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With the Met Gala only a few days away, the Vogue offices are abuzz. The livestream hosts have been announced; the co-chairs are getting ready; and final adjustments are being made to all the looks. But the gala wasn’t always this starry, maximum-security event. To reminisce on the days of yore (when one could pick out a John Galliano slip dress from the Vogue closet and just call it a day), Chloe and Chioma spoke with the Plum Sykes—writer, editor, and forever It girl. As she warmly recalls, she was too busy being Carrie Bradshaw at Vogue to bother watching Sex and the City when it first aired.
“Who’s going to go and wear a chiffon Dolce Gabbana skirt like this to the office? Only me, or only someone who works at Vogue, you know.” So said Plum in a 2000 BBC documentary series called Boss Women, featuring Anna Wintour and some of her Vogue employees. Plum laughs fondly when remembering this clip, which recently went viral on TikTok. Indeed, thanks to Plum’s sharp wit and irreverent approach to fashion—which mainly involves not taking it very seriously, “because it’s not World War III, you know”—there is a lot of laughter in this episode. Her memories from prior Met Galas are rife with comical missteps, including a hilarious mix-up with Tom Brady.
Since her New York days, Plum has headed back across the pond to England, where she now lives in the Cotswolds. In fact, she has a new book coming out this month, Wives Like Us, inspired by her bucolic surroundings, which have been recently transformed into a Hamptons-esque escape for city dwellers, Gucci loafers and all. The group discusses the novel, which follows the interwoven tales of several of the Cotswolds’ wealthiest wives and the company they keep—namely homely children, executive butlers, possibly cheating husbands, ex-husbands, and corrupt MPs. It’s the spring read we all need!