Issue 25.
Why I never want to hear the word “taste” again, the mystery of The Row’s kidswear brand, Love Story’s creative relationship with the truth & more
Murphy’s Law
With three episodes left, it’s almost comical that we’re all waiting with bated breath to see how Love Story plays out.
As if we don’t already know how it ends.
Then again, this is Ryan Murphy.
Maybe he’ll forgo the tragic plane crash that ended the lives of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn and Lauren Bessette, and instead opt for an ending written by QAnon conspiracy theorists, who for years have insisted on the insane and bizarre narrative that JFK Jr. is alive and working with Donald Trump to save the United States from an evil cabal.
To dismiss that as crazy and impossible, Daryl Hannah would like a word.
The actress, who dated JFK Jr. from the late 80s to early 90s, has penned a powerful essay in the New York Times about her depiction in the show.
“ The character “Daryl Hannah” portrayed in the series is not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John. The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue.” wrote Hannah.
“I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press.”
“I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s. It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false.”
It's the first time Hannah, a major star in the 80s who appeared in films such as Wall Street and Steel Magnolias, has spoken publicly about her relationship with Kennedy.
And if you’ve seen the show, it’s not hard to see why this would push anyone to the end of their rope. The show’s version of her personality is completely unhinged, as if she’s just inhaled ten nangs in the local park every time she appears on screen.
It must be such a bizarre experience to see a real chapter of your life completely sensationalised and then taken as truth by millions.
And defending yourself against it is nearly impossible: what is she meant to do, create a mini-series with her version of events? I mean… I would definitely watch.
Love Story has never pretended to be a documentary. But there are definitely moments where Murphy and co have bent the truth a little too far.
Carson Griffith from Rich People Shit has brilliantly covered several plot lines that don’t marry up with their real-life counterparts: Carolyn “discovering” Kate Moss, the night before their wedding, and how the couple actually met (at Calvin Klein when he came in for a fitting, not at a gala as the show suggests).
Let’s just hope the cringe dance around John’s bedroom, and what might be the worst on-screen scene of all time — Naomi Watts as Jackie dancing to Camelot before dying, which I think about hourly — were written by someone who was extremely hungover the morning those scenes were conceived.
The Curious Case of The Row Kids
In the darkness of the wee hours of the morning when I can’t sleep, my brain typically enjoys torturing me with an exotic range of anxiety-inducing thoughts that leave me with a lovely sense of doom and panic to fall back asleep on.
However, for the past few nights I’ve been kept awake by one singular thought on repeat:
What on earth happened to The Row’s kidswear brand?!
Someone has to ask the hard questions in this life.
A few nights ago a leisurely scroll through MyTheresa led me to a product page for a cashmere jumper by The Row priced at just over $400.
Considering that a loose thread from the luxury brand founded by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen typically requires a trust fund, seeing only three figures on the price tag felt like a win for mankind.
If it was a mistake, I was going pull out my best Karen behaviour and demand the sale be honoured if the retailer said anything.
Until I noticed that the sizing for the jumper had a “Y” next to the number.
Then I looked more closely at the image and wondered why this jumper looked like it would barely fit over a garden gnome’s head.
It wasn’t until I looked closely at the brand name on the page - THE ROW KIDS - that it became very clear this jumper wasn’t destined for me parading around like a peacock all winter in heavily discounted designer cashmere, but for someone’s darling little four-year-old.
Confused yet curious, I clicked on the brand name to find out more only to hit a dead end and land on MyTheresa’s general kidswear homepage instead.
Now this is where things start to get a little weird.
The Row isn’t exactly a stranger to publicity: every move they make is heavily scrutinised. But multiple Google and TikTok searches, a thorough look through The Row’s official website and a scan of their Instagram page revealed… crickets.
Not a mini t-shirt in muted beige in sight.
We can be certain a launch definitely happened. There are countless articles and an Instagram post from The Row’s official account announcing the launch of The Row Kids in September 2021. The Olsens even spoke exclusively to W about their long-term plans for the brand.
“We started The Row with a T-shirt,” Ashley noted. “This collection was started in a similar way — we are focusing on the basics and building from there.”
Future collections were positioned as “a reflection of core and seasonal offerings.”
Almost five years later it’s been nothing but radio silence.
No media coverage. No public announcements. No further collection information.
Most baffling of all: when I typed children and kids into The Row’s website search bar, nothing came up.
Wholesale partners such as MyTheresa and Net-a-Porter still sell a range of items from The Row Kids, including a cashmere beanie for the bargain price of $235 (reduced from $583), organic cotton jersey tanks and my personal favourite: the Friulane velvet loafers which you can pair with an indigo robe to transform your child into a miniature Hugh Hefner.
Even if the collection was a one-and-done, you would think the brand would have officially confirmed the end of The Row Kids.
Instead The Row appears to have simply gone cold turkey — no statement, no archive, no acknowledgement that any of it ever existed.
A childhood with no elevated basics and precise tailoring? As if the kids of today haven’t been through enough.
The opinion section no one asked for.
RIP Taste
Defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as a person’s ability to judge and recognise what is good or suitable, especially relating to matters of art, style, beauty and behaviour.
This week, a funeral will be held to honour the life and memory of the word taste. It will be held at a beautiful restaurant (of course), and everyone must wear their best black attire.
While we may all weep at the memory of taste and what it gave to humankind, we must mark the occasion as a celebration of a long life well lived.
Taste began life with Latin origins as part of the word taxāre (meaning to assess, evaluate or examine), before moving into adulthood in the early 14th century (circa 1300), when the earliest surviving written examples used it to describe how one experienced food and flavour.
It reached its peak in 1755, when Samuel Johnson added it to A Dictionary of the English Language, defining it as both a sense of flavour and a faculty of judgement or discernment in art, manners and aesthetics.
Sadly, the good times weren’t made to last.
In the 2020s, taste became a vessel for banal Pinterest boards and Instagram carousels, pompous podcasts and contrived think pieces about what it is, what it isn’t, who has it and how one cultivates it.
Phrases such as” instinct”, “can’t be bought”, “either you have it or you don’t”, “travel”, “curation”, “art”, “risk” and “innate” whispered at me as I slept, judging me every time I pulled on a Uniqlo sweatshirt and UGG slippers to collect the washing.
But last week’s storm in a teacup involving creator Tamsin Wong and the hosts of the Style-ish podcast was the final straw. Larry David, where are you? There’s an entire season of Curb material to be mined from the online saga that erupted: literally over how taste is cultivated.
You’d think we were debating human rights at the UN!
Taste has officially left a bad taste in many mouths and most of us never want to hear the word again.
Commodified, overexposed and pushed so far from what it was meant to be, its now just another AI-slop term — though at least it won’t be lonely, joining its cousins quiet luxury and old money in heaven.
RIP Taste. We didn’t know how good we had it.
Sunday Rose Kidman Urban has landed her first cover for Elle Australia. Nicole gets plenty of mentions throughout the piece. Keith… less so.
This comment from Brad Goreski on a post from Interview Mag with Rachel Zoe sent me straight back to 2010. A friend recently told me comment sections are the only place online that still feels messy and unfiltered, and I couldn’t agree more. Thank god.
My entire personality right now is telling anyone who will listen how good Belle Burden’s Strangers is. Unsurprisingly, the film rights are triggering a bidding war, with Gwyneth Paltrow rumoured to star. Perfect casting.
This WSJ deep dive into the agents representing the world’s biggest influencers is fascinating. A useful reminder that behind every creator with millions of followers is a very serious business operation.
I know, I know. Let me basic okay! This conversation between journalist Amy Odell (author of Once Upon a Time, the book behind Love Story) and JFK Jr.’s former executive assistant is catnip if you’re even mildly obsessed with this story.
Brilliant ♥️
Love the “By the way” section! The snippets on other hot topics is really interesting, keep it coming🙌🏼