Caught on Tape

Fashion People

In this special episode of Fashion People, host Lauren Sherman is joined by Chris Black and Jason Stewart of How Long Gone to discuss their upcoming live awards show, 'The Ghanis,' set to take place at

Key takeaways

• The Ghanis awards show is a satirical yet inclusive celebration of fashion, culture, and identity, with categories like 'Gay Guy of the Year' and 'Ally of the Year.'
• CFDA CEO Stephen Kolb has been placed on leave following controversy involving PETA, highlighting ongoing tensions in the fashion industry.

Main topics

• The Ghanis Awards Show
• CFDA CEO Stephen Kolb controversy with PETA

Notable quotes

'What if the Las Culturista Culture Awards were for straight guys and women instead of gay guys and women?' – Chris Black on The Ghanis.

Conclusion

This episode blends humor, industry insight, and cultural commentary, showcasing how

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:04) Hello and welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's Fashion and Beauty Memo Line Cheat. And today with me on the show is Madeline Hill, co-host of Sports Gossip. She's here to discuss U.S. Open fashion on and off the court, Joe Burrow's custom aloe trousers, Anthony Vaccarello's impending exit from Saint Laurent, New York Fashion Week, and plenty more. Plus, up top, how long gone's Chris Black and Jason Stewart? Join me to chat about the Ghanis, their inaugural award show, as well as CFDA CEO Stephen Kolb's Speaker 1 (0:39) battle with PETA. Speaker 3 (0:44) Happy Tuesday, everyone. Hope you're having a great week. I'm back in Paris for a week. It's a really busy one. I want to get going with Chris and Jason, but just to let you all know, right before I sent out line sheet on Monday night, the CFDA board released a statement about Stephen Kolb, their CEO, who we talk about quite a bit on the podcast. Speaker 3 (1:08) And that he is going to be placed on leave. I'm going to just read the statement. CFDA takes this matter very seriously. And as a result, Mr. Kolb has been placed on leave pending a full review. CFDA as an organization is committed to working with dissenting voices to find commonality and is engaged in efforts to move the American fashion industry forward while upholding the values of our membership. including respectful engagement with differing viewpoints. I mean, the immediate reaction from people was like, how is he not already just resigned? Does this mean he didn't just step down? I have no idea. I haven't done that reporting yet. But anyway, it doesn't really change our conversation much. But I knew this was going to happen. That something, something would happen. We'll see what's next. But please read line sheet, especially on Monday. It's an interesting piece. It says a lot about the state of the American fashion industry and also just like how the fashion system works at present. I think you will appreciate it and feel free to send me Speaker 1 (2:14) any feedback you wish. Thanks so much. Speaker 3 (2:20) Jason Stewart and Chris Black, welcome back to Fashion People. Speaker 5 (2:25) Hey, thank you. Happy to be here, Lauren. Great to see you. Speaker 3 (2:28) What is this view that you just showed me, Jason? Speaker 4 (2:32) Nine Orchard Hotel, room 11W. That's pretty nice. How much are you spending a night on Speaker 3 (2:39) that? Speaker 5 (2:39) Don't worry about that, Lauren. Don't ask questions. Don't ask money questions this early in the show. Does Speaker 3 (2:44) DLX still rep Nine Orchard? We Speaker 5 (2:47) go direct to Larry. Don't even get started on us. Don't even play with your blowout. You be spending Speaker 4 (2:52) money too. Don't play with me. We only deal with founders, but DLX, what does that stand for? Speaker 3 (3:01) I don't, it does, it sounds, it does stand for one founder, I think. Delacroix. No, Speaker 5 (3:08) it does actually, it does. Guillaume Delacroix. Of course, I was with him on Friday night. Speaker 3 (3:13) Yeah, we're big fans of DLX on Fashion People and How Long Gone, which. Speaker 4 (3:19) Totally. Speaker 3 (3:20) Guys, I want to, love Justin Padgett. We need to talk about, first of all, Happy birthday, Chris. Is today your birthday? Yeah, Speaker 5 (3:33) today is my birthday. Are Speaker 3 (3:35) you 4'4"? I'm Speaker 5 (3:36) 44, yeah. I'm celebrating by recording a podcast with Jason and having a meeting and then running some errands. And then we're going to go see Charlie XCX tonight in Brooklyn. Speaker 3 (3:46) Congratulations. Jason, it was also your birthday this week? Speaker 4 (3:50) Last week. Or recently? I've been celebrating all month. You know, birthday month happens over here. I don't really like the one day, you know? But Speaker 3 (3:59) you are also a Virgo. Speaker 4 (4:01) Yeah. What about you? You a Virgo? Speaker 3 (4:06) But I have a concentration of people in this, like from basically September 9th to September 15th or so. There's a large concentration of people I know with birthdays in that time. Speaker 4 (4:20) It's nine months after New Year's Eve, you know? Totally. Yes, Speaker 3 (4:25) that is exactly what it is. I am early August, which is the same kind of thing, but more Thanksgiving. Speaker 4 (4:31) Sure, sure, sure. I was just saying it's also the birthday of the Ghanis, our inaugural award show. Okay, so Speaker 3 (4:38) tell me, so the reason you're both on this podcast, and then we do need to talk about the Stephen Colb thing. Speaker 4 (4:43) Oh, okay. Really quickly. Tell Speaker 3 (4:46) me about the Ghanis. They're happening the day that this recording is published. Speaker 5 (4:52) Yeah, at Racket in New York City. So yeah. What is Speaker 3 (4:55) Racket? Speaker 5 (4:56) Racket is the old Highline Ballroom in Chelsea, which if you've lived in New York, you've definitely been to the Highline Ballroom. Speaker 3 (5:01) I've been to the Highline Ballroom. Speaker 5 (5:03) Yeah. Tell Speaker 3 (5:04) the listeners about the Ghanis and why. Is it going to be live streamed? What is it? It's Speaker 5 (5:09) not. In classic How Long Gone fashion, it's in the room for the heads. It'll be recorded, but it will not be live streamed. We can't compete with Kai Sanat now that he's making clothes. The streaming world is open for us, but we decided not to take our swing this time. But now the award show is a joke that we've been talking about for a while. Basically, like, what if the Las Culturista Culture Awards were for straight guys and women instead of gay guys and women? Yeah. So we've re-engineered it the best that we can. Speaker 3 (5:40) I'd argue that your awards are also for gay guys as well. Speaker 4 (5:45) No, Speaker 5 (5:45) of course. So everyone's Speaker 3 (5:47) included. Speaker 5 (5:48) Everyone's included. Oh, we're very all-inclusive. We're all-inclusive. Like a sandals. Speaker 3 (5:52) Speaking of gay men, what are some of the categories that are up for the winning tomorrow? Gay Guy Speaker 4 (5:58) of the Year, of course. There's also Ally of the Year, which is gay guys who are nice to us. Yeah, we reversed Ally. Speaker 5 (6:07) Gay Bader of the Year. Strali, we can call her. But then also, also Classic Best Dressed, Album of the Year, Best Regular Restaurant. It Girl of the Year. It Girl. Speaker 3 (6:20) Who is nominated for best dress since this is fashion people? I Speaker 5 (6:24) don't really remember. It's kind of a moving target. One second. Speaker 4 (6:27) The only thing I know is we're gunning for Sam Hine to win It Girl of the Year. Obviously. I'm trying to. Yeah, what do we got here? Speaker 5 (6:37) Best dress, we got Sam, Mark Gaducci, our friend Tim, Maddie Matheson, Luke from Luke's, and Mark Ronson. Speaker 3 (6:46) You know who I saw we, Alex and I saw on the street on Saturday night? Ben. Speaker 4 (6:52) Who's Ben? Ben? Ben Shelton? Speaker 3 (6:56) No. Speaker 4 (6:58) Your friend Speaker 3 (6:59) that's the designer in Chicago. Ben Edgar. Speaker 5 (7:03) Yeah, we were at dinner last night. He's one of the greats. He looked Speaker 3 (7:06) super nice. He looked great. But he's not on the best dressed nominees list. He doesn't Speaker 5 (7:11) want that kind of smoke. He doesn't want to be part of that. What Speaker 3 (7:15) about It Girl? Other than Sam, who else is on that ranking? It Girl, Speaker 5 (7:18) we got Audrey Hobert. We got Rachel Sennett, Chalita Collins, Veronica from SNL. I can't say her last name. Mary Beth Barone, Jake Shane, and Ivy Wolk. Speaker 4 (7:28) I Speaker 3 (7:28) only know who like a quarter of those people are, but I'm looking forward to learning more about them. Has everyone who's nominated been on your podcast? Speaker 5 (7:37) No, no, no, no. Honestly, it's a little more. Award shows are interesting because now I'm learning. As a longtime watcher, I'm learning that the puzzle. pieces of the whole thing are very difficult if you want the winner in the room. You know what I mean? So it's like, it requires a lot of logistics. Especially Speaker 4 (7:54) when the award show happens the day after the Emmys. And a different seat. Understood. Yeah. Speaker 3 (8:01) That makes sense. So what are you all wearing? Are you being dressed by Loewe? Speaker 5 (8:08) No. I don't, you know, we're wearing tuxedos like adult men. Like I'm not trying to get funky with it. Speaker 5 (8:16) Yeah, tuxedo. Tuxedos that we own. Speaker 3 (8:19) That's what I was going to say. Do you both own your own tuxedos? And I guess neither of you have gotten like super fat or skinny, so they probably still have fit for years. Speaker 5 (8:28) Well, I just got my first tuxedo from Sid Mashburn like recently for a wedding. Like I would say like less than a year ago. Speaker 3 (8:34) That is what Ben Edgar was wearing on. Saturday night a Sid Mashburn suit. He looked very nice. Speaker 5 (8:40) I have to rep for my hometown. I mean, yeah, that's Atlanta's finest. I have to put on. Speaker 4 (8:44) Whereas my tuxedo Speaker 5 (8:46) is Speaker 4 (8:46) from Tom Ford. Speaker 3 (8:48) Wow, Jason, they make one long enough for you? Is it custom? How does that work? Speaker 4 (8:53) Our friend Mary Kate at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills, a dear friend and How Long Gone supporter, was able to track down something long enough. And the tailor team over at the Atelier, you know, bring a sleeve out a little bit, bring a hem out, and it fits. Speaker 3 (9:10) I'm excited for these red carpet looks. Where can, if someone wants... Speaker 4 (9:15) Threadscarpet brought you by Speaker 5 (9:17) matter. Say her name. Speaker 4 (9:20) Threadina. Speaker 3 (9:23) So, I guess the final question is, if someone wants to engage with this content, how can they if it's not going to be live streamed? Speaker 5 (9:31) What do you mean? Have you ever heard of Instagram? There's going to be shit everywhere. No, we're doing, we have a, David, my friend David Gerzev is shooting portraits like Vanity Fair, Oscar style. Great. And then we'll have all the red carpet coverage. Of course, there's going to be plenty of, there's going to be plenty of interviews and the whole thing. It'll, it'll be, there'll be enough. Speaker 3 (9:48) Okay. Well, I look forward to linking to the best dress list the next day. Speaker 5 (9:52) Thank you. Yeah. We'll make sure to send a full recap. Speaker 3 (9:58) Okay. So one other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Speaker 5 (10:01) We're about Speaker 3 (10:02) to report Speaker 5 (10:02) how long water we're going to talk about it too, but go ahead. Let's talk about our good friends at PETA. Speaker 3 (10:08) Okay, so this will publish, I don't know when you all are gonna, you'll probably publish How Long Gone Before. This goes live at 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning, essentially, 3 a.m. Eastern. Speaker 4 (10:22) Okay. I Speaker 3 (10:23) am writing something in Monday's issue about what happened. As of recording this, it is, what time, 11 a.m. Eastern? Yeah. Speaker 5 (10:34) Or Speaker 3 (10:34) no. 10 a.m. Eastern on Monday. Stephen Kolb has not resigned. So this guy, Stephen Kolb, who is the CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, which Jason, had you even heard of it before? Hell no. Before yesterday. I Speaker 4 (10:51) was like, Stephen Kolb did what? Speaker 3 (10:54) He like. I don't even know what to say, but that he got violent with two PETA protesters at the car show. Speaker 4 (11:01) What is his Speaker 5 (11:02) title again? Sorry. CEO of the CFDA. He's like the boss of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Lauren, that shit is insane. Speaker 3 (11:09) It's a real job. And he's had it since he was used to be the president and then became the CEO. But he's he's effectively run this organization, which is the closest thing fashion has to a union. It's not a union. But it's a nonprofit trade organization since 2006 for 20 years. But Chris, you are the one that that alerted me to it. I was on my way to the airport. Malik was at the show, which we own. You know, why were we even at the show? Speaker 5 (11:39) So good because he I just don't understand how you get to that point when, you know, everybody in that room has a camera. That's all. That's my I'm like, dude, you know that you're there's no way this doesn't go viral. Speaker 3 (11:52) And if there is anyone who has not watched this, it's just, I just, it's everywhere. It's Speaker 4 (11:58) a, it's a cost show, right? Yes. Speaker 3 (12:02) And Speaker 5 (12:02) Peter protesters show up and then he manhandle like, like mouth cover. Then he goes to chicken, a leg lock. Yeah. Speaker 3 (12:11) Two of them. One guy apparently was recording something and. And another guy and the and then the woman. He was like, he basically bear hugs her from behind and is like, but why? After the first one, I don't know which one came first, but like. There had to be security people there. I'm sure. I know. I know for sure they knew PETA was PETA is always a fashion week, but that the CFDA in particular had discussed it internally that they were going to be around and they needed to watch out. It's a show. Speaker 5 (12:46) This is the classic job. If you want it done right, you got to do it yourself. That's what Kolb said. He said these security games are going to pay 30 an hour. I've been taking my Muay Thai classes and I'm going to kind of. exercise my right as a citizen to make a takedown. Speaker 3 (13:02) Do you see? Here's the thing. Do you all think that he should quit? Like, what do you think should happen? I don't know. The board could fire him. I guess there is a board of directors that includes people like Tory Burch and Emily Bodie. What do you guys think they should do? Like, do you think he should step down? They Speaker 4 (13:19) have to tell him to quit. That's how this I'm going to say no, because if there's a security guard, the security guard would. do the same exact thing. They would remove the person, unfortunately, with some force. And the security guard would be given a gold star. You did your job. Speaker 3 (13:35) I have seen many security guards get rid of PETA people over the 20 years I've been going to fashion shows. It is way more elegant than that. They go and they just swipe them out. I've seen it. They've gotten into Hermes shows. These people get in everywhere. Speaker 4 (13:53) It's more of a push out than a fucking choke out. I would say Kolb, he doesn't feel like a Samoan bodybuilder like often a security guard does. So he had to exert more force and passion. But also, you know how fashion week goes, the drama of the shows. I've seen Dior and I. I know how stressful it can get. You've got the cost show laid out perfectly. It's going to be beautiful. And then you've got a pita bitch coming in here. It's going to drive you crazy. It's amazing that it's Koss. Like, I didn't know they used real stuff. Speaker 3 (14:23) Yes. That's the thing. Like, what do they... They definitely don't use fur, so do they, I guess, use... Speaker 5 (14:29) No, I think it's about wool, which is even fucking more... I think Koss was the only show they could get into. Speaker 3 (14:35) That's... But I think they've been to other shows this week. Speaker 5 (14:38) Oh, really? I mean, Koss is also a giant brand. I mean, it's not like... But I mean, it's a giant break. The celebrities Speaker 3 (14:45) who were at that show, the amount of money, Lupita Nyong'o was there. Like, she must have had her own security. That's why it's just... Speaker 4 (14:54) I think Cole just broke. He'd had enough. He had a one and a half Celsiuses that morning and he was... He did Barry's Speaker 5 (15:02) Chelsea at 515 and he was fucking worked up. Speaker 3 (15:05) You know, it is... funny and it's not funny and it is just like it was honestly disturbing i talked to a strategic communications person about it and they said i don't think he needs to resign it's completely crazy but pita and but it's pita and the fashion people who famously do not live in the real world see galliano probably think he did the right thing which like there is not one fashion person even a vegan fashion person who thinks pita who likes PETA. Everyone in fashion hates PETA, but like, I Speaker 5 (15:40) think it's just, it just, the look on his face is so maniacal. It's too much. I'm not even saying he did the right thing or the wrong thing. I'm just saying, yo, you look crazy. And that's the, that's not, Speaker 4 (15:52) I don't think this, we don't even have to talk about PETA. You just look crazy. How's it real? When you