Good morning everyone. Nobody could possibly be prepared for what Feed Me has in store for New York Fashion Week. I’ll tell you on Monday!
Today’s letter includes: Breaking news about The Washington Post, breaking news about a 20-year-old fried chicken restaurant in Brooklyn, Patreon is paying Substack writers to come to their platform, Carbone is coming to London luv, and I don’t know if NYU freshmen know how good they have it.
Most of us know the thrilling feeling that comes from buying access to a newsletter’s paywalled section. Or the sensation you get after hearing the words “off the record, but…” in a conversation. Both of those happen to me a lot.
But before all that, there was the visceral reaction to seeing an email come in from
’s Opulent Tips — an invite-only newsletter about fashion and lifestyle. Lifestyle in the real meaning of the word, a real life with real style, doused with intellectualism and humor. And most importantly, strongly held OPINIONS (I feel sad for those who aren’t familiar with those). I searched my inbox today to see what Rachel said when I first requested a spot on her subscriber list in June of 2021:
And welcomed I was. But fast forward four years and there was one problem: I was here (on Substack) and she was there (a simpler cyberspace, sending simple, non-coded Gmail emails). Until now.
I found out last week that is joining Substack. Their first writer will be Tashijan, who will be writing a pop-up letter for fashion week called
. I spoke to her this morning about The Post’s plan for publishing on Substack, and what this means for Opulent Tips readers.
“We want to be nimble and try things and see what we can learn about our work and our audience and new audiences.” - Rachel Tashijan
How do you see The Washington Post's game plan on Substack playing out? Is there something that will make your strategy different from other legacy media brands that have joined the platform?
“I don't necessarily see Substack as an alternative to "legacy media." I see it as an additional tool to experiment with and a fantastic way to connect with new readers (I love getting into the mix in the comments!) I think a successful journalist in 2025 should be on as many platforms as possible and have a tailored strategy for each one, so it was important to us that we publish original content exclusively on Substack and really engage with the platform on its own terms.
I'd consider Post Runway something like, Opulent Tips Goes To Milan and Paris. I don't report from the chiffon trenches (as Andre Leon Talley lovingly called the fashion world) for my newsletter, so now I'm going to bring a bit of that madcap approach to the access-driven reporting and criticism I do for the paper. And I'll still be doing all my usual reporting and runway reviews for The Post.”
Will there be a paid strategy?
“Post Runway will be free. Woohoo!”