Back Row with Amy Odell

Jill Demling started as Anna Wintour's assistant in 1998, around the same time as Lauren Weisberger, who went on to write The Devil Wears Prada. Anna promoted Jill to entertainment editor, and she spent the next 18 and a half years deciding who got the cover of Vogue. She reveals which cover Anna wouldn't let her forget, how Beyoncé got her first Vogue cover, and why Angelina Jolie raided Gwyneth Paltrow's rack.

Jill now hosts the Going Rogue podcast. Check it out on Apple:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-rogue/id1814440700
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@UCifqLV2sQB7b9WufQimRyqw
And Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7CIDU8Gib1FRvscacNw4SR

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
02:30 Anna's "next September" test
08:00 Egg sandwiches, voicemails & Burger Heaven milkshakes
12:45 Lauren Weisberger & the real Emily
18:30 What The Devil Wears Prada gets wrong
22:30 Why celebrities replaced models on covers
33:30 How Beyoncé landed her first Vogue cover
41:00 Photo approval & Beyoncé's no-interview cover
📷 Follow Back Row on Instagram: @backrow
📷 Follow Amy on Instagram: @instamyodell

Follow Jill Demling
📷 Follow Jill on Instagram: @jilldemling

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy recently joined The Sam Sanders Show to talk about the rise of AI slop in fashion. Thank you to Sam and his team for allowing Back Row to republish the interview here!

-------

Even the fashion industry can’t escape AI slop.

Fast fashion brands are using AI to pump out new looks and trends, and speed up production at unsustainable rates. It’s a business model that relies much more on algorithmic data than human design. Chances are you’ve even seen plenty of these products in your social media feeds.

Sam chats with fashion journalist Amy Odell, host of the ‘Back Row’ podcast, about AI’s influence in the industry and how we can all be better consumers. Plus, is high fashion on life support? Amy also breaks down the perils of luxury shopping today.

The Sam Sanders Show is a production of KCRW and Sam Sanders Productions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Van Meter spent five years inside Kim Kardashian's world for his new biography, Citizen Kim: The Woman Who Created the Future. He talks about what her rarefied world of fame and wealth is really like, her childhood front-row seat to the O.J. Simpson trial, and how Kanye West got her into the Met Gala. Plus: what Jonathan could and couldn't learn about how the sex tape was released, and whether Kim is laying the groundwork to run for political office.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:00 How Jonathan Got Five Years of Access

05:30 Inside Kim Kardashian's House (and Her 24 Staffers)

12:00 Kim Air: Kim's Private Jet

30:30 Kim and the O.J. Simpson Trial

40:30 The Kim Kardashian Sex Tape

45:30 The Paris Robbery

48:00 Kanye, Anna Wintour & the Met Gala

55:00 Will Kim Run for Office?

Subscribe to the Back Row newsletter: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe

Buy Citizen Kim: The Woman Who Created the Future: https://link.amazon/B0cKsNzKY

Follow Back Row: @backrow · Follow Amy: @instamyodell · Follow Jonathan: @jonathanvanmeter

Edited by Chrissi Harris.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

*SUBSCRIBE to the Back Row newsletter for more coverage like this: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Go Premium and save three months on an annual subscription.*

Referenced in this episode:

Facelift confessions, part 1: https://www.backrow.net/p/facelift-confessions-part-1-the-brutal-realities-of-getting-work-done

Facelift confessions, part 2: https://www.backrow.net/p/facelift-confessions-part-2-expect-an-emotional-toll

In 2004, Fox turned plastic surgery into primetime entertainment. The Swan reality show gave contestants about $200,000 worth of surgery each, put them on crash diets, banned mirrors for three months, and then put them in a beauty pageant. Nine million people watched. Erin Lee Carr, director of 'Mommy Dead and Dearest' and 'Britney vs Spears,' goes back to the women 20 years later in her hit Hulu documentary, The Swan: Behind the Mirror — and tells Amy what the documentary couldn't.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

04:45 Getting the Swans to talk again

10:00 "I almost died for reality television"

19:30 How much choice did they have? "1%"

22:45 Starvation diets and spoonfuls of peanut butter

26:00 The nude photos Dr. Haworth kept

28:50 The $5 million contract

36:50 "Would you do it again?"

40:00 A classic Anna Wintour story

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUBSCRIBE to the Back Row newsletter for the FULL Fashion Month Awards podcast and get more coverage like this: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Save three months on an annual subscription.

For pod ONLY, sign up in Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-row-with-amy-odell/id1843400835) or Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/0wpDOgcuWKjpH9WxklNqI4).

The spring 2027 shows just wrapped in Paris, a year after the "Great Reset" brought new creative directors to Chanel, Dior, and many more. Amy is joined by Dana Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Deluxe, Gods and Kings and Fashionopolis, to hand out Fashion Month Awards.

They get into John Galliano's PR rehab after the canceled Met show, who's having the biggest sophomore slump, and more.

The full episode for Premium subscribers includes awards for Best Runway Stunt and Best Overall, plus analysis of John Galliano's weak Zara launch and Virginie Viard's explosive book.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
04:30 Biggest sophomore slump
10:45 Best show nobody talked about
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices