Decode Sessions

Billions are still being spent, but shoppers are losing trust, discounts are becoming predictable, and brands could be paying a much higher price than they realise. While Chanel and Hermès refuse to discount, Alo Yoga is turning Black Friday into an exclusive members-only event. Meanwhile, brands like The Ordinary and Allbirds are rewriting the rules entirely. So, is Black Friday still a retail go...

Is Frieze becoming the new Coachella of the art world? As Frieze London 2026 takes over Regent's Park, we explore why luxury brands like Tiffany & Co., JW Anderson, Stone Island and Deutsche Bank are investing in art, culture and exclusive experiences. From Ari Emanuel's nearly $200 million acquisition of Frieze to the rise of immersive brand activations, we break down how art fairs are becoming p...

What can Paris Fashion Week teach us about where fashion marketing is heading? In this episode of Decode Sessions, Anna takes us inside Paris Fashion Week 2026 to look beyond the runway at the marketing strategies shaping fashion's biggest week. From L'Oréal turning its Fashion Week presence into a global marketing moment to the rise of public activations and creator-led experiences, we explore ho...

Underdays didn't start with a business plan, it started with a disappointing trip to a lingerie sample sale. Five years later, co-founders Oria Mackenzie and Amelie Sala have built a wellness-driven underwear brand with a cult UK following, a skincare-infused fabric line, and a US expansion that's growing faster than either of them expected. We talk about why underwear has been the most overlooked...

We sat down with Michael Edelmann, CMO of 111SKIN, to talk about modern luxury marketing, from Harry Styles and celebrity influence to TikTok, K-beauty, and the loyalty that keeps a community coming back. Drawing on a career across Gucci, Balenciaga, Business of Fashion and Dr. Barbara Sturm, Michael brings a rare outside-in view to a category obsessed with ingredient claims and quick wins. We get...

A single TikTok about grief scented perfume made people cry and buy a fragrance they'd never smelled. Three years later, Phlur is doing $100M+ a year and just sold to private equity. We break down how Chriselle Lim turned a divorce into "Missing Person," why fragrance layering and wardrobing are rewriting how Gen Z buys scent, and the quiet operator behind The Center, Ben Bennett, who's run this e...

Marks & Spencer went from British High Street staple to sold-out viral moments, a live shoppable Ibiza runway show, and a Formula One takeover. In this episode of Decode Sessions, we break down exactly what changed at M&S. The leadership shift, the Gillian Anderson campaign, the 600-account TikTok infrastructure, and the F1 partnership, and unpack why it's landing so hard with Gen Z. Five clear ta...

"Brand loyalty and virality are not the same metric. Reformation built one of the most talked about retail concepts in fashion, and then forgot that the experience is not the content." This week Anna talks about how she walked into Reformation in Sloane Square on a random Friday and left with more questions than purchases. What she found was one of the most fascinating fashion brand strategy case...

"A fútbol jersey is no longer just something worn for 90 minutes on the pitch. It is a fashion statement, a collector's item, a symbol of cultural identity and one of the smartest luxury fashion brand strategy tools available right now." Football shirts stopped being sportswear years ago. Now they are cultural currency and the luxury fashion brand strategy opportunity they represent is one of the...

"Most brands chase trends. Alo chased a woman. They followed her from the yoga studio to the street, from the street to the airport, from the airport to the wellness club, from the wellness club to a superyacht in Cannes." A catalogue arrived in the post. Beautifully produced, heavy in the hand, unbranded on the outside. What happened next is a masterclass in luxury athleisure brand strategy. A se...

"Clubbing is out. Vitamins are in. The wellness economy has built a better version of the nightclub, and the fashion and beauty brands that understand this will win Gen Z." The wellness economy is the fastest growing consumer trend reshaping fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands in 2026. In this episode Anna and Caitlin decode why 37% of UK nightclubs have closed since 2020, why 24% of UK adults ab...

"Live shopping conversion rates are 10 times higher than traditional e-commerce. The fashion and beauty brands that move now will own this space before it gets crowded." Live shopping, social commerce and e-commerce strategy are reshaping how fashion and beauty brands sell in 2026, and most brands are still sleeping on it. In part two of our TikTok Shop and live shopping series, Anna and Caitlin d...

Everything brands need to know about TikTok Shop: the $64 billion platform changing the way we shop. This week on Decode Sessions, we're diving into one of the biggest shifts in modern commerce: TikTok Shop. With billions in revenue, one-click purchasing and a generation that's shopping through content rather than search, TikTok Shop is changing the way brands sell. But while the opportunity is ma...

The Everlane you used to love is soon to probably be nothing of what it used to be. This week on Decode Sessions, we're unpacking two very different brand stories. Everlane, the poster child of "radical transparency", has been acquired by Shein, sparking outrage across fashion and sustainability circles. Marc Jacobs has been sold by LVMH after years of strategic missteps, raising questions about l...

Most brands say they want a community. What they actually want is an audience that buys things. The problem? People can tell the difference. This week Anna and Caitlin decode two things that start with C. Coach the brand and community the buzzword. And both conversations are more connected than you might think. Coach has been around since 1941, longer than most French luxury fashion houses. But by...

Money can buy a seat at the Met Gala. The question is whether it can buy culture. This week Anna and Caitlin tackle the most controversial fashion moment of the year. The Met Gala 2026. Dubbed the Tech Gala. And the question dividing the Decode Sessions studio: did tech bros ruin fashion's biggest night or did they have every right to be there? Here is what actually happened. Jeff Bezos and Lauren...

Susan Yara sold Naturium for $355 million after three years. Iskra Lawrence built Saltair into a beauty brand people genuinely swear by. One that sits in both Space NK and Boots simultaneously, something almost no brand manages to pull off. This week Anna and Caitlin decode exactly how they did it and what every brand can learn from both. But first, why are indie beauty brands dominating right now...

Five years ago Facebook changed its name to Meta and told everyone we were all going to live in the metaverse. Fashion bought in. NFTs, digital runways, 3D catwalks. And then quietly it all fell apart. Now the pendulum has swung completely the other way. And this week Anna and Caitlin decode exactly what that looks like. Meta has signed a 10 year lease on Fifth Avenue, positioned between Dior, Guc...

Is Coachella dead? Absolutely not. It just stopped being a music festival a long time ago, and the brands that understand that are winning big. This week Anna and Caitlin decode what Coachella actually is in 2026. Hint... it's not really about the music. With 125,000 attendees a day, half a million across two weekends, $120 million in ticket sales alone and a brand ecosystem worth over a billion d...

Matthew Blazy opened the Chanel show with a 50 year old woman with grey hair and no obvious cosmetic surgery. And the fashion world lost its mind. This week Anna and Caitlin decode why that moment matters far beyond fashion and what it tells every brand about presence, realness and what Gen Z actually wants right now. Then things get a little unexpected. Nido, the gel sensory toy that sat in museu...

Anna sneaked into the Jellycat experience at Harrods without queuing. There were people standing in the rain on a side street waiting for over an hour to get in. And the question is not how she did it. The question is why anyone is queuing at all for a soft toy that has not changed in decades. This week Anna and Caitlin decode four very different brand moments that all point to the same truth. Jel...

A $20 smoothie. A Barbie collaboration. A matcha drink that has somehow become a marker of cultural credibility. What do all of these have in common? They are not products. They are cultural moments. And the brands behind them have figured out something that most brands are still trying to catch up with; people do not buy things anymore. They buy into worlds. This week Anna and Caitlin get into th...

The beauty industry is being rewritten by independents. In this episode of Decode Sessions, we sit down with Milo from Rollr to unpack why indie brands are dominating cultural relevance, how community is replacing traditional marketing, and what really creates cult status in beauty today. From the premiumisation of deodorant to the future of founder-led brands, this conversation explores the new r...

Founder of Forest Colard and Caro E Padel, Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree and contributor to SLMan, Tunde sits at the intersection of fashion, entrepreneurship and youth culture. In this conversation, we explore how Gen Z is reshaping the rules of influence — from mental health and evolving social habits to quiet luxury, community-led style and the growing importance of authenticity. As both a founde...

From Vogue's creative shift (Chloé Malle & Anna Wintour in conversation with The New York Times ) to Skims' new campaign and Salomon's fresh creative direction, what happens when heritage brands rewrite their narrative?