“How long is this going to last, roughly?” is the first question Astrid Wendlandt asks me, before I can begin to ask any of my own. She’s sitting beneath the sloped ceiling of what I assume is an attic-turned-office space, books spread across the walls and a teak upright piano hovering at the back of the room. As the inquiry suggests, she’s a very busy woman. Over the course of 2024, the fashion journalist has re-established herself as a ruthless, formidable and sometimes controversial force in luxury reporting – but chances are you know her by a different name.
“Miss Tweed was launched in 2020, during lockdown,” Wendlant says of the website where she is editor-in-chief. “It was the end of the world, which I thought was the perfect time to launch a business.” And though the site has been running since then, 2024 was the year Miss Tweed properly crashed into our collective fashion consciousness, appearing as a source on countless sites like The Business of Fashion, Women’s Wear Daily, Hypebeast and *ahem* Dazed Fashion.
So, if you’re already reading this you’ll know the last 12 months have been racked by monumental shifts at the top of luxury fashion. In no particular order, 2024 has seen Virginie Viard exit her post at Chanel, Kim Jones vacate his position at Fendi, Hedi Slimane leave Celine, Dries Van Noten name Julian Klausner as his heir, Haider Ackermann replace Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford, Pierpaolo Piccioli exit Valentino, Alessandro Michele join Valentino, and John Galliano leave Maison Margiela after ten years at the top. Of all those exits – plus some that are yet to be announced – you best believe Miss Tweed has something to say. And, since the below conversation took place, Matthieu Blazy was announced as the new creative director of Chanel, confirming Wendlandt’s month-long assertion that he would be taking on the role.
You’ll find all that and more at Wendlandt’s infamous URL. Featuring the tagline “stories on fashion and luxury you won’t read elsewhere”, the semi-eponymous website was originally conceived as an alias for Wendlandt herself, but these days, as the subscription-based site grows, she sees it as much bigger than a pen name, but a “platform for excellent journalism.” When you visit the site, twee, line-drawn illustrations dominate the page, including one of Wendlandt in a tartan capelet with an owl, mid-flight, landing on her finger. But don’t be fooled: despite the homespun vibes, Wendlandt is an established journalist with a 30-year career, previously employed by The Moscow Times, the Financial Times and Reuters, where she worked as its first luxury goods correspondent for 13 years until founding Miss Tweed. A purveyor of fashion’s trade secrets, Wendlandt’s business background makes her perfectly placed to report on the comings and goings of the industry’s top brass – even if that means pissing a couple people off along the way.
In our not-so-secret rendezvous below, we chat fashion’s most formidable sleuth about the creative director chaos of 2024, getting kicked off Bernard Arnault’s Christmas list, and becoming fashion journalism’s “Joan of Arc”.
Hello Miss Tweed. Thank you for taking the time to speak to me today. I feel like you’re the busiest woman in fashion.
Miss Tweed: I am.
So it does feel that way?
Miss Tweed: Well no – I think it’s pretentious to say I am, but I don’t have much free time. I’m a mother of a 12-year-old, and I do have a private life!
When I mention Miss Tweed to people who work in fashion, they know the website but don’t necessarily know the person behind it.
Miss Tweed: That’s on purpose. I don’t want to be a celebrity. I don’t want Miss Tweed to be about me. I want Miss Tweed to be a platform for excellent journalism.
Where does the name come from?
Miss Tweed: So Miss Tweed was launched in 2020, during lockdown, when it was the end of the world, which I thought was the perfect time to launch a business [laughs]. ‘Miss’ is my personal revenge against former French president François Hollande, who thought France did not have more urgent and bigger problems to solve than to get rid of ‘mademoiselle’. And ‘Tweed’ is the tweed of Chanel and Sherlock Holmes. Miss Tweed is like the feminine counterpart of Sherlock Holmes. When I started my website there was an illustration of me with this tweed cape.
So you are Miss Tweed – but you’re also Astrid.
Astrid Wendlandt: I am.
“My best sources are my subscribers. They know that I’m never going to quote them” – Astrid Wendlandt
So, what do you think is the reason behind all these creative director shifts?
Astrid Wendlandt: The big topic right now in luxury is people don’t want to buy. People don’t want to spend silly money anymore. The high turnover [of creative directors] is partly because some designers did not work out, and also in the financial downturn there is a need for fresh creativity.
Are there any creative director scoops from Miss Tweed you’re particularly proud of?
Astrid Wendlandt: So I’ve had a couple of reveals – do you want the list? I believe Pierpaolo Piccioli, ex-Valentino, is going to Fendi. That should be announced shortly. I also believe Jonathan Anderson is going to Dior.
Oh! Obviously a journalist never reveals their sources, but when you’re researching for your stories and have to dip into your network – your web of contacts – are people more receptive of you or have their reactions changed since Miss Tweed has gotten bigger?
Astrid Wendlandt: Are people more chatty, is that what you’re asking?
Yeah.
Astrid Wendlandt: My best sources are my subscribers. They know that I’m never going to quote them, and they know that I will even hide or be vague about any information that only they could have. They get such a kick out of informing Miss Tweed and seeing it in print afterwards. But I do verify everything, and I never use only one source’s info, I’ll check it with somebody else.
So they’re people in the industry?
Astrid Wendlandt: Of course. Sometimes even CEOs.
So there’s this alleged blacklist and there were six other publications on the list, including Puck in the US, which put you in this group of brave fashion martyrs.
Astrid Wendlandt: I feel I’m a bit of a Joan of Arc or something.
And how do you feel about what you do being classed as “gossip”?
Astrid Wendlandt: You may have noticed, there are a lot of people in the industry – sorry, I’m rolling myself a cigarette – who think it’s totally unacceptable that a media site should publish information that has not been approved by the big groups. ‘This is scandalous!’ they’ll say. I had somebody who even wrote ‘Miss Tweed it’s time for you to take down your website!’ Really aggressive stuff.
These are people who think the media are just there to inform and pass on official news. But then I love to recall George Orwell’s famous quote. He said ‘journalism is printing something somebody else doesn’t want you to print. Everything else is public relations.’ That’s the kind of journalism that we do at Miss Tweed, and the day we do press releases then, frankly, I can close shop.
And how do you feel about what you do being classed as “gossip”?
Astrid Wendlandt: You may have noticed, there are a lot of people in the industry who think it’s totally unacceptable that a media site should publish information that has not been approved by the big groups. ‘This is scandalous!’ they’ll say. I had somebody who even wrote ‘Miss Tweed it’s time for you to take down your website!’ Really aggressive stuff.
These are people who think the media are just there to inform and pass on official news. But then I love to recall George Orwell’s famous quote. He said ‘journalism is printing something somebody else doesn’t want you to print. Everything else is public relations.’ That’s the kind of journalism that we do at Miss Tweed, and the day we do press releases then, frankly, I can close shop.
“I feel I’m a bit of a Joan of Arc or something” – Astrid Wendlandt
So, to the people who think it’s gossip, it’s actually just business?
Astrid Wendlandt: Basically, there’s gossip and then there’s several people who talk to me about the same thing. And then there are ways of checking. I don’t write gossip and I hate it when people say… sorry I’m looking for a lighter. Hold on one sec. Where is my lighter? My daughter’s coming home and then I can’t smoke, so it’s the only ciggie I’m allowed, you see? My cheeky fag. Yay! Found it. So what were we saying?
We were talking about gossip.
Astrid Wendlandt: So basically I don’t write about gossip. Miss Tweed doesn’t pedal rumours. And, in fact, the reality of my job is I spend a lot of my time killing things, killing information. I don’t publish everything people tell me, I spend most of my time checking information people tell me which turns out not to be true.
So you have a very rigorous approach to the website?
Astrid Wendlandt: Well, of course. Remember, I spent 13 years at Reuters, five at the FT, I started at The Moscow Times newspaper in Russia in the 90s. I have 30 years experience, and Miss Tweed is about fair, accurate and balanced reporting, just like the FT and just like Reuters. My business is not to pedal rumours. My business is to print information that I have done everything to check its validity.
There seems to be this juxtaposition between the endearing name of Miss Tweed and its homespun aesthetic, compared to the way you’re quite fierce and relentless with the way you pursue your stories. Was that on purpose?
Astrid Wendlandt: Yeah. It’s to add a light touch and humour to Miss Tweed. I think we are a bit like The Economist. We do things seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously.
One example of the way you pursue stories was when you recently purchased shares in Richemont [the parent company of Alaïa and Chloé] so that you could attend its Annual General Meeting. What was that experience like?
Astrid Wendlandt: To be honest, it was a James Bond operation. Because even though I had bought the share to go to the AGM, they wouldn’t record me as a shareholder. They tried everything to keep me out of there, to the point when I had to say ‘it’s illegal. You cannot do that.’
Wow. What gives you that kind of drive? Why do you do what you do basically in the luxury sector?
Astrid Wendlandt: I think it’s my way of saying independent journalism is not dead. Freedom of thought is not dead. Freedom of expression is still alive, and Miss Tweed is a way to give people hope in a world in which you see a lot of fake news. I want people to build a critical mind and see it’s possible to say out loud what people think in their heads. I print what people think, but nobody dares [say], because 95 per cent of most broadsheets and media are dependent on advertising revenues and therefore cannot write what is really going on.
The luxury business has become one of the main pillars of our global economy, it’s created millions and millions of jobs. It’s also a way for France to exist: Chanel and Saint Laurent are the best ambassadors. It allows French culture to travel around the world, and the same with Gucci for Italy. These brands have become very powerful. If you look at LVMH’s annual turnover, it’s more than France’s defence and education budget combined. It’s as powerful as a small country. In a democracy, you need to have a free flow of information, and the minute you lose that free flow of information then you can get away with murder. So what gets me up in the morning is to say it as it is.
I see.
Astrid Wendlandt: By the way, the one thing I do want to say is I have good relations with LVMH, with the press office, with Kering, with Chanel, with everybody. I have very good relations and they do answer my questions. It’s important to say because I am respectful of their work and the value they create, and I also write nice things about them.
Do you have any more creative director predictions for 2025? What about Galliano?
Astrid Wendlandt: I think he’s taking a break, and wants to explore options elsewhere. And the story I wrote about Galliano and Dior was that Anna Wintour was lobbying Arnault to take him back. It was not ‘he’s going to be the next designer of Dior.’ It was more of a light on the politics. But there are now a lot of brands without a designer. Galliano wants to explore options, otherwise he would have renewed his contract.
