Back Row with Amy Odell

Latest Episodes:

Runway Robots, AI Influencers, and the Slop Takeover (with Taylor Lorenz) Nov 09, 2026

Show notes

Why are there so many robots on runways these days? From Vogue World Milano to London and New York fashion weeks, this is now, insanely, a Thing! Tech journalist Taylor Lorenz joins Amy to explain what's really going on here, leading Amy to think Vogue got hoodwinked.

Plus: the hyperreal AI influencers flooding Instagram — and whether anything can be done to stop them.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:20 Robots take the runway

07:20 Unitree, the trolls of robotics

11:00 Why is Vogue doing this?

24:20 Would you let a robot in your house?

27:00 AI influencers & Higgsfield

34:40 How human creators can compete

45:20 Will AI reshape our taste?

Buy Taylor's book, Extremely Online: https://link.amazon/B09d2AvU3

Follow Taylor: @taylorlorenz

Subscribe to Taylor's newsletter: https://www.usermag.co/

Follow Taylor's podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu4srHCWJrrjFyF0hHNi7lVFYssn35zog

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

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

Edited by Chrissi Harris.

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Luxury's Slump: Can Designers Save Fashion? (with Eugene Rabkin) [TEASER] Nov 05, 2026

Show notes

Third-quarter earnings are in, and luxury's slump isn't letting up. Kering and LVMH were down, Hermès grew but missed expectations, and Chanel seems like just about the only house that's winning. Amy brings back StyleZeitgeist founder Eugene Rabkin, author of Torn: Fashion and Postmodernism, to ask what's driving the downturn and whether designers can save it.The rest of the conversation, on the Paris protests, Chanelmania, whether the Birkin is over, and Anna Wintour chasing tech money, is for Back Row Premium subscribers. Sign up at backrow.net/subscribe to get newsletter access included with your subscription.CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:45 The Great Reset, one year in

07:30 Is McQueen headed for the mall?

09:45 Gucci's wholesale crutch

13:45 LVMH misses & Arnault slips

16:15 Is Dior really "gaining traction"?

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

Buy Torn: Fashion and Postmodernism: https://link.amazon/B07R1S4K7

Follow Back Row: @backrow · Follow Amy: @instamyodell · Follow Eugene: @eugenerabkin

Edited by Chrissi Harris.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Working for Anna Wintour & How Vogue Really Picks Its Cover Stars (with Jill Demling) Nov 02, 2026

Show notes

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/id1814440700YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@UCifqLV2sQB7b9WufQimRyqw And Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/7CIDU8Gib1FRvscacNw4SRCHAPTERS00:00 Introduction02:30 Anna's "next September" test08:00 Egg sandwiches, voicemails & Burger Heaven milkshakes12:45 Lauren Weisberger & the real Emily18:30 What The Devil Wears Prada gets wrong22:30 Why celebrities replaced models on covers33:30 How Beyoncé landed her first Vogue cover41:00 Photo approval & Beyoncé's no-interview cover
📷 Follow Back Row on Instagram: @backrow📷 Follow Amy on Instagram: @instamyodellFollow Jill Demling📷 Follow Jill on Instagram: @jilldemling

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The Rise of Fashion Slop (with Sam Sanders) Oct 28, 2026

Show notes

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!

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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.

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Inside Kim Kardashian's World with Her Biographer Jonathan Van Meter Oct 26, 2026

Show notes

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.

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The Swan: Inside Reality TV's Most Brutal Makeover Show (with Director Erin Lee Carr) Oct 19, 2026

Show notes

*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-tollIn 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

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Fashion Month Awards, Spring 2027: Dior's Slump, Chanelmania Continues, and Galliano Fallout (with Dana Thomas) [TEASER] Oct 13, 2026

Show notes

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.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction04:30 Biggest sophomore slump10:45 Best show nobody talked about

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Stop Impulse Buying: How Fashion Month Keeps You Broke (with Mrs. Dow Jones) Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

Mrs. Dow Jones (Haley Sacks) on how to stop impulse buying and why fashion month keeps you broke. Part One of two.For part two — about Birkins and fashion's play to woo the wealthiest shoppers — get a Premium subscription to Back Row: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Save three months on an annual subscription. Or 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)Haley Sacks, aka @MrsDowJones, joins Amy to break down how fashion month keeps us stuck in a cycle of broke. Every season the same trend gets planted on the runway, in your feed, and on influencers, and within two weeks a cheaper version shows up at Zara.Haley talks about how to stop impulse buying, why luxury goods are so expensive, and what it was like to grow up in one of the world's wealthiest neighborhoods. CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

01:30 How fashion month keeps us in a cycle of broke

04:00 From the runway to Zara in two weeks

08:00 Buy fewer, better things

10:00 How to stop impulse buying

16:00 The luxury pyramid and the $690 keychain

20:00 Is any luxury actually worth it?

22:00 Hunting a sold-out clutch with an AI agent

25:30 Haley's years as an Upper East Side nanny📺 SUBSCRIBE to the Back Row Newsletter: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe📷 Follow Back Row on Instagram: @backrow

📷 Follow Amy on Instagram: @instamyodellFollow Haley Sacks

📷 Follow Haley on Instagram: @mrsdowjones

📖 Buy Haley's book, Future Rich Person: https://link.amazon/B07xqeKEx🎙️

🎙️Follow Haley's Financial Tea podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/financial-tea-with-mrs-dow-jones/id1860939850

🎙️ Follow Haley's Financial Tea podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58anKIbkGzd5MkI3v0BjY2

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Meghan Markle Deep Dive, Part One: From Struggling Actress to Meeting Harry Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

Harry and Meghan are back in the UK, six years after leaving the royal family. In the first part of Back Row's deep dive into Meghan Markle, Amy and former Us Weekly and Hello! editor Justin Ravitz — who has interviewed Prince Harry and worked with the couple's team — trace Meghan's story from her Los Angeles childhood to the night she met Harry.

Part two is available to Back Row Premium subscribers.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

09:00 Meghan's Los Angeles childhood

12:30 Age 11: taking on Procter & Gamble

16:15 Briefcase No. 24 on Deal or No Deal

22:45 Landing Suits

30:00 The Tig blog and Meghan's Goop dream

35:30 Social climbing and Soho House

43:30 Humanitarian ambitions and meeting Harry

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

Buy The Palace Papers by Tina Brown: https://link.amazon/B02EAsx6X

Follow Back Row: @backrow · Follow Amy: @instamyodell · Follow Justin: @jaydubargh

Edited by Chrissi Harris.

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Fur Is Out of Fashion. Is Wool Next? Sep 28, 2026

Show notes

PJ Smith, director of fashion policy for Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society), has spent almost 20 years getting companies from Gucci to Net-a-Porter to go fur-free.

Now that most top fashion brands have sworn off fur, is wool the next big target for animal welfare activists? PJ talks about why, thanks to LVMH, the fur fight isn't quite over, how he got brands to change their mind about fur, and what's next.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:30 Why fur-free NYFW is historic

08:00 How Humane World actually changes brands' minds

18:30 Fur farming down 85% — the numbers

22:30 PETA vs. H&M: the wool protests

25:30 Is wool humane? Mulesing explained

46:30 Exotic skins: the next target

52:00 PJ's biggest lesson after 20 years

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

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

Edited by Chrissi Harris.