries, if only for an hour or two at a time.

ing, fruitful time when what we could Lindelof marvels at King’s work on Watchmen, her ability to

bring vulnerability and

complexity and humor.

RENÉE ZELLWEGER, WHO MET KING ON “The character was written
tough. But I was surprised
JERRY MAGUIRE, REMEMBERS THINKING, by how sweet she plays it….
“THERE’S A LOT TO LEARN FROM THIS ROCK STAR, You forget how funny she
is…. That was something
AND A FRIENDSHIP TO TREASURE.” that surprised me,” he says.
“Those scenes with, like,

Lou [Gossett Jr.] in the sec-

ond episode—she’s quite

be, who we could evolve to be expanded, funny. But Angela isn’t trying to be funny. Regina the actor knows

exploded—a time when Hurston pulled us that it is funny. That’s 3D chess. When the actor is in on the joke and

through world-ending hurricanes, Toom- the character they’re portraying isn’t—like, that’s crazy.” If lines

er sunk us in surreal Georgia fields, Ellison or a scene isn’t working, King “MacGyvers” the script, changing

made us invisible men, and Hughes sang a few things here and there. “Imagine what it’s like for everything

to us of rivers and dreams deferred. They that you write, no matter how shitty it is, to come out sounding

transformed us through their art, and awesome,” he says. “It’s the greatest gift in the world, come on.”

their possibilities for us reverberated King has worked hard to reach a place where she has agency

through the decades. and choice: how she presents herself to the world, including how

Bitter Root is its own comic entity, she wears her power. That’s landed her on many a best-dressed

belonging to neither behemoth, Marvel list. For her Emmy win, she wore brilliant blue Schiaparelli cou-

or DC. In that way, the project is reminis- ture. A glowing sea of orange in Christopher John Rogers for the

cent of Watchmen, which is its own brand Costume Designers Guild awards. Harper’s Bazaar praised her

universe with its own world building, its 2021 Oscars look, a winged Louis Vuitton with “modern-day

own history, despite being a DC comic. Cinderella vibes,” as yet one more in a season of the star wearing

“I totally appreciate comic books and “one legendary red carpet look after another.”

graphic novels, but just even as a little girl, “I wouldn’t wear them if they had not taken the time to make

the way they read in the bubbles and things the piece where it fits my body perfectly,” she says. “From

like that, I lose interest quickly. Now, as an Oscar de la Renta to Louis Vuitton and everyone in between,

adult, I will read them for the research. the moments have been special.”

But I am a huge fan of stories that have I wonder how King envisions her future, whether there are

been adapted from comic books,” she other creative endeavors she wants to explore. King and I are of

says, ticking off Wonder Woman, Super- Dress by Louis an age where it’s common to become soberly aware of time,
man, and the Incredible Hulk. And “I love Vuitton; necklace where we envision the specter of years spreading away from us
cartoons that were adapted from comic by Repossi. and our present sharpens into terrible, wondrous focus. She cites
books—love love love love love.” Throughout: hair stars whose power has never dimmed, including Helen Mirren
products by and Cicely Tyson, “rest her soul—she did it all the way, until the
King’s body of work shows that she Flawless by end, and fabulous all the way.”
is passionate about portraying all the Gabrielle Union;
nuances of the human spirit. She revels in makeup products And we can look far forward to watching King bringing all the
humor and in joy. She recalls the fun she by Chanel; nail smoke, all the time, all the way, too. n
enamel by Chanel
Le Vernis.

50 VA N I T Y FA I R OCTOBER 2021



photographs by TOM CRAIG

A f terstyledbyNATHAN KLEIN
Hours

UNWINDING
IN STYLE
WITH
SEVEN
OF THE
SEASON’S
MOST
GLITTERING
STARS

52 VA N I T Y F A I R

Claire
Foy

known for:

The Crown

upcoming:

The Electrical Life of
Louis Wain and
A Very British Scandal

“I spent a lot of my youth
trying to look like other
people or trying to fit into
something. And now
I’m old and I’m just like,
‘Oh, what’s the point?’
I think that the most stylish
people are the people
that you look at and you
just go, ‘That’s you—that’s
who you are.’ ”

Coat by Gucci; pants and corset
by Vivienne Westwood;
corset top by Nearer the Moon;
jewelry by David Morris.

OCTOBER 2021 53

Interviews by
BRITT HENNEMUTH

Sheila
At im

known for:
The Underground
Railroad
upcoming:
Bruised and
Constellations
“The day that I finished
Underground Railroad
was the day I spoke to
Halle Berry about Bruised.
She was like, ‘You want
to do it?’ She is directing
for the first time and to
see a woman who is
an icon—and who was
winning awards when
I was a child—still trying
new things, taking a leap,
stepping into uncharted
territory, but doing so
with such skill, instinct, and
bravery, was huge.”

Clothing by Bottega Veneta;
jewelry by Chanel Fine Jewelry.

54 VA N I T Y FA I R

OCTOBER 2021 55

Rebecca
Ferg uson

known for:
The Greatest Showman
upcoming:
Dune and Mission:
Impossible 7
“Following someone who
has loved something as
much as Denis Villeneuve
has loved Dune is a treat.
It’s a gift, really, to walk
into that world, especially
where you’re led by a
man who is so humble.
Any form of gender, race,
sexuality, whatever you
are, he’s telling a story
that works for today, in a
sort of manipulated world.”

Corset and pants by Vivienne
Westwood; top by Dior; cuff
(right) by Lauren Perrin.

56 VA N I T Y FA I R

OCTOBER 2021 57

58 VA N I T Y FA I R

Fala
Chen

known for:

The Undoing

upcoming:

Shang-Chi and the

Legend of the Ten Rings

“Marvel reached out.
Unfortunately, I was on
my honeymoon and I was
in Argentina, getting on
a cruise ship to Antarctica
for half a month. There
was a satellite phone
at the captain’s office for
family emergencies—
that’s it. Three days later,
I suddenly got a bunch of
text messages because
I got a little bit of Wi-Fi.
The first one I opened
said, ‘Congratulations.’
Marvel just made an offer
because they gave up on
trying to reach me.”

Dress and boots by
Alexander McQueen;
gloves by Lauren Perrin.

OCTOBER 2021 59

Camille
Cott in

known for:
Call My Agent!
upcoming:
Stillwater and House
of Gucci
“I don’t want to be
name-dropping—I think
it would be very
pretentious—but I had
a conversation with a
producer who told me
that everybody told her to
watch Call My Agent!
because she was a
character. It turns out that
the behind-the-scenes
of French cinema was quite
relatable for the people
working in Hollywood.”

Dress by Moschino Couture;
sneakers by Alexander
McQueen; bracelet by
David Morris.

60 VA N I T Y FA I R

OCTOBER 2021 61

Phoebe
Dy ne vo r

known for:

Bridgerton

upcoming:

The Colour Room

“I expected a few people
to watch Bridgerton,
but I never really
prepared myself for
the phenomenon. So
I’m actually really
appreciative that I was
at home, very much
grounded with my whole
family, quarantining. Life,
externally, hadn’t really
changed. It was a lot
harder to watch it with
my grandparents.
That was awkward.”

Dress by Louis Vuitton.

62 VA N I T Y F A I R

OCTOBER 2021 63

64 VA N I T Y FA I R

HAI R AN D W I GS , N E I L M O O D I E ; MAK E U P , J E N NY CO O M B S ; TAI LO R , PAT R I C I J A PA S K I NA ; S E T D E S I G N , S E AN T H O M S O N . P RO D U CE D O N LO CAT I O N BY J N P RO D U C T I O N . F O R D E TAI L S , G O TO V F. CO M / C RE D I T S . Sandra
Oh

known for:

Killing Eve

upcoming:

The Chair

“One of the many things
I learned from the
pandemic is a little bit
more hardiness with chaos.
Our director, Dan Longino,
wears glasses, and then
he has a mask and then a
shield and it was cold, so
it’s completely fogging up.
I’m like, ‘Dan, Dan, can
you even see us?’ And he
goes, ‘Absolutely not.’
But there was something
in the challenge—I felt
the entire company
leaning in to say, ‘We’re
going to do this.’ ”

Suit and boots by Chanel;
top by Dior; earrings by Dior
Fine Jewelry.

Throughout: hair products by
Biolage (all except Dynevor);
makeup products by Hourglass
(all except Dynevor).

OCTOBER 2021 65

66 VA N I T Y FA I R

LAST YEAR,
VETERAN JOURNALIST
NANCY JO SALES
GOT A STRANGE CALL
FROM EXETER, HER
HIGH SCHOOL ALMA
MATER. THE ELITE
BOARDING SCHOOL
WAS INVESTIGATING
AN ANONYMOUS
ACCUSATION OF
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT—
AND THE WRITER
WAS THE ALLEGED
VICTIM. THE PROBLEM?
SALES SAYS IT
NEVER HAPPENED

Confession

OCTOBER 2021 67

L to me, with its pristine redbrick build-
ings, more like a fancy college than a
high school. My family had just moved to
New Hampshire from Miami. My mother
and stepfather, burned out on running a
busy health food restaurant for 10 years,
had decided to move to a small town in
the White Mountains and open a cheese
shop. So I was sent to boarding school for
my last three semesters.

Days after I arrived at Exeter, there
was a snowstorm. I’d never seen snow. I
energetically took part in a giant snowball
fight in the courtyard outside my dorm,
during which I developed a serious case
of frostbite on my hands. No one had told

LOLITA IS WRITTEN AS A CONFESSION:
THE “CONFESSION OF A WHITE WIDOWED MALE.”
IN NABOKOV’S MASTERPIECE, THE NARRATOR,
HUMBERT HUMBERT, DELIVERS HIS OWN
UNRELIABLE ACCOUNT OF THE “SORRY AND
SORDID BUSINESS” OF HIS SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
OF A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL.

Though the reference here is inexact, it the PEA campus and all Exeter events.” me that when handling snowballs you
was Lolita I thought of when I heard that I was not named in this email of February should wear gloves.
David Weber, my former teacher at Phil- 15, 2021, but I was the student it was talk-
lips Exeter Academy, had confessed to ing about, as Rawson and lawyers for the Nobody in my family had ever gone
“hugging and kissing” me in the spring of school confirmed to me. to boarding school, so I arrived at Exeter
1982, when I was 17 and he was 38. During unprepared in many ways. My father,
the course of an investigation begun in the The thing is, I have no recollection of trying to be helpful, had bought me a
fall of 2020, sparked by an allegation made this alleged incident; I have no memory suitcase full of preppy classics from
by an anonymous third party, Weber told of Weber ever doing anything inappropri- L.L.Bean (shirts with Peter Pan col-
Exeter’s lawyers at the international law ate with me. Which I had made clear to lars, knee-high socks), which wound up
firm Holland & Knight that he had hugged Rawson as well as Exeter’s director of stu- making me look like an embarrassing
and kissed me once in the basement of a dent well-being, Christina Palmer, and a wannabe. The cool girls at Exeter wore
dormitory called Dutch House. detective from the Exeter police. Despite threadbare corduroys, flannel shirts,
my repeated denials, however, the acad- and clogs so worn down, the heels were
There were no other allegations against emy pressed on with its investigation of just slivers of wood; I’d brought nothing
Weber, who had been a beloved English Weber, now 78, eventually sending the so shabbily chic. I also didn’t have the
teacher at the school for nearly 40 years email that ruined his reputation. same level of academic training as my
before officially retiring in 2008. But after classmates, many of whom had been in
his confession, Exeter principal William So why did he confess? And why did private school since they could talk (and
K. Rawson sent an email to students and Exeter punish him even though I said many of whom went on to become lead-
alumni—thousands of people—telling this never happened? As Nabokov says ers in business, tech, academia, the arts).
them that he had “distressing informa- in the beginning of his novel, “Look at this I’ll never forget the look on the face of
tion about sexual misconduct at the tangle of thorns.” my French teacher when, feeling anx-
Academy.” Due to Weber’s admission of ious and overwhelmed, I got up to leave
“hugging and kissing a student,” Raw- n his class, telling him, “Je suis mauvaise”—
son wrote, his “emeritus status has been I CAME TO Exeter in the winter of 1981. “I am evil.” I had meant to say “Je suis
removed and he has been barred from I’d never set foot on the campus before. malade”—“I am sick.”
It looked like something out of a movie

68 VA N I T Y FA I R

PREVIOUS SPREAD: PHILIP SCALIA/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO. The teacher who made me feel like concurred with this. “It’s important Schubart; I’d always thought Weber was a
everything was going to be okay was that any investigation process for sexual good guy who put students first. (More on
David Weber. He encouraged me to assault be victim-centered and trauma- this later.) I wasn’t surprised to hear about
write. I started churning out short stories informed,” she wrote. “Victim-centered Schubart and Cecilia, though. There had
to show him. Often I would visit him in means that investigations prioritize the been rumors about them when I was at
the evenings in his study at Dutch House, needs of the victim, and trauma-informed Exeter; I also knew of two other female
where he lived with his wife and young means that the process should seek to min- students who had allegedly had sex with
daughter—the door always open, by the imize retraumatization of the victim and teachers. I remember sitting on the dorm-
way, with other female students coming take into account the effects of trauma.” room floor of a girl as she regaled us with
and going as part of check-in; he was the a description of the “long, skinny penis”
dorm head. I guess part of me felt like my In other words, ideally this process on the teacher she said she was having sex
lowly status was raised a bit by having this should have been about me and if and with, and how we all just laughed (we were
kind and well-liked teacher as my friend. how I wanted this allegation against drinking vodka from a bottle at the time).
And he was a good teacher—in retrospect, Weber to be handled. But it wound up Inmy later life,I’d neverthought of report-
I see he was a kind of early editor. He was being anything but that. ing any of this to Exeter, because the girls
a pivotal person in my life, and I remem- involved were now adults, accomplished
bered him with gratitude, although after n women I thought capable of handling the
I graduated in 1982, we hadn’t spoken. I TOLD PALMER that no, I hadn’t had a “sex- memory of these experiences however
ual relationship” with Weber. I let her know they thought best.
So that’s why I was stunned when, she’d upset me. A few days later I called
on September 10, 2020, I got a call from the school. I wanted to talk to the principal, What troubled me even more than
Palmer, asking me brusquely, after a few Rawson (who goes by Bill), because now Cecilia’s story, when it came out in 2016,
pleasantries: “When you were a student at I was worried—not only about this false was the Globe’s reporting on more recent
Exeter, did you have a sexual relationship allegation about Weber and me, but about cases of sexual harassment and assault
with Mr. Weber?” She advised me it would how the kids at Exeter were being treated at the school—particularly the story of a
be best if I could be brief, as she only had a when they had sexual assault claims. 16-year-old girl called Kaur (her middle
few minutes for this conversation. name, which the Globe said it used to pro-
Rawson—formerly a lawyer at the inter- tect her family’s privacy). She had killed
I felt a wave of nausea. I put a hand on national law firm Latham & Watkins— herself in July 2014 after telling people
the wall to steady myself. It wasn’t Weber went to Exeter, class of ’71. He was appoint- she had been sexually assaulted by a male
I was remembering suddenly, it was the ed principal in 2019 after the exit of Lisa student at Exeter. (Exeter officials told the
college boy who had raped me in a dorm MacFarlane, whose brief tenure—2015 Globe they never knew about the alleged
room at the University of Miami when I to 2018—saw the eruption of a firestorm assault.) She had also been cyberbullied
was 14 years old, an experience I had only of controversy over Exeter’s mishan- and sexually harassed by Exeter students
just begun to process some 40 years later. dling of sexual misconduct on the part of on a notorious, now defunct social media
faculty members going back to the 1970s. app called Yik Yak. To add to the heart-
Maybe it was Palmer’s calling Weber The scandal came to national attention break of all this, Kaur had been an active
“Mr. Weber” that made me feel so infan- in March 2016 when the Spotlight Team member of the brand-new Exeter Femi-
tilized, like I was a student at Exeter of The Boston Globe reported on the sexual nist Union, other members of which were
again, in trouble for something. I felt like I abuse of two Exeter students by a former cyberbullied on the app as well.
was going to be sick, and then I started to history teacher, Richard Schubart (who
feel something close to outrage. It didn’t died in 2019). One of these students was The type of horror Kaur had endured
seem right of her to call me up and ask me Cecilia Morgan, a classmate of mine. was very familiar to me, as I’d spent
this without any preparation. 2014 to 2016 traveling around the coun-
In December 2016, Morgan did a vid- try reporting for a book on social media
I’ve since learned that Palmer’s eo interview with the Globe, which took and girls; I’d heard story after story of
approach that day isn’t what’s generally place in the office of her lawyer, Mitchell girls who had been sexually assaulted,
considered best practice when dealing Garabedian—the attorney best known for bullied, and harassed, on- and offline. It
with victims of sexual assault. When I representing sexual assault victims dur- was disheartening to hear that these same
asked my friend Jennifer Powell-Lunder— ing the Catholic priests scandal; he was types of things were happening at Exeter,
a clinical psychologist who teaches at portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the 2015 film which always seemed to think of itself as
Pace University—how mental health Spotlight. She gave a wrenching account of being above such ugliness.
care professionals typically pose ques- Schubart’s predation of her and its lasting
tions to alleged victims, she said: “It can damage to her life. She mentioned how, “This is such a devastating thing
be retraumatizing, so you give them all when she was a senior at Exeter, she had for young people to have this happen
the time they need to get to a point where confided in her twin sister, Maria, about to them, and I need it to stop,” Cecilia
they’re ready to tell you, if they want to Schubart, and Maria had told her own Morgan said in her video interview for
tell you at all. My first rule is always that adviser. That adviser was David Weber, the Globe, talking about her assault.
it’s up to the victims to decide where they who told the Globe that he “did not recall “This just is devastating for girls. I feel
want to go with this.” the conversation” with Maria. as though Exeter has disappointed me
and a lot of other people back then from
When I emailed the Rape, Abuse I remember reading about this and their lack of action.”
& Incest National Network (RAINN), beingsurprisedthatWeberhadn’treported
their press secretary, Erinn Robinson,

OCTOBER 2021 69

n Mail. (In 2017 a charge of Class A misde- one that is free of sexual abuse and harass-
EXETER GRADUATES TEND to be some of meanor sexual assault against Ikpeazu ment in all its forms,” says the school.
the nicest people I’ve ever known: gener- was abandoned with conditions.)
ous, civic-minded. As soon as it reached n
the wider Exeter community in 2016 that In 2016, Exeter’s external counsel, the WHEN I CALLED Principal Rawson a few
the academy had an ongoing problem law firm Nixon Peabody, hired Holland & days after I’d spoken with Christina
with sexual assault and was still failing Knight to conduct an in-depth investiga- Palmer, I imagined that, given Exeter’s
students who had been victimized, the tion of “allegations of past misconduct recent troubles, he would be relieved to
alumni sprang into action. There were by PEA faculty and staff ” toward former hear that there was nothing to this anony-
Facebook pages and petitions; an orga- and existing students. The report of this mous allegation about David Weber and
nization to help victims was formed. investigation, which was sent to students me. I wanted Rawson to hear it firsthand,
People talked about withdrawing their and alumni in August 2018 as part of so there wouldn’t be any confusion on this
financial support from the academy Exeter’s new commitment to transpar- point: that there was no reason to move
until something was done. One alum- ency, is a sickening read. It references 28 forward with an investigation of Weber, at
nus who donates significant amounts of investigations spanning the 1950s to the least not in regard to this false allegation.
money to the school told me that among 2010s, for which Holland & Knight says it
other larger donors he knew, “People conducted approximately 294 interviews I was still very upset by my call with
were pissed.” of more than 170 people; it has graphi- Palmer when I phoned Rawson; in fact,
cally detailed accounts of teachers who several times when I was talking with him,
Exeter seemed to get the message. “forcibly kissed” students, engaged in I got so choked up I was unable to speak; I
It was experiencing a public relations sexual relationships with students, did started to cry as I explained that my level
nightmare that could affect its long-term “sexualized photo shoots” of students, of emotion was because Palmer’s ques-
reputation as well as its bottom line—a groomed students through inappropri- tioning had brought up feelings around
$1.5 billion endowment as of August, of ately intimate behavior, and more. I my past experience of sexual assault that
which it is very proud. It was being men- knew several of these teachers and took had nothing to do with Exeter or Weber.
tioned in the same breath as other prep a drama class with Lane Bateman, who
schools in the news with sexual assault in 1992 was arrested and charged with Rawson listened patiently, allowing me
scandals, such as St. Paul’s, where in possession and distribution of child por- to complain about Palmer’s manner on
2014 the notorious 18-year-old Owen nography (he was sentenced to five years her call, for which he apologized for any
Labrie had sexually assaulted 15-year- in federal prison and died in 2013). “harm” it may have caused (harm was a
old Chessy Prout. word he used a lot). I asked him who had
In its report, Holland & Knight raised made this allegation about Weber and me.
Rawson said he couldn’t say, as these alle-
This process SHOULD HAVE BEEN gations had to remain anonymous in order
ABOUT ME and if and how I wanted this to protect the identity of the accusers so
they felt “safe” in coming forward.
allegation against Weber to be handled. But it
I asked if perhaps the allegation was
wound up being ANYTHING BUT THAT. an old one that the academy was some-
how just getting around to now? Because
Exeter was being viewed as yet a “systemic concern” of an “absence of back in 2016, I explained, in the midst of COURTESY OF NANCY JO SALES.
another elite school where kids weren’t an established and clear protocol for all the media attention around Exeter that
necessarily safe, and girls in particular students, faculty, and employees to year, a classmate had emailed me some
were being mistreated—as was further raise complaints and training for PEA information about how to report sexual
exposed in 2016 reporting by the Globe of administrators on how to respond to misconduct on the part of teachers. This
the gross mishandling of another sexual concerns of misconduct by faculty or was the first I’d learned that apparently
assault case at the school that had hap- staff impacting students.” In the last five there had been rumors about Weber and
pened in 2015: As a kind of penance for years, Exeter says on its website, “we me among some of my peers. Maybe it was
groping fellow student Michaella Henry, have implemented new training and because Weber and I had been so close? I
a school official had Chukwudi Ikpea- programming to prevent sexual miscon- had wondered. Or maybe it was because
zu bake her a loaf of “monkey bread” duct and clear policies and procedures back then, other kids were known to be
(apparently his specialty) every week and to respond to reports of misconduct involved with teachers? I told Rawson
deliver it to her in person, thereby forc- when they occur. that there was no basis for these rumors,
ing her to re-encounter the boy who had however, which I’d also let my classmate
groped her. The outrage this time went “There is no higher priority for the know at the time.
international, with a story in the Daily Academy than to provide a safe and inclu-
sive environment for all of our students, Rawson said that no, the accuser wasn’t
the person whose name I had shared. Then
I didn’t know who it could be, I said, say-
ing that this was all very upsetting to me
because Weber had been a great teacher
and my friend. Rawson just listened and
murmured in his sympathetic way.

70 VA N I T Y F A I R

Then he said that he was sorry to have to find solace with someone.… We recog- In late October 2020, I had another
to inform me of this, but I was going to be nize how jarring hearing of an allegation call with Rawson. Something had been
hearing from the Exeter police, to whom can be,” she added. nagging at me—I didn’t know why, but I
the academy is obligated to report any felt like this thing with Weber and Exeter
allegation of sexual misconduct. I later When I called the detective back, wasn’t over, and I wanted to make sure
learned that this was due to the “Memo- I left her a voicemail saying that if this that it really was. But during our conversa-
randum of Understanding” between the was about an allegation about me and a tion, Rawson gave me no indication that
school and the Exeter Police Department teacher at Exeter, such an allegation was the investigation of Weber had contin-
that the academy had overhauled in 2017 false and I had nothing to report. I didn’t ued. We chitchatted, talked about how
in the wake of revelations about its past hear from her again. I thought the case things were going at the school. He said
failure to report crimes on campus to the was closed. perhaps in the spring, the pandemic per-
local authorities and the New Hampshire mitting, I should come and give a talk to
Division for Children, Youth & Families. n the kids about social media.
“The MOU outlines the duty of all adults,” LATER IN THE fall of 2020, I remember
says the 2017 document, “and under- reading in the news that a former Exeter I didn’t hear from Rawson again until
scores PEA’s commitment to immediately math teacher, Szczesny Jerzy Kamin- nearly four months later, on February 13,
report any act of sexual assault, regardless ski, 60, had been charged with sexually 2021. He asked to speak that weekend: “I
of the possible legal classification of the assaulting a student between 2013 and need to make you aware of developments
act or the time the act occurred.” 2015. The Exeter alumni Facebook page concerning a faculty member here whom
“Exonians” ignited again with people we have previously discussed.”
I told Rawson that in fact I had been expressing their concern. “The larger
contacted by a detective from the Exeter context of this case,” commented Cyn- I said that I was available. “Hope
police, who had emailed me that very day. thia Fuguet Mare, class of ’83, is “how everything’s okay,” I wrote.
Rawson apologized again for the inconve- the Academy, after recent years of
nience and “harm” that might be inflicted coming face-to-face with evidence of sex- Rawson responded: “We have an
on me through this experience, and said ual abuse of minors entrusted into their admission that requires us to take action
that he would convey my complaints to care…how, through police investigations against him. I need to explain. I am very
Palmer—who had already sent me an and arrests, court proceedings, studies, sorry to have to bring this to your attention
email apologizing for our conversation. committees, policies and training, mea at all, no less on top of poor communica-
“I am deeply sorry for the harm I caused,” culpas to the larger PEA community…can tion previously.”
she wrote, “and hope that you were able STILL fail to protect students.”
“An admission?” I replied. “Of some-
thing regarding me??? Now I’m very
curious. Can you call me now?”

SCHOOL DAYS
A 17-year-old Nancy
Jo Sales in her senior
year at Exeter.

OCTOBER 2021 71

“Yes,” Rawson wrote. “I will call in a to say. I didn’t trust Rawson now to be victim’s denial—and should take care not
couple of minutes.” straight with me because, despite all of to identify her to her contemporaries, or to
Exeter’s recent pledges to its community publish unsubstantiated insinuations as
As I waited for the phone to ring, I felt about transparency, he hadn’t been trans- to the scope of whatever allegations
like I was going to vomit. I started to feel parent with me about this situation. I was Exeter may be purporting to make.”
dizzy, like I might fall, so I sat down on the worried I was going to be named in the
couch. I was remembering now how, after email, and I didn’t want to be named for Neither Rawson nor anyone on
I was raped at the University of Miami, a number of reasons, above all because Exeter’s legal team ever responded to
I came home and lay on the bathroom I didn’t want anyone to think I was the Mullen. Rawson had told me in July 2021:
floor for a long time; I remembered how one who had made the accusation against “We have been unable to find any record
the cool tiles of the floor felt soothing Weber. Because this was starting to feel of such a letter.” (When Kim checked, she
and I had tried to just focus on that. One like an injustice. said that the email had not bounced back.
of the elements of the trauma I’d buried I then re-sent it to Rawson.)
for so long were my feelings about being I didn’t know what the hell was up
robbed of my consent. I didn’t want what with Weber confessing. I couldn’t quite Rawson’s Weber email went out in the
the boy had done to happen to me, but it believe it. afternoon of that same February day. It
had happened despite my saying no, and didn’t include the information that the
the shock and rage I felt about that was I was in a physical therapist’s office “student” who had allegedly been
more than I could handle for many years. (torn rotator cuff ) two days later when I hugged and kissed by Weber said it never
got another email from Rawson saying happened. It said that Rawson regretted
After a few minutes, Rawson called and that he wished to “alert” me to “a com- “the secondary harm this may cause for
told me that when Exeter had gone ahead munication to the PEA community that we some of our community members.”
and questioned David Weber—wait, what? will be sending this afternoon about the
I was thinking, why?—Weber had “admit- matter we discussed on Saturday morning. n
ted” to the allegation about him and me. It will not provide information that would “SOUNDS LIKE THEY had really made up
identify you,” Rawson wrote, “but I felt it their minds about this Weber guy; I wonder
I felt light-headed. I leaned down important that you know in advance.” He why,” said my friend, whom I’ll identify
and put my head between my knees so I then apologized for the “distress this has by one of her initials, A. I’d been telling A.
wouldn’t pass out. “We never had sex,” caused for you.” I guess I was distressed. about this situation, which interested her
I managed to say. especially as the mother of an Exonian,
Walking home down Broadway, I someone who had graduated in the last
Oh no, Rawson said lightly, that wasn’t texted my friend and Exeter classmate couple of years. A. was a sexual assault
what Weber admitted to; he’d said he John Burbank, who lives in San Francisco. survivor herself, so she could empathize
just kissed me once in the basement of a He’s known as an investor and asset man- with how this experience felt to another
dorm. Rawson said it was school policy ager, but I still remember him as a guy survivor. “It’s so painful and so common
to take action against faculty members who used to come and sleep on my floor for victims not to be believed,” she said.
who were guilty of any sexual miscon- in New York back in the ’90s when he “And that’s essentially what they’re doing
duct, so he would be sending an email to was visiting. He was like a brother to me. here: saying they don’t believe you in addi-
this effect to the wider Exeter community, I also knew that he was an active Exeter tion to insisting you were assaulted.”
and he just wanted me to know. alumnus, so I thought he might have
some influence with Rawson (whereas Exeter’s track record on not believing
I had a lot of questions then, which I clearly did not; among the things I’d victims was one of the grievances of a stu-
Rawson kept saying he couldn’t answer. been wondering throughout this process: dent protest that happened at the school
Why had Exeter continued with this Would Exeter have listened to me if I’d on May 9, 2019. I’d heard about it from A.,
investigation when I told them the alle- been, say, a big donor?). who’d heard about it from her kid. It’s sur-
gation was false? I asked. And did Weber prising that this event never made it into
think that I was the one who had made the “That’s just absurd,” Burbank the national news, because according to
accusation? Rawson said that the process responded to my text telling him about former students who were there—as well
was confidential, and unfortunately he the email Rawson was planning to send. as a report in the school paper, The Exo-
wasn’t able to share this information. “If I can help dissuade them from doing nian—it was quite dramatic.
this I will.”
I felt like I was in an absurdist play, More than 200 students swarmed
something by Beckett. I asked Rawson if Burbank said he’d ask his lawyer Julie Rawson’s office, planning on doing a sit-
he intended to name me in the email he Kim to call me so she could draft an email in. But there were too many kids, so the
was sending. He said he didn’t think he to send to Rawson. Kim and I spoke on the protest moved into a quad, where Rawson
would do that. Well, please don’t, I said, phonethatafternoon,andBurbanksentme stood on a chair for almost three hours in
because it isn’t true; I don’t know why a copy of the email. It went out that same the baking sun and answered questions.
Weber would say this about me, but it’s day, sent to Rawson from Burbank’s lawyer “Throughout my four years I had seen the
false, it’s insane. Wesley M. Mullen. Among other things, it administration wildly mishandle several
said: “My client [Burbank] is deeply dis- [sexual misconduct] cases,” said Chinasa
Rawson said that he was sorry, but turbed at the prospect that the actions of Mbanugo ’19, a senior at the time and an
now that Weber had confessed, it couldn’t PEA and its outside counsel will cause new organizer of the protest. “There were sev-
be helped. injury where none existed. Any commu- eral students as well as faculty who told us
nication should make clear the purported
I spent a couple of days anxiously won-
dering when this email from Exeter was
going to be sent and what it was going

72 VA N I T Y FA I R

that we could risk our future at the acad- assessments”—which, she said, can lead administration, what is your plan to pre-
emy if we spoke up. However, [we] felt that to misinterpretations of the testimony of vent this? Because clearly, the measures
we needed to take that risk.” alleged victims and perpetrators alike. that have been taken by the school so far
in order to prevent sexual assault and
A former student sent me an iPhone Rawson responded to the students’ educate students are not working.”
recording of the protest, which filled me question about his training by saying that
with admiration for the bravery of the he was trained as a lawyer. “I’m probably Rawson said, “If I understand you
students; listening to them, I wished more equipped to handle these things correctly, you’re saying sexual assault is
that when I was a girl, we’d been able to because I have a lot of legal training,” he happening on a regular basis, correct?”
speak up about sexual assault in as open said, “and I’m used to seeing two sides
and uncompromising ways. to a story.” This answer perhaps gives The student said, “It is.”
an indication of the extent to which the Other students in the crowd affirmed
In the recording, the anger of the stu- school views these situations as legal loudly, “Yes.”
dents is palpable. And so is Rawson’s matters. (The Exonian later reported that “Everybody agrees?” said Rawson.
firmness in his conviction about the Rawson also said that he had done a ses- The students said, “Yes.”
rightness of the academy’s actions when sion on sexual assault and consent at a “Okay,” said Rawson. “It’s being
it comes to dealing with alleged victims’ gathering of the National Association of reported very infrequently. Why is that?”
claims. He tells the kids repeatedly that Independent Schools, in addition to his “You should ask yourself why,” said
they don’t know everything about the sex- own “independent reading.”) the student.
ual assault cases at the school, they don’t “I don’t accept that,” said Rawson.
know what goes on behind the scenes— “I think that was a huge feeling in the There was an audibly negative reaction
which he says they can’t know because it sit-in protest my senior year,” said Jane to this comment, soon after which Rawson
all has to remain confidential in order to Collins, class of ’19—who had been cohead said: “You’re saying that it’s happening all
protect everyone involved. In fact, Exeter of the student organization Exonians the time. You say whatever we’re doing, it’s
has a policy that says alleged victims can Against Sexual Assault (EASA)—when I not enough, so let’s figure out what more
face “community conduct action,” mean- contacted her by phone, “that the school we should do, and we’ll do it.”
ing disciplinary action, if they talk to other doesn’t care about victims, that the pro- Collins said that in the days after the
students about their claims; the academy cess is all about protecting the school protest, EASA delivered Rawson a 16-page
says this is to avoid “retaliation” against from a legal perspective.” document entitled “Proposed Revisions to
alleged perpetrators. the Handling of Sexual Misconduct Cases
Why were the alleged victims so at Phillips Exeter Academy.” She sent me a
What’s clear from the dialogue at the often not believed?, students at the pro- copy; it’s like a policy paper from the U.N.
protest, as well as from follow-up report- test wanted to know. They were upset,
ing by The Exonian, is that kids at Exeter
believed that there was a lot of sexual As soon as it reached the wider Exeter
assault going on at the school—a lot that community that the academy had an
never got reported, they said, because
students didn’t feel “safe enough to ONGOING PROBLEM WITH
come forward with their stories of abuse” SEXUAL ASSAULT and was still failing
in the process then in place. This process,
as Rawson described it at the protest, students who had been victimized, the
went like this: First Christina Palmer
heard a report, after which there was ALUMNI SPRANG INTO ACTION.
an investigation spearheaded by other
Exeter officials and involving an “inde- they said, that time after time at Exeter in its level of professionalism. She said
pendent investigator”—usually a lawyer “nothing [had] been done” to punish she graduated before hearing whether
hired by the academy, something Raw- the students who had been accused of the school implemented any of its sug-
son didn’t mention here—after which sexual misconduct. gestions, though she hoped they would.
several deans made recommendations, “They never listened to students about
with Rawson as the final person in the “We are here,” said one student, what should be done about sexual assault
chain, the ultimate decider on “what “because of a pattern both in the deci- at the school,” she said. “If they had, it
should be done” about an allegation. sions made by the administration and in could have made a huge difference.”
He called this “Principal’s Discretion.” the behavior of students who continue
to perpetrate sexual assault because In fact, after the events of the spring
The students wanted to know what for- they believe that they can get away with of 2019, Exeter apparently took EASA’s
mal training Rawson had that made him it based on the nonaction that they have recommendations seriously. Today,
qualified to make such determinations. seen from the administration. You or the the school’s C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 9 8
It was a fair question. My friend Jennifer
Powell-Lunder, the clinical psychologist,
told me that often at schools, “We have
nonclinical people doing clinical work.
That’s the problem. They’re not trained….
They have nonclinical people doing these

OCTOBER 2021 73

WHEN IN ROME
Alessandro Michele,
photographed in
front of a tapestry in
his home.

74 V A N I T Y F A I R

The

Prophet

Gucci’s ALESSANDRO MICHELE has
launched the venerated house into a

new stratosphere. But his obsession isn’t the future
or the past—it’s right now

By L E A H FAY E C O O P E R | Photographs by G I OVA N N I AT T I L I

OCTOBER 2021 75

YYOU CAN READ everystoryabout to that aesthetic. It was an iconic symbol
Alessandro Michele ever written; of richness, as he puts it—signaling “jet
meticulously dissect each of his set” in a way no other brand did.
Gucci collections; watch clips
of him working in his studio, Founded in Florence by Guccio
accepting awards, arriving at Gucci in 1921, the label was initially a
the Met gala. You will glean that leather-goods brand, making saddles
he’s talented and fun and doesn’t take himself too seriously. You and horseback riding accessories. Those
will learn that he’s friends with Jared Leto and Harry Styles and pieces gave way to handbags and lug-
has fabulous hair. And yet, if you found yourself in conversa- gage, and in the years that followed, a
tion with him, you’d still be taken aback by his effusiveness. canon of designs and signature details
Even through the banality of videoconferencing, Michele’s emerged to push Gucci to the upper ech-
demeanor is wholly disarming. elons of fashion: bamboo handles and
On the day we spoke, he beamed into my apartment from his horse-bit-adorned loafers; a flora print
office in Gucci’s Renaissance-era design HQ in Rome. Within commissioned for Grace Kelly and a
moments, I felt justified in having waited in line, just a few days shoulder bag renamed for Jackie Kenne-
prior, on a sweltering afternoon at the Gucci store in SoHo to dy; and two of fashion’s most recognizable
buy my cousin a graduation gift. In the six and a half years since status symbols, the double G logo and the
Michele was named creative director, he has created a world so green-red-green woven stripe. (Gucci is
fantastical that, for Gucci’s most enthused fans, heatstroke is a serious about those stripes. It has battled
small price to pay for entry. several brands in court over trademark
infringement, notably reaching a settle-
GREW UP IN Europe, in Italy, and everything was about BY THE BOOK ment with Forever 21 over the fast-fashion
“I love to get lost giant’s use of them.)
“I bourgeois,” says Michele, referring to cultural aesthet-
ics. He was raised in Rome by an artistic, free-spirited in literature,” says In the late ’80s, Michele says, Gucci
father who worked as an Alitalia technician and a mother whose the creative director was “very dusty.” Harsh, but an asser-
obsession with Hollywood glamour bode well for her career of one of his tion that fashion historians would agree
assisting a film executive. What he remembers of Gucci, from favorite pastimes. with. Then Tom Ford arrived. “I remem-
growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, was that it offered an alternative ber exactly when Tom came to make
everything fabulous. Everything was
76 VA N I T Y F A I R just fabulous and amazing and shiny
and sexual and big.” He recalls buying
a pair of chic, expensive, red-and-white
flare-leg pants, and they felt transforma-
tive. “I went out during the night to the
disco with these beautiful pants, and I felt
myself like Mick Jagger. And I understood
I was powerful.”

Indeed. After working with Silvia Ven-
turini Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld, and Frida
Giannini at Fendi, where he eventually
became senior accessories designer,
Michele, along with Giannini, was tapped
by Gucci’s then creative director Ford to
design the label’s handbags. At the time
Gucci’s design team was based in London.

Michele remembers meeting Ford for
the first time. It was a sunny London day,

OCTOBER 2021



and Michele, who was 30 at the time, PRECIOUS since. “I just think that’s such a beautiful story about seizing
was so impressed by Ford’s kindness TREASURES an opportunity and doing the work,” says Leto. “His passion
that, he says, he couldn’t resist an imme- and his love for what he does; his love for people and things, for
diate acceptance: “ ‘Yes, I will be here Michele nurtures art and culture and for his pets and animals and color celebra-
very soon.’ ” “an intimate tion. That’s part of what I think makes everything work in the
obsession” with way that it does. It’s the special ingredient.” In a blink, Michele
“The first week was all about this unbe- collecting, from went from a behind-the-scenes handbag designer to one of the
lievable office,” he says of the space the rings to miniature most visible and talked about people in fashion.
Gucci design team occupied until 2006, portraits.
sleek and replete with white orchids. “I injected a few things that people were needing, like I was
“There was nothing in the wrong place,” needing,” Michele says of his popularity. “Like freedom—a way
he says, and he was especially blown away to be deliberately yourself. Eccentricity that means personality.”
by “the beautiful work of Tom. It’s like I
was drowning in fashion.” IKE MOST LABELS of Gucci’s caliber, the brand has, for

Now Michele has brought legions into L years, adhered to fashion’s calendar, presenting five
that sea. When he became creative direc- or more collections a year. After Michele scaled back
tor of Gucci in 2015—replacing Giannini, the number of annual shows in 2017 by combining the men’s
who succeeded Ford—he famously rede- and women’s collections, Gucci announced last May that it was
signed the fall 2015 menswear collection forgoing the calendar altogether and doing just two shows a
in five days. In the years since, Michele year. “I was not really comfortable doing a show every four
has made maximalism the house’s per- months, three months,” Michele says, adding that the decision
manent resident. His Gucci is one of was made alongside Gucci president Marco Bizzarri. Michele
clashing prints, exaggerated silhouettes, says that even bigger companies like theirs must invest in cre-
and seemingly every texture known to ative freedom, which will pay dividends. “You prefer to be free,
humankind. Pieces are colorful and sub- or you want people to force you to do something that you don’t
versive and amusing and strange—and want to do?” he says. “Creativity needs time.”
dipped in sequins. And they’re a hit. In The announcement came as the world was grappling with
Michele’s third year at the helm, sales COVID-19, which was especially devastating in Italy; more than
leapt 42 percent. 128,000 people have died of the disease there, and strict lock-
downs have continued in the country. “If I went back to those
“He put a dent in the universe at that days, I can see myself like a kid,” Michele says. “I was scared. I
moment,” Leto says of Michele’s swift felt like death was knocking at my door.” Michele speaks often of
redesign of the fall 2015 collection. The his appreciation for nature and the connection he feels to plants
two met in L.A. early on in Michele’s ten- and animals. He’s expressed it through innumerable designs—
ure as creative director and have been strawberry-print trousers, tigers screaming on T-shirts, and
close friends and collaborators ever

78 VA N I T Y F A I R

snakes slithering up sweaters—but he theaters. Based on the titular book by fashion journalist Sara

says it was most profound last year. Gay Forden, the film stars Adam Driver, Salma Hayek, Al

“I really felt myself like the rose on my Pacino, Lady Gaga, and, coincidentally, Leto, who plays Guc-

terrace,” he says. “She was breathing, cio Gucci’s grandson, Paolo Gucci. The house “didn’t cast the

and I was trying to breathe.” It’s a simple movie, they didn’t produce the movie—I doubt Ridley even

analogy, a flower growing, but perfectly knew I worked with Gucci,” Leto says. Still, filming in Rome

sums up Michele’s belief that we exist as afforded him some time with his friend. “Italy was quite shut

part of nature, not rulers of it. He points to down, so we would meet up and have dinner or lunch on his

the Industrial Revolution and post–World balcony or on my rooftop where I was staying. It was just

War II eras as being particularly destruc- fortunate to be able to share that time with him over there.

tive. “We did a lot of really, really awful They were also prepping the shows, so I would go and visit

and terrible things to this beautiful earth. and watch them prepare, which is quite fascinating to see.”

We feel super powerful, but we are not.

We are so delicate. We need so many EING THE CENTER of the fashion world’s attention took
things. And it’s such a bad thing to disin-
tegrate the earth just to fly faster than a B time for Michele to get used to. Perhaps because what
he’s now idolized for—being his creative, earnest,

bird, to leap faster than a cat.” heavily accessorized self—he grew up being bullied about.

The fashion industry bears some of the “I came from a place where it’s not really easy to be yourself,”

blame for that disintegration, creating he says, noting that as a teen he was perhaps more eccentric

10 percent of the world’s carbon emis- than he is now. “Young people, they were not really aligned with

sions and an estimated 92 tons of textile you. It was a really, really, really tough time, but also a beautiful

waste each year. In an effort to scale back time,” he says, because he came to understand what it means

its own footprint, Gucci implemented a to be brave about “who we are.”

plan to halve the label’s carbon emissions While he says criticism of his work is easier to absorb than

by 2025 and is working to guarantee the it once was—“It’s normal that people have an opinion about

traceability of 100 percent of raw materi- you, what you’re doing; I’m very open to listening”—Michele

als. Last year, Jane Fonda and Lil Nas X is not ashamed to bask in compliments. “I really go crazy for

were among campaign stars for Gucci’s the people that love what I’m doing,” he says. “I saw this really

first-ever sustainable collection, Off the young teenager, they stopped me in the street and said, ‘I like

Grid, conceived by Michele and made what you’re doing, I’m a fan of you.’ I mean, it’s such a beautiful

from recycled, bio-based, and sustain- act of love. You can’t resist.”

ably sourced materials. Frenetic as his job may be, Michele’s home life in Rome is

Not being able to hold physical shows grounded by routine. He wakes up each day around 7:50 a.m.,

for the latter part of 2020 didn’t keep sinks into his tub for a bath, then gets dressed and has breakfast

Michele or Gucci from piquing the fash- with his longtime partner, professor of urban planning Giovanni

ion industry’s interest or that of brand Attili. “That is the most amazing moment of the day,” he says of

devotees. For the label’s

fall 2020 campaign, mod- “I remember EXACTLY when Tom [Ford]
els took self-portraits
from their homes dressed

in the collection; Gucci came to make everything FABULOUS….
for gardening, Gucci

for sweeping, Gucci for Everything was just fabulous and amazing and
tending to one’s cat.

Resort 2021, dubbed Epi- SHINY and SEXUAL and BIG.”
logue and presented via

livestream from Rome’s

Palazzo Sacchetti, fea-

tured Gucci’s designers photographed his mornings, which also include spending time with the couple’s

in the pieces they created. Then came three dogs (two Boston terriers and a Chihuahua) and scrolling

Ouverture of Something That Never End- through online auctions to check on all the objects he’s bid on.

ed, a seven-part miniseries Michele “I don’t know why, but there is a way to think that objects

codirected with Gus Van Sant for spring are stupid things that you don’t need, you can live without,

2021. Starring Italian artist and actor Sil- or blah, blah, blah,” he says. “I’m obsessed with objects. I

via Calderoni and including cameos from like the concept of beautiful things. I love things that belong

Gucci poster stars Harry Styles and Billie to other people. I love vintage. I love pieces of fabric. I love

Eilish, it rolled out over a week of digi- glasses. I mean, it’s a way to enjoy the idea that you are living.”

tal programming dubbed #GucciFest. Breakfast is usually ham and cheese on toast, espresso, and

Later this year, the Ridley Scott– a glass of water with lemon. During the summer he indulges in

directed House of Gucci comes out in honey, which he gets from his own apiary at his country house. “I

OCTOBER 2021 79

adore bees,” says Michele, and if you’ve AST YEAR’S string of films and socially distant photo
paid any attention to his designs over
the past few years, you’ve noticed. The L shoots was followed by a hypnotic presentation of
Gucci’s fall 2021 collection, Aria, which celebrated the

brand turning 100. “I’m not

a prisoner in the past,”

Michele recalls how a pair of flared Gucci Michele says. “People
sometimes think that I’m
PANTS felt transformative. “I went out during obsessed with the past. I’m
not. I’m obsessed with the

the night to the DISCO with these beautiful present.” To that end, some
of Gucci’s hallmarks were

MICK JAGGER.pants, and I felt myself like reimagined for today, like
Ford’s velvet tuxedo

And I understood I WAS POWERFUL.” (famously worn by Gwyn-
eth Paltrow) accessorized

with a leather harness; a

boxy, sequined crop top

secret to maintaining his famous hair? and wool skirt combo resembling a jockey uniform (a nod to

Visits to his stylist, Mimmo, about once Gucci’s equestrian heritage); and bamboo accents on belt bags.

every 10 days, oil, and little else. “My hair To zero live guests, models walked down a glossy white

routine is you don’t have to wash your

hair too much,” he says—an approach

his late father, who also had very long

hair, swore by.

He is a ceaseless student of art, music,

history, and literature, but not above a

reality TV binge. “I was watching Big

Brother VIP,” he says, his voice cracking

into a slight laugh at the idea of people

who “presume to be VIPs. It’s interest-

ing, no? Because I was like, they are not

famous. People decide with social media

who is famous now,” he says. “I think

my job needs to be in contact with every-

thing. I’m not a snob at all.”

Michele is vocal about how lucky he

is. Lucky to do what he loves, lucky to be

in love. “Our souls are really in conver-

sation,” he says of Attili. “I understand

that it’s something really rare when you

find someone that is so close to your

sensibility.”

A few years ago when the two were

going through a rough time, Michele

partook in the hallowed my-relationship-

may-be-ending ceremony of cutting

one’s hair. Then he did what he does best

and created something unconventional.

“I don’t want to say that we broke up,

but we stop in a way because we need-

ed maybe time to think about our trip,”

he explains. “I took a piece of my hair,

and I wove [it] like the Georgian-style

jewels. I put stones [on it] and I did like

a pendant; and I sent him this pendant, DOG DAYS
with my hair.” Michele with his
three “children,” as
Attili still has it, “in a very secret he calls his two
place,” Michele says. “I’m usually asking, Boston terriers and
‘Why you don’t wear this pendant?’ He a Chihuahua: Orso,
always says, ‘Because it’s too precious.’ ” Bosco, and Victor.

80 VA N I T Y FA I R

hallway while camera bulbs affixed to the walls flashed and piece of double G–embossed leather (a
popped incessantly. The soundtrack? Lil Pump’s “Gucci Gang,” very chic mouse pad, maybe?), Michele
Bhad Bhabie’s “Gucci Flip Flops,” and more songs that name- simply shares that “it will be amazing”
drop the house; certainly nothing Guccio Gucci ever listened to. and a “very significant moment for the
(To name a few more inspired tunes: “Green Gucci Suit” by Rick brand.” Plus, he loves California, so this
Ross, “Gucci Coochie” by Die Antwoord and Dita Von Teese, gives him “a beautiful excuse” to visit.
and “Gucci 2 Time” by friend of the house Gucci Mane.) Afterward, Michele will start working on
Gucci’s next century of offerings.
“I think that Gucci is a brand that needs new blood every
month, every year. It’s a way to make it alive,” Michele says. “There will be a day that everything
“When I was thinking about this century, this 100-year birthday, will be finished [for me] and someone
I was like, Okay, let’s celebrate the first year of this baby. It’s a else will start this beautiful trip,” Michele
newborn every year.” That newness was apparent in the logos says. “It’s such an amazing trip, being
and exaggerated silhouettes plucked from Demna Gvasalia’s creative director of this brand…. I hope
Balenciaga and Gucci-fied for the collection. (Luxury fashion that he [or] she will be as passionate as
conglomerate Kering owns both labels.) I am, because you need to put so much
love on the table…. If you want to create
In November, Michele will celebrate Gucci’s next collection something or you want to open a conver-
in Los Angeles, a city where he spent a lot of time during his sation, a real conversation with outside,
early creative director days. There were lots of stylists to meet you have to put yourself on the table.
and celebrities to dress. When we spoke, Gucci was still in And that’s a lot. You must be so brave.” n
the early stages of planning the show. Fidgeting with a square

Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz,
Nikki Haley, and Mike Pompeo
are among the many Republican
hopefuls already rumored to
be vying for the 2024 nomination.

ENTER THE
DRAGONS

For a legion of Trump toadies, the 2024 GOP presidential
primary has already begun, with Republicans racing each other
to the bottom to claim the party’s base.
That is, unless his MAGA-ness himself gets in the ring

82 VA N I T Y F A I R

 By G A B R I E L S H E R M A N
 Illustrations by C H R I S T O P H E R B U Z E L L I

OCTOBER 2021 83

On the evening
of JULY 19,
several dozen Republican donors gath- The candidates know this. Haley, a frustrated Haley adviser said. “It’s
ered for dinner in a private room at the St. who served as Trump’s U.N. ambassa- unlike any previous race.”
Regis Aspen to hear Nikki Haley deliver dor, told The Associated Press in April
a speech. The former South Carolina that she wouldn’t run if Trump did. A FTER MITT ROMNEY lost to
governor had been invited by the Repub- Others, such as DeSantis, Texas sena- Barack Obama in 2012, the
lican Governors Association, which was tor Ted Cruz, and former secretary of Republican National Commit-
holding its typically drama-free summer state Mike Pompeo, tell reporters they’re tee famously commissioned
meeting at the exclusive Rocky Mountain merely focused on the midterms. But just an “autopsy” to diagnose the party’s
resort. It would be a prime platform for because candidates won’t openly chal- problems with voters. The internal review
Haley to court 27 red-state governors lenge Trump doesn’t mean they’re not produced a 100-page report that advised
as she lays the groundwork for a future testing the waters in the event Trump candidates to broaden the party’s appeal
presidential run. But when Haley took doesn’t jump in. “If Trump doesn’t run, to Hispanics, Blacks, and women. Three
the stage, attendees noticed that Florida you’re going to have 2016 on steroids. years later, that blueprint was blown up
governor Ron DeSantis was conspicu- There will be 25 to 30 people running for when Trump descended his golden esca-
ously absent. According to an attendee, president,” a prominent Republican said. lator and labeled Mexican immigrants
DeSantis was holding his own fundraiser Could the field include Tucker Carlson? “rapists.” “The Republican Party became
20 miles up the road in Basalt, Colorado. Sean Hannity? Even congresswoman a cult of personality,” said Sally Bradshaw,
“Ron was pissed he didn’t get asked to conspiracist Marjorie Taylor Greene? a former Jeb Bush adviser who coauthored
speak,” the attendee later recalled. Anything’s possible. the 2012 RNC autopsy. (Bradshaw quit the
GOP in 2016. She now runs an indepen-
Welcome to the 2024 Republican presi- Given Trump’s long history of turn- dent bookstore in Tallahassee, Florida.)
dential primary. ing will-he-or-won’t-he speculation into
a media spectacle, there’s little chance Republicans didn’t even bother with a
At this nascent stage, it’s common for he’ll declare his 2024 intentions until self-assessment following Trump’s loss
prospective candidates to compete fierce- after the midterms at the earliest.“I think to Joe Biden. “The reason there wasn’t
ly for donor dollars and Fox News airtime. that people will be very happy with my an audit this time is the people left in the
But the 2024 contest is playing out like decision,” Trump told me when we spoke party don’t care about solving problems,”
no other in memory. That’s because the in mid-August. He was on the phone from Bradshaw said. If anything, the party’s
race is either entirely wide open or over his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. takeaway from 2020 is that the base wants
before it begins. The outcome hinges on Removed from office, his mood was it to become more Trumpian. A Reuters/
the whims, grievances, and obsessions of relaxed and upbeat. “I think MAGA is Ipsos poll in May reported that 61 percent
one Donald J. Trump. stronger than it’s ever been before,” he of Republicans agree with Trump’s big lie,
said. Trump particularly relished New that Biden stole the election. A Politico
The 45th president retains a psychic York governor Andrew Cuomo’s resig- poll in June found that 3 in 10 Republicans
grip on the MAGA-fied Republican base nation, announced two days before. “I subscribed to the conspiracy theory that
more than six months after leaving office thought he was a tough guy. Maybe he Trump will be “reinstated” as president.
despite two impeachments, the horrors wasn’t,” Trump said.
of the January 6 Capitol riot, and nearly In July, I called Roger Stone to hear
350,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths. In July, Mostly, though, Trump seemed to his take on which GOP candidates are
Trump dominated the Conservative Polit- enjoy watching his potential 2024 rivals best positioned to inherit the MAGA
ical Action Committee straw poll with being forced to anticipate his next move. mantle. Stone, after all, was the architect
70 percent of the vote. (DeSantis came in “Knowing Trump, he’ll dangle it right of Trump’s political career, which began
a distant second, with 21 percent.) “It’s a up to the New Hampshire primary filing when Trump flirted with a presidential
metaphysical impossibility that anybody, deadline,” a Trump confidant told me. run in 1988 to promote The Art of the Deal.
even a senator named Jesus H. Christ, Which means candidates are stuck wait- “It’s very difficult to fill Trump’s shoes
could beat Trump in a Republican primary ing for Trump to get in or get out while in the America First movement,” Stone
if he runs,” said Michael Caputo, a veteran they pretend not to be campaigning said. “It can’t be handed off like a baton.”
of Trump’s 2016 campaign who briefly even as they knife one another behind Stone also believes the 2024 primary will
served as spokesman for the Department the scenes. “It’s a holding pattern,” be the first Republican contest in memory
of Health and Human Services.

84 VA N I T Y FA I R

that hasn’t been shaped by Fox News. The has seen heavy turnover. “He has zero search for survivors continued. (Trump
rise of more strident MAGA outlets like
One America News and Newsmax have relationships. He just doesn’t speak to denied there was a dispute, but DeSan-
opened new avenues to connect with
the base. “I don’t think Fox will wield the you,” one former staffer told me. In May, tis didn’t attend the rally.) On July 1,
same influence that they did in the past,”
Stone said. “The most loyal and religious Politico reported that former DeSantis DeSantis appeared alongside Biden and
Fox viewers have moved on.”
staffers set up a “support group” to com- praised him for the federal government’s
If it were up to Stone, Michael Flynn
would be the party’s 2024 nominee, miserate over their experiences working response to the tragedy. The moment
which, Stone acknowledges, is highly
unlikely. (Both Stone and Flynn received for him. DeSantis didn’t respond to recalled the greeting between New Jersey
pardons from Trump for felony convic-
tions related to the Mueller investigation.) requests for comment. governor Chris Christie and President
Of the other potential contenders, Stone
is most impressed with DeSantis. DeSantis’s biggest challenge, though, Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy.

Since being elected Florida’s gov- will be navigating his fraught relation- DeSantis needs to walk a tightrope as
ernor in 2018, the 43-year-old former
congressman has deftly positioned him- ship with Trump. “Trump fucking hates he seeks to position himself for a 2024
self as a mini-Trump. He rebuffed public
health guidelines during the nadir of the DeSantis. He just resents his popularity,” run. According to a source, DeSantis has
COVID-19 pandemic and kept Florida
virtually free of a statewide lockdown a second Trump confidant told me. (“Ron told donors that he won’t openly cam-
in 2020. In May, he signed a restrictive
voting rights bill live on Fox News. And is a good guy,” Trump said.) According to paign in Iowa or New Hampshire before
in June, DeSantis dispatched Florida law
enforcement agents to Texas to “secure a source, advisers for Pompeo have been his 2022 Florida reelection campaign. But
[the] southern border.” According to
one recent conservative poll, DeSantis promoting DeSantis in hopes of stoking he’s clearly in the strongest position at the
beat Trump with a 74 percent approval
rating. (Trump scored 71 percent.) One Trump’s jealousy. “Pompeo’s people are moment. “Heading into 2024, DeSantis
former Trump adviser recently texted me
a photo of DeSantis merch: a hat that said building up DeSantis as the leader of is primed to push Trump off the throne,”
“DeSantis 2024: Make America Florida.”
the Republican Party to piss
DeSantis has also built a powerful
fundraising machine. According to the Trump off,” the source said.
Miami Herald, his political action com-
mittee raised almost $14 million in April, Part of Trump’s irritation
bringing its total haul to about $31.6 mil-
lion. Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin with DeSantis is that Trump
made a $5 million donation. “DeSantis
is the most valuable player this year. He’s The race is entirelyfeels that DeSantis doesn’t
Trump without the negatives,” said Scott
Reed, the former chief strategist for the give Trump enough credit for
U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
his rise. “Trump tells people,
Although DeSantis looks like a front-
runner now, a lot can go wrong between WIDE OPEN or OVER‘I made Ron.’ Trump says
now and the New Hampshire primary. For
one thing, DeSantis’s supposed success at that about a lot of people.
managing COVID is being torched by the
delta variant raging out of control in Flor- before it begins.But in this case, it’s actually
ida. DeSantis also needs to win reelection
in 2022 (a recent poll showed him losing true,” a prominent Republi-
to Republican turned Democrat Charlie can said. (“He gives me good
Crist). But assuming DeSantis prevails,
former staffers told me that his abrasive credit,” Trump told me.)
personality could become a liability under
the pressures of a national campaign. According to sources, then Congress- former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg told
DeSantis is known to only trust his wife,
Casey, a former newscaster, and his staff man DeSantis cultivated Trump’s support me. “Trump surely sees this coming and

during the 2018 gubernatorial election will ultimately offer Governor DeSantis

by hanging out at Trump’s Washington, a joint ticket.”

D.C., hotel. “He asked me if I’d endorse

him,” Trump recalled. For much of the O F COURSE, DESANTIS’S 2024
primary, DeSantis trailed Florida agricul- rivals hope he is peaking too
ture commissioner Adam Putnam. But early. In 2013, Marco Rubio
after Trump backed DeSantis in June, graced the cover of Time as

DeSantis zoomed 12 points ahead and the “Republican Savior.” A Haley adviser

went on to win by nearly 20 points. “The pointed out that former Wisconsin gov-

second I endorsed Ron, he blew through ernor Scott Walker had also once been

everybody,” Trump said. touted as the next big thing. (Walker

Once in office, DeSantis irked Trump dropped out four months before the 2016

further by putting his political ambi- Iowa caucus.)

tions ahead of Trump’s demand for If DeSantis’s star fizzles, a crowded

blind loyalty. According to a source, field of candidates are jockeying to take

DeSantis announced publicly in the fall his place. In the Senate, there’s 41-year-

of 2019 that Trump would attend the old Josh Hawley of Missouri, who voted

Florida GOP’s annual statesman dinner against certifying the 2020 election and

before the White House signed off on cheered the January 6 insurrectionists

the invitation, which effectively forced with a fist pump. Arkansas senator Tom

Trump to appear. Last year, I reported Cotton, the GOP’s leading China hawk,

that DeSantis rejected Trump’s pleas is another name that gets bandied about.

to close Florida’s beaches as the pan- According to a source, Cruz has privately

demic raged. In the wake of the Surfside told people that he has the best shot at

condo collapse in June, DeSantis and the 2024 nomination because he would

Trump clashed over Trump’s plan to have defeated Trump if former Ohio

hold a MAGA rally in Florida while the governor John Kasich hadn’t stayed in

OCTOBER 2021 85

like expanded voting rights, cancel cul-

ture, and critical race theory. So instead

of Trump’s “build the wall,” you get “stop

the steal.” Instead of the threat of Hill-

ary Clinton’s missing emails, you get the

menace of the 1619 Project.

DeSantis is a natural practitioner of

outrage politics. “Let me be clear, there

is no room in our classrooms for things

like critical race theory,” he said in March.

“Teaching kids to hate their country and

to hate each other is not worth one red

cent of taxpayer money.” Hawley excels

at manufactured grievance too. “The alli-

ance of leftists and woke capitalists hopes

to regulate the innermost thoughts of

every American, from school age to retire-

ment,” he wrote in the New York Post last

January. “And they’ve trained enforcers

of the woke orthodoxy to monitor dissent

or misbehavior. A ‘Karen’ who cuts the

wrong person off in traffic gets followed

home on a livestream and shamed into

crying for mercy as her license plate is

broadcast to an online horde eager to

hound her out of a job.”

The irony of the 2024 field is that the

candidates working hardest to sell them-

selves to the base as embattled outsiders

are in fact the ultimate insiders. DeSantis,

Hawley, Cotton, and Cruz each hold dou-

ble Ivy League degrees and serve or have

served in Washington. Pompeo graduat-

ed number one in his class at West Point

and attended Harvard Law School before

becoming a congressman, CIA director,

and secretary of state. Trump may have

inherited his wealth and attended the

University of Pennsylvania, but he could

credibly argue he wasn’t a politician.

In mid-July, the annual Family Leader

Summit in Des Moines offered a platform

for 2024 hopefuls to court 1,200 evangeli-

the 2020 primary. Cruz didn’t respond a mood rather than any specific poli- cal voters. Pompeo delivered a 22-minute

to a request for comment. cies. “[MAGA] means strong borders. Trumpian diatribe with lines like “Don’t

In 2016, Trump’s stump speeches, It means fight crime, don’t let people let the woke socialists get you down” and

for all their racism and misogyny, also run around burning down our cities. It “You all see the garbage they’re trying to

contained crude proposals to limit means many things,” Trump said. That’s teach in our schools today.” South Dako-

immigration and protect domestic why you see prospective 2024 candidates ta governor Kristi Noem, who is being

manufacturing with tariffs. But today appealing to white voters’ sense of cul- advised by former Trump campaign man-

the Republican base is animated by tural victimhood by railing against things ager Corey Lewandowski, boasted about

her state’s anti-lockdown

policies. “We didn’t shelter

in place, we didn’t mandate

“The people left in the party anything, we just trusted
people,” Noem said to

applause. (The August 2020

don’t care about SOLVING PROBLEMS.” Sturgis motorcycle rally in
South Dakota has been seen

as a contributing cause of

86 VA N I T Y FA I R

a COVID spike across the

The NIGHTMARE SCENARIO forupper Midwest last fall.)

Former vice president

Mike Pence less convinc- Republicans is that TRUMP DOESN’T RUN
ingly threw the audience red

meat. “Critical race theory

is state-sanctioned racism,” and SABOTAGES the Republican nominee.
he said. Nothing Pence said

could change the reality that

most top Republicans believe

he has no chance of being the

party’s nominee, because he

voted on January 6 to certify the 2020 elec- woman president,” according to a source that, he’s leaving options open. “I’m

tion. “Mike hurt himself very badly when briefed on the lunch. actually writing a book. You have a lot

he didn’t send the numbers back to the Christie is also making noises about a of publishers that would love to get this

legislatures,” Trump said. Pence’s toxicity 2024 run in the establishment lane. “I’m book, so we’ll see what happens.” What

with the base was on full display in June, not going to defer to anyone if I decide about a Trump TV network? “People are

when attendees at the Faith & Freedom that it’s what I want to do, and that I think calling about that. But I’m not looking to

Coalition conference booed and heckled I’m the best option for the party and for do anything in particular,” he said.

him during his appearance. Pence scored the country,” he told a podcast in May. Whether Trump runs or not, he’s

0 percent in the CPAC straw poll in July. “I don’t mind,” Trump said when I bound to be the single most dominant

One source close to Pence speculated that asked if he was concerned about a pri- force in the Republican primary. His ral-

instead of running, Pence would throw his mary challenge. “I was challenged the last lies continue to draw tens of thousands

support behind his ally Pompeo, whom time too, by people that were, you know, of MAGA diehards, and he’s sitting on

Pence recommended to be CIA director. I never thought they were effective.” a $200 million war chest from his super

Trump’s takeover of the GOP oblit- Trumpaddedthathisrivalsowehim.“You PAC. Potential candidates seeking his

erated the party’s establishment, but know, many of these people I was respon- support are already making pilgrimages

that hasn’t stopped Haley from trying to sible for their success to a large extent.” to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring like they’re

build a centrist campaign atop the rubble. Meanwhile, short-lived Trump com- contestants on The Apprentice. “They

A day after the January 6 riot, Haley munications director turned antagonist all want my endorsement, and they’re all

threw Trump under the bus during a Anthony Scaramucci told me that it’s still being very nice,” Trump said.

harsh speech at the RNC winter meet- possible a candidate could appear seem- The problem for Republicans is that

ing in Florida—Trump’s adopted home ingly out of nowhere, much like Obama Trump looks at every decision through

state no less. “He was badly wrong with did in 2004. “People are hoping for a the prism of self-interest. What benefits

his words yesterday. And it wasn’t just his Barack Obama event that’s like a meteor him—financially, emotionally, politi-

words. His actions since Election Day will strike,” Scaramucci said. Who could lead cally—may actually damage Republican

be judged harshly by history,” Haley told the party’s establishment restoration? electoral chances. Trump is fueled by a

party elites. A month later, she doubled Some point to Republican Massachu- desire for revenge as much as he is by

down, telling Politico: “When I tell you setts governor Charlie Baker. An August a desire to win. The nightmare scenario

I’m angry, it’s an understatement…. I am 2020 poll found that 89 percent of Mas- for Republicans is that Trump doesn’t run

so disappointed in the fact that [despite] sachusetts Democrats approved of Baker’s and sabotages the Republican nominee to

the loyalty and friendship he had with job performance. punish Mitch McConnell and other party

Mike Pence, that he would do that to him. leaders for not endorsing his big lie. It’s

Like, I’m disgusted by it.” W ILL ANY OF this matter happened before. Trump told people he
“Well, every time she criticizes me, in the end? It all depends wanted Republicans Kelly Loeffler and
on Trump. Inside the David Perdue to lose the 2021 Georgia
she uncriticizes me about 15 minutes GOP, speculating about special election so that Democrats would
later,” Trump told me. “I guess she gets

the base.” Trump’s future has become a fevered control the Senate. “Trump thought he’d

Surprisingly, Haley’s comments didn’t guessing game. House minority leader be much more influential if McConnell

exile her completely from Trumpworld. Kevin McCarthy recently told a Republi- was in the minority,” a Trump confidant

In June, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump can that he doesn’t think Trump will run, said. Trump denied this and said it was

visited Haley and her husband at the which, in my conversations, is the minor- McConnell’s fault Democrats won in

Kiawah Island beach club in South Car- ity view. “I think Trump running again Georgia. “Because of the stupidity of

olina. “They think very highly of Nikki. is more likely than not,” said Caputo. Mitch McConnell, the two senators lost.”

They get along great,” a person close Another prominent GOP strategist put Some of Trump’s longtime confi-

to Kushner told me. A few weeks later, it this way: “What does Trump have to dants told me Trump wouldn’t be able to

Kushner’s parents held a private lunch for lose by running? His business sucks. He’s tolerate a Republican president other

Haley at their beach house on the Jersey doing tours with Bill O’Reilly.” than himself. “He’s got zero interest in

Shore. Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, Trump told me he’s focused on elect- having any heir. It’s always been about

predicted that Haley would be “the first ing MAGA candidates in 2022. Beyond him,” a confidant said. n

OCTOBER 2021 87



IN THE

At the new HERMÈS
workshop in Saint-
Vincent-de-Paul,
France, an iconic bag
serves as a training
ground for freshly
minted leather artisans

 By

ALEXIS CHEUNG

Photographs by

CYRI L Z ANNE TTACCI

DETAILS
VA N I T Y FA I R OCTOBER 2021 89

T executive vice president of of Bordeaux. Not far from the city center
compliance and organiza- or the terroirs teeming with grapevines,
THERE IS A kind of fashion object so long- tion development at Hermès a group of 180 artisans (a number that
lasting, so tirelessly wanted that its name International, who oversees will swell to more than 250 once training
becomes recognizable, a metonym for the company’s sustainable and recruiting is complete) can be found
the brand that made it: the Air Jordan, development. With its crisp top selecting, cutting, perfecting, burnish-
the Love bracelet. Few brands, suc- flap, shoulder strap, and lady- ing—and yes, stitching—yards of supple
cessful though they may be, attain that like single handle (the most leathers into any one of Hermès’s signa-
kind of saturation. Hermès has done it easily spotted differentiating ture bags, all exclusively made in France.
twice: the Birkin and, arguably the first feature from the double-handled “Making a bag is demanding in terms of
of the household-name phenomena, the Birkin), it requires 36 pieces of time and skills,” says a Saint-Vincent-de-
Kelly. Originally designed in the 1930s leather, a handful of metal parts, Paul leather artisan named Emilie, who
as the Petit sac haut, à courroie, simpli- and 15 to 20 hours for one artisan joined Hermès in 2015. “There’s a little
fié, the Kelly was rechristened after the to complete. Mastery of the Kelly bit of our soul in each bag.”
newly crowned Princess Grace was pho- means mastery over virtually
tographed, in 1956, clutching it to conceal every other Hermès bag design. The leather workshops can be traced to
her early pregnancy; the image appeared 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where
on the cover of Life magazine. Indeed, at Hermès so much Thierry Hermès’s only son, Charles-
depends upon a single stitch, taut and ten- Émile, opened its flagship store in 1880.
But in the Hermès artisan work- sile, with almost 200 years of tradition. The first location outside of Paris opened
shops, the vaunted bag isn’t a waiting And if each stitch represents a sen- near Lyon more than 100 years later, in
list status symbol, it’s an education: Usu- tence in Hermès’s history, which began 1989, and the next site came in Pantin in
ally the first item newly minted leather when the German-born harness maker
artisans construct, it serves as a leath- Thierry Hermès founded the company 1992. (All brands self-reference,
erwork 101. “The Kelly bag is one of the in Paris in 1837, then its manufacturing but Hermès’s version is particu-
most complex bags we have in terms of workshops are the grammar guiding larly cyclic; artistic director of
our savoir faire, or know-how, which is their syntax. These workshops—of women’s ready-to-wear Nadège
really based on the tradition of saddlery which there are 51 in France alone, each Vanhee-Cybulski showed a pon-
and harnesses,” says Olivier Fournier, dedicated to women’s ready-to-wear, cho in her spring 2019 collection
perfume, shoes, jewelry, menswear, silk, with a waistline based on the
or home furnishings—are spaces where aprons worn at the Pantin site.)
standards and techniques are passed
down and preserved. “We have stuck for centuries
now to a craftsmanship model
Perhaps nowhere is this marriage of because we strongly believe
craft and legacy more apparent than at that to have the quality and
the company’s newest leather work- the durability we want in our
shop, or maroquinerie, which opened leather goods, we need this
this September in the pastoral village of artisan approach,” explains
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, on the outskirts Fournier. The company maxim,
“Luxury is that which can be
repaired” (set forth by former
CEO Robert Dumas-Hermès),
comes to life at the workshops
as well: Each year, at 15 dedi-
cated repair shops worldwide,

90 VA N I T Y FA I R

Hermès mends up to 120,000 of its own Mastery of the Kelly means mastery over
pieces, from a worn shoulder strap to a virtually every other Hermès bag design.
decades-old saddle; on rare occasions
an artisan might even fix a handbag they we do with the hands and tra-
crafted more than 30 years prior. dition,” says Fournier. “Both
are compatible.” Plus, he adds,
“Craftsmanship is based on trans- “It’s a fantastic opportunity for
mission,” Fournier says. With every creation, to play with new mate-
new workshop opening, a handful of rials.” (For now, this particular
the house’s 80 master trainers—a posi- play is reserved for the Victoria
tion that requires eight years of work at handbag from the autumn/win-
Hermès to attain—travel to teach a new ter 2021 collection, constructed
generation of artisans. It’s a demanding at a workshop of its own.)
pedagogy, one that takes 18 months to
complete and happens in two phases: If “leather is a confrontation
The first is verbal, and the second is “at with reality,” as artistic director
the bench,” when artisans apply their new Pierre-Alexis Dumas says, then
learnings under the watchful eyes of one mycelium leather is a confronta-
of 200 designated mentors. tion with changing times. “The
recipe for success doesn’t exist,
At Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, each arti- even at Hermès,” says Fournier,
san—many of whom are locals hired who notes that certain styles
through vocational schools and employ- take years to become a suc-
ment offices, often with little experience cess—the iconic Kelly among
in leatherwork—uses more than a dozen them. “The basis for everything
tools but soon learns that the meticulous is the freedom of creation.” n
attention to detail inherent in an Her-
mès objet begins with their body. On
any given morning, groups of artisans
can be found flexing their toes, sway-
ing their arms, and bending their knees,
the workshop appearing more like a
class for modern dance than a lesson in
leatherwork. “Every single gesture has
its importance,” says Emilie. “It requires
constant concentration so as to not miss
anything.” The angle of the hips, the lean
of the torso, the pressure of the hands—
all affect the final aesthetic outcome.

Despite this staunch adherence to
tradition, Hermès will introduce a decid-
edly modern material this fall: mycelium
leather. Developed in collaboration with
the San Francisco–based biotech com-
pany MycoWorks, this “Fine Mycelium,”
coined Sylvania by its creators, derives
not from cattle but from mushrooms.
Fournier insists that its quality and dura-
bility meet the same high standards of
traditional leathers and that the mate-
rial continues Hermès’s long legacy of
innovation—it was, after all, Thierry’s
grandson Émile-Maurice Hermès who
introduced the zipper to handbags in 1922.

“We strongly believe that we should
not oppose new technology with what

THREAD THE NEEDLE
The Kelly, pictured here in various stages of
creation, comprises 36 pieces of leather and takes
up to 20 hours for an artisan to complete.

OCTOBER 2021 91

DIET PRADA TURNED ITS RELATIVELY UNKNOWN FOUNDERS INTO
TWO OF FASHION’S MOST POWERFUL VOICES—ETHICISTS KEEPING TABS ON

ROA S T THEINDUSTRY WRONGS. BUT NOW THE FRONT ROW’S MOST FEARED

92 VA N I T Y F A I R

INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT IS FACING MOUNTING SCRUTINY
FROM THEIR PEERS AND A $700 MILLION LAWSUIT FROM A LUXURY TITAN

RU N WAYBY MAUREEN O’CONNOR | ILLUSTRATION BY JORGE ARÉVALO
OCTOBER 2021 93

T “Boycott Dolce” On November 20, the day before the
Great Show, Liu posted several of Tra-
THE SKY WAS OVERCAST on November had been discussed nova’s incendiary screenshots to Diet
21, 2018, and a light drizzle fell on the Prada, and the simmering controversy
Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and on Weibo more than boiled over into scandal. Models and
Convention Center as the Italian luxury staff fled the convention center, leaving
brand Dolce & Gabbana put the finishing 18,000 times. their hand-tailored garments in heaps on
touches on an event space twice the size the floor. Chinese A-listers issued state-
of the Royal Palace of Milan. There were Halfway around ments disavowing Dolce & Gabbana.
winding banquettes draped in red, lit- Arriving at Shanghai’s airport, actor
tered with candelabras and flowers for the the world, in Brook- Chen Kun reportedly told fans, “I’m
reception. There was an 80-foot rotating going back” and boarded a return flight
stage, three gold catwalks, and sets deco- lyn, then 33-year-old to Beijing. Brand ambassadors Wang
rated with gold Italianate mirrors, Juliet Jungkai, a singer, and Dilraba Dilmurat,
balconies, and red upholstered settees Tony Liu saw the a movie star, terminated their contracts.
with carved feet. The brand’s founders, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, videos and posted Zhang Ziyi shared a meme of a cartoon
had designed a new collection for the panda force-feeding emoji-shaped shit
occasion, an all-night fashion extrava- them to Diet Pra- to two other animals. “You dropped your
ganza dubbed “the Great Show.” The pile of crap, I’m giving it back to you,”
production aimed to blend Dolce’s sig- da, the Instagram says the panda.
nature molto Italiano style with Chinese
heritage. There was a pagoda with a gold account he runs Liu was at home on his sofa, vaping
roof in the lobby, and troops who would and eating gelato, as he posted through
perform traditional lion and dragon with fellow fashion it all. He stayed up until 5 or 6 a.m. shar-
dances. Festivities would run well into the ing news, jokes, and commentary about,
night. More than 300 models were to walk industry insider as he called it, #DGTheShitShow. When
before an estimated audience of 1,500. Schuyler awoke on Wednesday morning
Lindsey Schuyler. after sleeping through much of the excite-
But the show’s carefully laid plans had ment, she saw videos of people setting fire
begun to unravel. To promote the event “Being Asian, there were certain things to Dolce & Gabbana’s wares and head-
on social media, Dolce & Gabbana had lines about Dolce & Gabbana canceling
produced videos of a Chinese model strug- that immediately triggered me,” he has the Great Show. The designers flew back
gling to eat Italian food with chopsticks. to Italy, where they filmed and released
Off-camera, a male voice teased her. since recalled. Diet Prada’s caption char- a video apology. Diet Prada archived
its posts in an Instagram Story labeled
“Let’s use these small sticklike things acterized the video as “hella offensive” #DGTheShitShow. Just another day in
to eat our great pizza margherita,” the the age of social media meltdowns of the
narrator said as the model giggled and and “a tired and false stereotype of a rich and powerful. The world moved on.
covered her face.
people lacking refinement.” But Dolce & Gabbana didn’t. Four
“It’s still way too big for you, isn’t months later, Liu and Schuyler received
it?” he said as she battled an oversized Diet Prada had roughly a million fol- notice that the brand planned to sue them
cannolo. both for defamation. The lawsuit, eventu-
lowers at the time. One of them, Michaela ally filed in a civil court in Milan, claims
When Dolce & Gabbana posted the upwards of $665 million in damages,
videos three days before the show, Chi- Tranova, then a 24-year-old Londoner owing to major setbacks the company
nese internet users complained about has faced in the Chinese market, which
“outdated views of China” and racism. who worked in fashion, shared the post in 2018 accounted for one third of the
On November 19, Jing Daily, a luxury international luxury industry’s revenue.
consumer trends website, reported that and commented in part, “WHAT IN THE It is the first defamation suit the company
has ever filed, according to a brand repre-
ACTUAL FUCK?!” sentative. Liu and Schuyler are the only
people Dolce & Gabbana is suing over
That’s when the shit hit the fan. Or fallout from the fiasco in Shanghai.

more accurately, the shit emojis hit the With litigation pending for more than
two years in Italy’s COVID-delayed legal
DMs. Gabbana’s verified personal Insta- system, Liu and Schuyler have lived
“under this Dolce & Gabbana–designed
gram account responded. Tranova had sword of Damocles,” according to Ford-
ham University law professor and Fashion
never before interacted with the designer Law Institute director Susan Scafidi, who

on- or offline, but the two fell into a heated

exchange. Tranova received messages

about Chinese people eating dogs and

insulting her intelligence. When Trano-

va noted that some of Dolce & Gabbana’s

social media accounts had deleted the

cannolo video, @stefanogabbana said

this happened “because my office is stupid

as the superiority of the Chinese.” While

Dolce & Gabbana initially issued a state-

ment that then 55-year-old Gabbana’s

account had been hacked, in subsequent

court filings Gabbana’s lawyers identified

the messages as “Mr. Stefano Gabbana’s

private conversations.”

“And from now on in all the interviews

that I will do international I will say that

the country of is China,” read

one @stefanogabbana message.

“China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia,”

read another.

Tranova was outraged. She posted

screenshots of the exchanges and tagged

several media outlets, including Diet

Prada. (Gabbana’s lawyers would later

say, “Mr. Stefano Gabbana answered a

few provocations…using ironic tones,

including toward the Chinese people.”)

94 VA N I T Y F A I R

represents the pair pro bono. It’s the kind now considering a simple but potentially Diet Prada started as office chitchat.

of David and Goliath legal battle that usu- crippling question: What’s Diet Prada got “We would look at runway shows, just

ally stirs sympathy: The wealthy owners to do with the price of D&G in China? kind of shooting the shit, and we would

of a famously decadent billion-dollar do these live roasts back and forth sit-

company are suing two self-employed ting in opposite corners,” Liu said when

bloggers for more money than a court WHEN I BEGAN corresponding with Liu he and Schuyler revealed their identities

ordered Samsung to pay Apple, in 2018, and Schuyler in March, they had been in The Business of Fashion in 2018. “When

for copying the iPhone. facing Dolce & Gabbana’s lawsuit for two I look back at our early posts,” Schuyler

But in the years since its #DGTheShit- years but had only been talking about it told me by email in March, “I remember

Showposts,DietPradahasexpanded—and publicly for a couple of weeks. They were how frustrated I was at the industry, and

become so divisive that obvious allies polite, circumspect, generous with their the way it felt like originality wasn’t just

sometimes hesitate to defend Liu and time, and extremely careful. In recent being ignored, it was being stifled by the

Schuyler. Diet Prada, once a niche phe- years, Diet Prada has granted interviews people that held all the cards at the top.

nomenon for and by fashion’s chattering only in writing. Though they wrote con- All the attention and reward was being

class, now has 2.8 million followers and versationally and with candor, including heaped on a handful of people.” She felt

is fairly mainstream; Liu calls it “a hub for about their personal lives, I got the feel- a sense of injustice when already success-

fashion, pop culture, politics, and social ing that they insisted on email for control ful people profited from ideas seemingly

justice.” Meanwhile, the Great Show’s or self-protection. I don’t entirely know, plucked from smaller creators and unac-

fate—cancellation—has become a main- though, because every time I asked, Liu knowledged movements.

stream fear, fixation, and flash point. declined to explain beyond the fact that “They stirred up the industry,” said

Call-and-response rituals have developed emails were a policy “based on some veteran fashion journalist Christina

around Diet Prada’s signature genre of advice given to us by friends in the indus- Binkley, who worked at The Wall Street

discourse, the social media callout: apolo- try” that, when asked, he also declined Journal during Diet Prada’s rise. Liu and

gies, denunciations, backlash, clapbacks, to explain. Schuyler skewered legends and docu-

defiant right-wing media tours, explana- The pair launched Diet Prada mented phenomena usually discussed in

tions of “nuance,” and promises to “do anonymously in late 2014 to call out whispers, such as cultural appropriation

better.”Schuylerdescribedholdingherself purportedly copycat fashion designs and sexual harassment. By May 2018,

accountable as “a never-ending process. by posting side-by-side runway photos Diet Prada had nearly 400,000 follow-

It’s like anti-racism—it’s not an act with on Instagram. “Diet Prada” refers to ers and was “the most feared Instagram

an end goal, it’s an ongoing practice.” watered-down imitations of the work account in fashion,” according to The

The process has placed a target on of Miuccia Prada; the first post juxta- Business of Fashion, which now lists the

Diet Prada’s back too. As the internet posed a Raf Simons–designed Dior coat pair in its index of the industry’s 500 most

outrage cycle matures, callouts increas- with an earlier, similar one from Prada. influential people.

ingly draw meta-callouts: accusations of (Five years later, Simons became the Diet Prada’s fans have sometimes

included those they criticize: In 2017,

the account called out Gucci for seem-

CALLOUTS HAVE BEGUN TO DRAW ing to rip off Harlem tailor Dapper Dan,
META-CALLOUTS— himself a fashion underdog routinely

ACCUSATIONS OF HYPOCRISY, BIAS,
IGNORANCE, BULLYING, AND

hypocrisy, bias, ignorance, bullying, and FAILURES IN “DOING THE WORK.”

failures in “doing the work.” News outlets

alternately scrutinize and take cues from

players on social media, as do readers, co–creative director of Prada.) At the accused of violating luxury trademarks.

who sound off on their own platforms. time, Liu and Schuyler were in their 20s The company responded by collaborat-

As Diet Prada grows, Liu and Schuyler and working as accessories designers ing with the tailor and helping to rebuild

have found themselves in a vise. On one for New York milliner Eugenia Kim. Liu his atelier. Soon after, Gucci invited Liu

side are popular pressures similar to those interviewed Schuyler when she applied and Schuyler to take over its Instagram

they harnessed to throw rocks at giants for a position, which became her first account during Milan Fashion Week.

(and to gain nearly 3 million followers full-time job. Schuyler, who is now 33, “They invited us to analyze the collection

fluent in the language of internet back- had moved to New York from north and spot their references, and we are find-

lash). On the other side are power players Florida, where she was born and raised, ing their transparency refreshing,” Diet

with deep pockets who squeeze with the to pursue fashion. Liu, who is now 36, Prada wrote in a #Sponsored post. Later

customary methods of crushing their was born in New York City and raised that year, Financial Times writer Lou Stop-

enemies, including expensive lawsuits. upstate. He returned to the city after pard theorized, “Gucci appeared to be

Like the one in Milan, where a judge is studying art and fashion in Chicago. calling a truce, but some might interpret

OCTOBER 2021 95

the sponsorship (they will not disclose the own (significantly more expensive) ver- first saw them backstage as they circu-

fee) as an awkward compromise” after sion. From the outside, those interactions lated on Weibo. (Instagram is blocked in

Diet Prada arguably “savaged” the brand could be seen as playfully adversarial, but China.) Then models began to field calls

and designer Alessandro Michele about the brand’s lawsuit describes them as part from their agents. “People were rushing

Dapper Dan and others. Still, Stoppard of a Diet Prada “smear campaign” that out of there,” said Melvin Chua, CEO of

wrote, “In an industry where advertisers spanned five years and “reached peak the Shanghai-based PR firm that man-

still have a hold over what a fashion writer pervasiveness and aggressiveness on the aged the show’s guest list. (Chua is also

might publish, Diet Prada throws its accu- occasion of an important Dolce & Gabba- my cousin.) “The backstage looked like

sations around like hand grenades.” na event and show planned in Shanghai.” somebody ransacked it, because people

Today, Liu and Schuyler both consider By the time of the Great Show, expos- were in the middle of hair and makeup,

DietPradatheirprimaryoccupation.They ing racially insensitive moments in and changing.”

have a manager, Estate Five cofounder fashion had become part of Diet Prada’s After the Great Show’s cancellation,

and Bag Snob blogger Tina Chen Craig, stock-in-trade, but Liu acknowledges that some argued that the fiasco should be a

and have worked with brands such as Fer- covering the episode was a turning point. wake-up call for international brands. “As

ragamo and Tommy Hilfiger. They also “I think it was the first time I got to speak I have voiced time and again publicly and

sell merchandise and premium subscrip- out for my own community,” he said of his privately, western brands seeking to enter

tions. Liu says that Diet Prada’s ethics first post about the cannolo video. Liu’s and expand in China should be aware of

prevent some collaborations by rejecting parents, who are Chinese immigrants, Chinese cultural sensibilities. Instead of

“fast fashion with its exploitative labor lived in New York City’s Chinatown dictating everything from head office,

practices” and brands that lack diversity: when he was born. His mother’s first U.S. they would gain a lot from listening to

“It’s tough, though, because it feels like job was in a garment factory. His father the opinions and insights of their Chinese

every day a new scandal is coming out washed dishes at a restaurant. The family teams,” said Angelica Cheung, then the

about how shitty a company is. There’s later moved upstate to own and operate editor in chief of Chinese Vogue.

really not many we can work with, and a Chinese restaurant. As a teenager and “If you want a bigger slice of the profit

we’re okay with that.” during summers home from college, Liu pie, then listen to the people,” wrote Brit-

worked as a cashier and delivery person. ish Chinese fashion blogger Susie Lau

“Growing up as a queer person of color in on Instagram.

BY THE TIME Liu’s and Schuyler’s names a predominantly white town, I’ve often China Market Research Group CEO

became known to the public in 2017 found myself intimidated and at a loss Shaun Rein conducted focus groups

(at the hands of a rival fashion blogger for words when confronted with racism about the #DGLovesChina videos. Reac-

who subsequently received a takedown and bigotry,” he wrote in March in a state- tions were overwhelmingly negative, he

notice for infringing Liu’s copyright on a ment about the lawsuit. When Diet Prada said, due to “the sexual overtones and

selfie), they had already achieved a level called out #DGLovesChina, he said by the denigration of Chinese culture.”

of clout that some spend their lifetime email, “seeing that people understood Rein’s company studies Chinese con-

chasing. When Diet Prada stormed the why this was problematic made me feel sumers, in part, to advise American

gates, fashion’s gatekeepers paid atten- seen and heard.” financiers on international investments.

tion. “Stefano trolled our account fairly

hard in the early days,” said Schuyler. The

earliest Diet Prada citation in the Dolce &

LIU AND SCHUYLER DO NOT SEEGabbanalawsuitdatesto2017,soonafter
Diet Prada’s @Gucci takeover. The post, THEMSELVES AS JOURNALISTS.

THEY BELONG TO A NEW ARENA
OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE WITH

NORMS, ETHICS, ALLIANCES THAT HAVE “Chinese are very sensitive to imperial-
NOT YET BEEN DEFINED. ism,” explained Rein, invoking China’s

“century of humiliation” under Western

rule. Focus groups saw Dolce & Gab-

bana’s interest in China as exploitative:

on @Diet_Prada, showed a Dolce & Gab- “To be honest, it was surprising how Westerners denigrating China while

bana window display that “takes a stab” fast it reached China and the action that taking advantage of its wealth, a phe-

at an aesthetic attributed to Gucci. In the the people took,” said Liu. “I had never nomenon Rein linked to the legacy of the

comments, @stefanogabbana defended seen anything like it.” Opium Wars. Or, in Diet Prada’s words:

himself: “Gucci copy us in many different The screenshots of Gabbana’s alleged “#DGLovesChina? More like #DGdes-

way!!! This is one of…please say sorry to DMs, in particular, hit a nerve. Terence perateforthatChineseRMB lol.”

me!!” The episode went meta after Diet Chu, CEO of Apax Group, the produc- Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gab-

Prada released #PleaseSaySorryToMe tion company that staged the event, said bana were in Italy when they apologized

T-shirts. Dolce & Gabbana then sold its he thought they were a joke when he on video. Seated at a table with folded

96 VA N I T Y FA I R

hands, the designers spoke directly fashion history, red-carpet photos, and a reason why so many journalists find

into the camera with little affect: “We analysis of runway shows. Despite their them maddening. Sherman described

love your culture and we certainly have reputation for criticism, the pair offer Diet Prada as a mix of industry-shaking

much to learn. That is why we are sorry,” significant praise for public figures they news that she cannot afford to ignore

said Dolce. Gabbana apologized “to all admire. Still, whistleblowing remains and aggressive negativity seemingly

of the many Chinese people throughout Diet Prada’s signature and, perhaps, designed to “create havoc and upset

the world.” Diet Prada shared the video, competitive advantage: Who other than people in a nonconstructive way.”

then roasted it in a post that played Brit- Diet Prada, with its millions of fashion- “In Fashion, Who Will Cancel the

ney Spears’s “From the Bottom of My literate and hyperdigital followers, could Cancelers?” asked GQ last year, when

Broken Heart.” crowdsource stories about fashion icons staff writer Rachel Tashjian argued that

For all the corporate panic about can- sliding into strangers’ DMs? fashion’s ideological avant-garde has pro-

cellation, Dolce & Gabbana’s lawsuit But Dolce & Gabbana is not alone in gressed past Diet Prada and “towards a

more nuanced court of public opinion.”

The piece came after a Diet Prada post crit-

“THEY’RE MILLENNIALS AND icizing the Gap’s partnership with Kanye
THEREFORE, I THINK, THEY BOTH ASPIRE

TO LIVE THEIR IDEALS RATHER
THAN SIMPLY PLOTTING A CAREER PATH.”

against Diet Prada is the rare document

that ostensibly quantifies such damage.

The lawsuit estimates that the brand

spent 20 million euros on the Great Show its distaste for Diet Prada. When Liu and West’s brand Yeezy that, in pursuit of

(about $23 million), an event that could Schuyler solicited donations to cover LOLs and outrage, failed to acknowledge

have generated “hundreds of millions” their legal bills, an anonymous user set the Nigerian British designer in charge

in revenues; instead the company lost up a rival GoFundMe called “Help D&G of the collaboration, Mowalola Ogun-

“dozens of millions” when several shop- Sue Diet Prada to Oblivion.” “While we lesi. “Fight me @diet_prada,” Ogunlesi

ping websites dropped it. For Stefano do find Dolce & Gabbana’s marketing tweeted next to a video of herself swinging

Gabbana’spersonal suffering, the lawsuit ideas offensive, there’s nothing more a purse of her own design.

seeks 1 million euros. For the brand’s non- offensive than Diet Prada’s preening, In spite of these peer reviews, Diet

economic suffering, 3 million euros. self-serving ‘takedowns,’ ” wrote the Prada has continued to broaden its

The lawsuit’s most significant financial user. The account does not appear to be mandate. Recent coverage has included

claim is about reputation. Citing celeb- serious. (As of March, it had raised $60 videos from couture fashion shows in

rities’ disavowals and business deals from eight people. Diet Prada had raised Paris and Venice, Sports Illustrated’s first

gone awry, it asserts Dolce & Gabbana $55,091 from more than a thousand.) But trans cover model, two slideshows about

has since 2018 spent 150 million euros it speaks to a certain type of criticism Diet blackface on TV in Europe, a celebration

annually to counteract Diet Prada and Prada has received. of queer fashion pioneer Rudi Gernreich,

will continue until the court orders Diet “I thought that they would evolve into a critique from the left of Juneteenth as a

Prada to remove dozens of posts and something more responsible, and they in national holiday, photos from the set of

admit wrongdoing. All told, as of press some ways became more irresponsible,” the new Sex and the City, discourse on

time, Dolce & Gabbana’s claims against said Business of Fashion reporter Lauren violence against women in Pakistan, and

Diet Prada were upwards of 562 million Sherman, who believes the size of the split-screen images of two Dior dresses

euros, or $665 million, if not “hundreds account’s following calls for journalistic and a pair of loafers that could be con-

of millions” more. rigor. She compared the account’s trajec- sidered copying. There were news clips

“I don’t even know how many life- tory with that of the website Fashionista, about Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and an

times we’d have to work to be able to where she once worked, which started as explainer in which two cartoon women

make up the damages they’re request- a one-woman blog in 2007 and now, with discuss the matter: “Israel isn’t a coun-

ing,” said Schuyler. a reported monthly readership of 2.5 mil- try?” “No, they are a settler colony. Settler

lion, hews to conventional newsroom colonialism is a form of colonialism that

standards for fairness. Dolce & Gabbana’s seeks to replace the native population,”

AS DIET PRADA GREW, Liu says, he and lawsuit argues that Diet Prada’s appetite reads one portion.

Schuyler “started to approach our fash- for the salacious may come at the expense Discussing Diet Prada’s growth, Liu

ion coverage from a more intersectional of facts, such as posting a rumor that “Ste- said, “With the resurgence of the BLM

angle.” Diet Prada’s fashion coverage fano was high off his head when he sent all movement, we also made a conscious

includes posts about fat phobia, toxic the racist stuff ” labeled “If this is true...... decision to break outside of just fashion

workplaces, #MeToo allegations, racism .” Gabbana’s lawyers say it wasn’t. news and dedicate space to amplifying

in retail, influencer ethics, celebrations of Liu and Schuyler do not consider important issues and elevating margin-

under-recognized designers, features on themselves journalists, which could be alized voices.” C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 0 2

OCTOBER 2021 97

Mr. Weber’s Confession hooked up with her when she was impaired. administration that I thought I could trust in
How could she consent when she was out a dire situation.”
C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 7 3 website says of it? they asked. The next day, they urged
that “over the summer of 2019” assistant her to contact the boy, which she did, tex- After M. reported her alleged assault,
principal Karen Lassey “worked with a group ting him that “what happened wasn’t right. Exeter began its investigation. “They asked
of students” from EASA and other student I don’t think I was able to consent to you. I me if I felt threatened by” the alleged attack-
organizations to “redesign the process of don’t even remember parts of it.” er, she said, “and I said ‘no’ because he hadn’t
investigating and adjudicating cases of sex- beaten me up or anything.” She had to see
ual misconduct by a student.” According to M. said the boy then texted her back, say- him frequently, as they participated in some
a spokesperson, the primary change was the ing he was upset that he had “hurt” her—so of the same activities. “It was very uncom-
creation of a misconduct review board con- upset that he “implied that he was going to fortable and anxiety-producing,” she said.
sisting of deans and faculty members who hurt himself.” M. said she felt that no mat-
review “the findings of the investigator” ter what the boy had done to her, “I would When I asked Deb Bonner—a sexual
and render “a decision regarding appropri- feel bad my entire life” if he went so far as assault prevention educator who hosts the
ate disciplinary and educational responses.” to commit suicide, so she texted him: “No, podcast Prevention Is Now for the Prairie
“Principal’s Discretion” is now gone. it was my fault. I instigated it.” Center Against Sexual Assault—about best
practices in such cases, she said: “Schools
“THE PROCESS EXETER puts you through was “That text would be thrown in my face need to take steps to ensure the safety of
harder for me to deal with than my assault,” later by the administration,” she said. bothparties,which includestrying toseparate
said the young woman I’ll identify by one of them as best they can. What are their sched-
her initials, M. She was the student whose Several friends who knew of the alleged ules? Do they have to pass each other on their
alleged sexual assault at Exeter sparked the assault began to urge M. to report it to the way to class? This can be a real juggling act,
protest, in addition to the students’ more school. When I spoke to one of them, her but they need to try and switch things around.”
general frustration. classmate Gillian Quinto, Quinto confirmed
that she had told M., “You definitely need to Exeter had faced a lawsuit in 2016 for
In the spring of 2019, M. had a panic report this.” taking more extreme steps toward separat-
attack; she had a history of suffering from ing students involved in sexual misconduct
them. She was taken to a local hospital and A few days after the alleged assault, M. allegations, as reported by the Globe. In this
given Ativan, a drug used to manage anxiety, went with another friend to talk to Christina case, the school had asked a boy accused of
also used presurgically as a sedative. Com- Palmer. She said she spent “an hour or two” sexual misconduct and harassment toward
mon side effects include sedation, dizziness, “pretty much explain[ing] everything that a girl to leave the school, but his parents sued
weakness, disorientation, and unsteadiness. had happened.” M. said that Palmer “pushed” for him to be allowed to return, which he was.
“I was taking it around the clock in a pretty her to reveal the name of her alleged attacker,
heavy dose,” she said. because “there needs to be consequences,” “It was very disturbing,” said Collins,
and so M. did name the boy. The school then 21, who was a freshman at the time. “There
When she returned to the school—where filed a report about the alleged assault to the were a lot of boys rallying around [the boy]….
she was a popular senior—friends took care Exeter P.D.; but since M. was 18, she was able There was a dodgeball tournament where all
of her, making sure she was okay. After to avoid a police investigation. “I didn’t want these boys pulled up their shirts and their
spending time with one friend, a girl, M. to press charges,” she told me. “The police chests said, ‘Free [the name of the alleged
started hanging out with a boy—both of thing scared me in the sense that it could perpetrator].’ ”
whom knew that M. was sedated. M. and the become public,” and “from what Palmer said,
boy were on their way out to go for a walk the school investigation would be quick and M. said that Palmer collected evidence
when M. said he told her, “Oh, I have to get justice would be served.” from her: the texts between her and the boy,
my coat.” M. then went with the boy to his pictures of the marks on her neck. “They
room where, she said, he sexually assaulted According to the National Sexual Violence were like, we’re going to conduct a very thor-
her. The encounter ended with the boy say- Resource Center’s website, the majority of ough investigation,” M. said. “ We’re going to
ing he had to go somewhere. He walked her sexual assaults, an estimated 75 percent, are bring in an outside party. ” That outside party
back to a mutual friend’s dorm and left. never reported to the police. “The prevalence turned out to be one of the “independent
of false reporting cases of sexual violence is investigators” the school says it “retains” for
When M. got to the dorm—a girls dorm, low,” it says, yet when survivors come forward, sexual assault cases. M. said she thought the
Wheelwright Hall—her friends became con- many face scrutiny or encounter barriers. For woman who interviewed her was a lawyer.
cerned, seeing there were marks on M.’s neck example, when an assault is reported, survi- Exeter officials did not respond to questions
and chest, “which I didn’t even remember vors may feel that their victimization has been about whether this investigator was a lawyer
how they got there,” she said. She told her redefined and even distorted by those who for the academy.
friends that she and the boy had “hooked investigate, process, and categorize cases.”
up,” without going into details. That night, According to RAINN, of every 1,000 sexual M. said the school never suggested to her
she said, her friends “freaked out a little assaults that are reported, approximately 975 that she herself might want to have an attor-
bit,” feeling it was wrong of the boy to have perpetrators will walk free. ney at this interview, or even her parents,
who were not informed that the interview
M. AND I had a lot in common, I realized, as was taking place. Actually, it’s Exeter policy
we talked on the phone. We were both sexual that “parents, guardians or attorneys may
assault survivors, as well as alleged victims not attend or listen in on interviews” during
whose testimony had been discounted by these investigations.
Exeter. The same administration, after doing
its investigations, ultimately didn’t seem to M. said the school’s investigator asked her
believe either one of us—not me, a woman in “weird questions about my history with” the
my 50s who said that nothing bad had hap- alleged perpetrator, “like, had I led him on?…
pened to her at the school, or M., a teenage It felt like they were trying to do something
girl who said that something did. so they wouldn’t have to pursue disciplin-
ary action against him. They were trying
“I loved the school up until that point,” M. to paint a narrative like, ‘Oh, maybe he got
told me. “I lost a lot of trust in adults in the confused.’ ” She said the investigator also
asked her “about what I was doing sexually

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