Amy Odell

New York

Journalist and Columnist and Author at Freelance

Founder and Editor at Back Row

Fashion journalist. Author of ANNA: The Biography, out 5/3/22. Subscribe: https://t.co/Oca55KGASa. Email: [email protected].

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Articles

How 'Sustainable' Fashion Became a Nightmare for Consumers

3 weeks ago | amyodell.substack.com | Amy Odell |Val Monroe

Forever 21 recently announced bankruptcy and the closure of its roughly 350 stores, leading to an outpouring of heartfelt nostalgia on social media. Millennials fondly remembered impulse-buying “But First Coffee” sweatshirts, ignoring the controversies — knockoffs, allegations of sweatshop labor — that defined the brand as much as its $7 going-out tops. Forever 21 brought fast fashion and its shoddy manufacturing practices into the mainstream.
Retail Confessions: Tiffany, Part III

1 month ago | amyodell.substack.com | Amy Odell

The Tiffany & Co. flagship in New York added a restaurant in 2017. This was a savvy move by modern retail standards. In recent years, luxury brands have opened more of these ritzy watering holes in stores in order to keep customers captive there for longer, spending more money and marinating in branding.
The Biggest Wins and Fails from Fashion Month

1 month ago | amyodell.substack.com | Amy Odell

The fall 2025 collections wrapped last week in a season that was — with the unexpected exception of Dsquared2 in Milan — all about Paris. The city had several big designer debuts, a party that earned the moniker “mini Met Gala,” and surely attracted media attention that wildly outpaced the other fashion capitals.
Live: Talking Fall 2025, Versace, Demna, and More with Dana Thomas

1 month ago | amyodell.substack.com | Amy Odell |Dana Thomas

Fellow fashion journalist , who writes Style Files, and I just did our first live video chat here on Substack. If you missed it, you can watch it above. (I will also publish the audio as a podcast soon.) We had lots of news to discuss, including:Donatella Versace’s succesion. The fall 2025 shows. Dana and I each gave our three wins and three fails from the recent season. Should fashion month be truncated? (Spoiler alert: Yes.)LVMH succession drama — will Bernard Arnault’s kids ever get a shot?
How the Fur Issue Got So Confused

1 month ago | amyodell.substack.com | Amy Odell

Thursday, March 13 at 1 ET please join fellow fashion journalist and NYT bestselling author and me on Substack Live. We’re going to discuss the fall 2025 season, Bernard Arnault, Meghan Markle, and more. News stories about fur being “back” have been everywhere lately. The Wall Street Journalreported that young customers want fur.
Men's Skinny Fits Are Over. Here's How to Loosen Up.

1 month ago | amyodell.substack.com | Derek Guy |Amy Odell

Today’s issue suggests some items that will be restocked when winter comes again. If you want to bookmark any of those or anything else you’re thinking about buying, I recommend the app Carted, which alerts you when items are restocked and go on sale. Today’s guest piece is by Derek Guy, whose commentary on menswear I’ve been addicted to for years. Over the last eight months or so, men I know have been asking me about what jeans they’re supposed to buy now that skinnies are over.
La moda ha renunciado a ser progre... y no pasa nada

1 month ago | milenio.com | Amy Odell

Este año, las semanas de la moda de Nueva York, Milán y París han sido descaradamente decadentes. El beige ya no está de moda, el rojo sí. Vuelven las pieles auténticas. El maximalismo de los 80 está dejando de lado el minimalismo de los 90. Sean Monahan, pronosticador de tendencias, lo llama la “estética boom boom”. Sombrero de Eric Javits. AP/EFE Hay que admitir que la opulencia es algo importante cuando creas y vendes cosas bonitas y caras.
Meghan Markle's Show Isn't 'Good', But She Won Anyway.

1 month ago | amyodell.substack.com | Amy Odell

When anthropologists look back at the early 2000s, they will study why women, particularly celebrities, wanted so badly to be lifestyle influencers. The success rate of lifestyle influencers seems to be even slimmer than that of new businesses, only 25 percent of which last 15 years or longer. Which may be why stars turned to launching beauty lines in the 2010s — a trend has pretty much stuck.
Fashion Has Given Up on Being 'Woke.' And That's OK.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Amy Odell

Fashion Weeks in New York, Milan and Paris have been unapologetically decadent this year. Beige is out, red is in. Real fur is back. Eighties maximalism is elbowing aside '90s minimalism. Sean Monahan, a trend forecaster, calls it the "boom boom" aesthetic. Admittedly, opulence is kind of the point when you are creating and selling beautiful, expensive things. But for the past decade, fashion was trying to be socially and environmentally conscious as well.
Oscar Fashion: Stealth Wealth’s Rich Switch

1 month ago | theankler.com | Amy Odell

Amy Odell writes about fashion and culture at her Substack Back Row. She's the author of the New York Times bestseller Anna: The Biography about Vogue legend Anna Wintour. The night before the Oscars, JeffBezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, attended Chanel’s pre-party carrying a quilted purse resembling a rocket. You know, like the one she’ll soon ride to space with her gals Katy Perry and Gayle King. It wasn’t her first rocket evening purse, but it may have been her first Chanel rocket evening purse.