The Monday Media Diet with Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez

On Procare, Five Decembers, and James Surowiecki

Lauren Sherman (LS) is a friend of WITI and one of our rare repeat MMD guests. She teamed up with Chantal Fernandez (CF), her co-author of Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon for a round two. We’re happy to have them with us. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourselves.

Lauren: I’m a fashion correspondent at Puck, wife of Dan, mom of Fritz, and co-author of Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon.

Chantal: I'm a fashion features writer at The Cut at New York Magazine, where I've written about rising prices in fashion, Abercrombie's unbelievable turnaround, and the shopping habits of the ultra-wealthy. I recently spent three years diving deep into the fascinating and polarizing history of Victoria's Secret with Lauren Sherman.

Describe your media diet.

Lauren: Drastically reduced since I last did this. Who has time? Still, it’s NPR-KPCC for most news-news and yes, Twitter. Every Puck author (really). The New Yorker, NYMag, Town & Country, Interview, L’Étiquette, W, and The Gentlewoman for fashion and style. The New York Times (Jacob Gallagher in particular) and Page Six. I still don’t understand how cable news exists or why those people get paid so much money. For newsletters, of course Feed.me and Afterschool.

Chantal: First thing in the morning, I read The New York Times or The New Yorker and, depending on the headlines of the day, listen to podcasts from those publications or maybe The Guardian or NPR. Throughout the day, I’m lurking on Twitter, Slack, Instagram, and TikTok — depending on my mood and patience — trying to catch anything that might be helpful for future stories or our daily coverage on The Cut. I get a million Substack newsletters — too many to actually read, but I almost always browse or catch up on weekends. The Daily Mail is my longtime guilty pleasure. At home, we get New York Magazine (of course), The New Yorker, and Harper's in print. I commute listening to podcasts like Popcast or Who Weekly. We don’t have live television except for a few months a year when my husband gets YouTube TV for something sports-related, but I’ve never turned it on myself.

What’s the last great book you read?

Lauren: All Fours! I promise it’s worth trudging through when you want to stop. (And there’s a moment halfway through where a lot of people, including me, wanted to stop.)

Chantal: Five Decembers by James Kestrel. It’s a mystery thriller about a policeman in Hawaii that begins right before the attack on Pearl Harbor and leads to all these unexpected places. I love WWII historical fiction and crime novels, so this is my absolute sweet spot.

What are you reading now?

Lauren: Intermezzo (sorry, but I am a 42-year-old woman and live in the world). Also, Le Carré's A Murder of Quality.

Chantal: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I love films and books about the strange and often heartbreaking transitions between cultural eras, which this novel so beautifully captures.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

Lauren: Look at the masthead (or to see if they still have a masthead).

Chantal: I start with the shortest pieces or reviews just to get a sense of the issue. And I usually look at every page quickly first to see what’s on offer unless there’s a feature I’ve already mentally bookmarked from seeing it linked online.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

Lauren: The archives of The Financial Page, James Surowiecki’s beloved business column that ran from 2000 to 2017 in The New Yorker. I still miss it!

Chantal: I absolutely love Pandora Sykes’s Substack, Books + Bits, which is mainly focused on book reviews but is jam-packed with all sorts of critical observations and recommendations. If you miss The High Low, her podcast with Dolly Alderton, which ended in 2020, this newsletter is for you.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone?

Lauren: Procare.

Chantal: Love is maybe not the right word, but I recently discovered FoodRecalls, which lists all the listeria breakouts and other funky stuff to avoid. I never knew pre-made grocery store salads were so dangerous.

Plane or train?

Lauren: Plane. I hate inefficiency.

Chantal: I dream of a high-speed train that runs from New York to Chicago.

What is one place everyone should visit?

Lauren: Reddit.

Chantal: Madrid. I’m biased because my mother grew up there, and I’ve been lucky to visit so many times. It may not be as obvious to tourists as Barcelona, but the combination of art, history, food, and nightlife truly cannot be beat.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into.

Lauren: I’m not really a rabbit hole person, but…send me your celebrity gossip and I will verify it with backup in less than one day.

Chantal: After re-watching The Crown recently, I got very distracted reading about the Duke of Windsor’s Nazi ties and his strange life after his abdication. (Almost every episode of The Crown leads me down a rabbit hole of weird British history. To me, that’s a huge part of the appeal of the show.)