My Internet: Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez
The 'Selling Sexy' co-authors agree on the greatness of 'Industry.'
Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.
Most weeks, we quiz a “very online” person for their essential guide to what’s good on the internet.
Today we welcome the co-authors of Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unravelling of an American Icon: Lauren Sherman, the fashion correspondent at Puck and host of Fashion People; and Chantal Fernandez, a fashion features writer at The Cut. Chantal once had a viral tweet about a deranged bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that she saw someone unwittingly order at The Wing, and Lauren watches every cooking show from the Bon Appetit diaspora. —Nick
EMBEDDED: What’s a recent meme or post that made you laugh?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: The trailer for the Robbie Williams biopic where he’s played by a CGI monkey.
EMBEDDED: What shows up on your TikTok For You page?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: A delightful man who is a chef at a sorority house and grills dozens of chicken breasts at a time. He finishes every dish off by saying, “What a treat.” Also clips of Pesto the penguin.
LAUREN SHERMAN: It’s not accurate. I’m not on there enough.
EMBEDDED: Do you make TikToks? What format works best for you?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Never.
LAUREN SHERMAN: LMAO. No.
EMBEDDED: Do you still tweet? Why?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Only to promote my work or support my union at New York magazine. It just doesn’t come naturally to me!
LAUREN SHERMAN: Yes. Mostly for work. Sometimes there’s still no better place to say what you have to say.
EMBEDDED: Have you tried any alternatives to Twitter?
LAUREN SHERMAN: Yes, unsuccessfully.
EMBEDDED: What do you use Instagram for?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: I still love Instagram and am the most active there. I use it to catch up on fashion news and troll my friends and family. I also save lots of posts of things I want to buy but will never actually purchase.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Posting photos of my kid and getting my work out there.
EMBEDDED: What types of videos do you watch on YouTube?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Clips from The Graham Norton Show. Emma Chamberlain when she still posts.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Every cooking show that comes from the Bon Appetit diaspora.
EMBEDDED: Where do you tend to get your news?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: New York Times, NPR.
LAUREN SHERMAN: NPR, NYTimes, Twitter.
EMBEDDED: How do you keep up with the online discourse? How important is it to you to do this?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: I lurk and watch and judge. It’s essential for my job! At least that’s what I tell myself.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Twitter, Puck’s general Slack, group texts. It’s important!
EMBEDDED: What’s the last strong opinion you had about a story, topic, or controversy online?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Not my last strong opinion, but this is the one that comes to mind: In the end, I think Succession was overhyped. The final seasons were repetitive and disappointing. Industry is a much better show.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Nuzzigate, obviously. (Opinion is: Don’t send nudes!)
EMBEDDED: Where do you usually discover or learn about online trends?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Usually on Slack. My coworkers at The Cut or New York mag are always logged on.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Newsletters like
EMBEDDED: How do you find recommendations for what to watch, read, and listen to?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Substack, Slack, Instagram, Twitter and New York mag!
LAUREN SHERMAN: Podcasts
EMBEDDED: What’s something that you have observed about the online behavior of Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and/or Boomers?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: One thing that unites us all is an inability to read the article before commenting.
LAUREN SHERMAN: I think that generations are generally BS and you can’t ascribe certain qualities to certain groups. It’s just waves of change.
EMBEDDED: What are your favorite newsletters?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ:
LAUREN SHERMAN: After School,
EMBEDDED: Do you have a take on Substack?
LAUREN SHERMAN: I think it’s fine. I wish that the design wasn’t so uniform.
EMBEDDED: What’s one positive media trend? What’s one negative trend?
LAUREN SHERMAN: Positive: Working towards sustainable business models. Negative: Talented, smart people aren’t interested in being journalists any more.
EMBEDDED: Are you into any podcasts right now? How and when do you usually listen?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: I listen to podcasts in the shower and while I brush my teeth. I love Who? Weekly, The Watch, The Ezra Klein Show, A Thing or Two, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Popcast, Throwing Fits.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Running, and in the car. I listen to Poog, Jam Session, The Big Picture, A Thing or Two, Critics at Large, How Long Gone, Marc Maron, The Town, The Varsity, The Powers That Be.
EMBEDDED: Have you had posts go viral? What is that experience like?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: I once had a tweet go mini-viral. It was about a deconstructed and deranged bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that I saw someone unwittingly order at The Wing. (Remember the Wing?) The Cut wrote about it, and now I work there. Life is funny that way.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Yes, on Twitter, with an Ivanka Trump fashion story. It was fine, in that case.
EMBEDDED: Who’s the coolest person who follows you?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Tim Blanks
LAUREN SHERMAN: Katie Couric followed me on Instagram—unclear if she still does!
EMBEDDED: Who’s someone more people should follow?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Isaac Mizrahi may be the most charming man alive. He is always sharing some weird but amazing thing in his apartment, like an ironing board that pops out of some sneaky place, and he’s so opinionated and articulate.
LAUREN SHERMAN: This Meech guy is the funniest and smartest.
EMBEDDED: Which big celebrity has your favorite internet presence, and why?
LAUREN SHERMAN: Love Gillian Anderson. And Michael Keaton. Just very obvious they are not really thinking about how they are presenting, which is great.
EMBEDDED: Have you ever been heavily into Snapchat? Do you miss it?
LAUREN SHERMAN: There were like six months where it was my sitcom. And no, I don’t miss it.
EMBEDDED: When was the last time you browsed Pinterest? What for?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Probably for my wedding two years ago, when I was trying to figure out what different flowers looked like.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Last year, Looking for a pair of Prada sandals worn by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy in the late ‘90s.
EMBEDDED: How would you describe Tumblr’s legacy?
LAUREN SHERMAN: So much of how we take in information is derived from that era. But also: Remember how it was a big porn hub?
EMBEDDED: Are you in any groups on Reddit, Discord, Slack, or Facebook? What’s the most useful or entertaining one?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: I don’t post, but I lurk on r/nycinfluencersnark. It’s a wild place where people who theoretically hate a certain group of influencers track their activity with a level of dedication that astounds me. I often wonder if these people are the influencers’ most dedicated fans. It’s also just an easy way to catch up with a new group of fashion/beauty-ish influencers who otherwise would be impossible for me to follow individually—there’s a new one every week.
EMBEDDED: How has using LinkedIn benefitted you, if at all?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: I use LinkedIn frequently to find sources for stories.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Finding reporting sources, seeing who is checking out my profile.
EMBEDDED: Do you use Slack or another chat tool for work? What’s the best thing about Slacking with your co-workers? What’s the worst thing?
LAUREN SHERMAN: Best thing is that it’s contained and allows you to keep work convos out of your phone. Worst thing is that it can be a distraction.
EMBEDDED: Do you typically start searches on Google, Reddit, TikTok, or another source? Have you found Google’s “generative AI” summaries helpful?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Usually Google but my best recommendation is to use the New York Public Library’s free, remotely available research databases like ProQuest and EBSCO. You can find newspaper and magazine articles going back to the 1800s, probably earlier.
LAUREN SHERMAN: I just use Google, but Reddit is the best.
EMBEDDED: Are you currently playing any console, computer, or phone games?
LAUREN SHERMAN: lol no
EMBEDDED: What is your Wordle starting word?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: FARES or FATES depending on how I’m feeling.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Beast
EMBEDDED: Do any of your group chats have a name that you’re willing to share? What’s something that recently inspired debate in the chat?
LAUREN SHERMAN: One is called Toddler Town—that’s the only PC one.
EMBEDDED: What’s your go-to emoji, and what does it mean to you?
LAUREN SHERMAN: 🤣—I’m just always laughing at how silly people are.
EMBEDDED: Do you text people voice notes? If not, how do you feel about getting them?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: No, and it very much annoys me when people send them unless they are literally holding a baby or something.
LAUREN SHERMAN: I love sending them, I don’t love receiving them.
EMBEDDED: What’s a playlist, song, album, or style of music you’ve listened to a lot lately?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: A country/country-rock playlist, called Cripple Creek Ferry, that my husband made.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Waxahatchee everything, but especially the newest album Tiger’s Blood (my kid and I both love Katie Crutchfield)
EMBEDDED: Do you pay for a music streaming service, and if so, which one? When was the last time you bought a music download or vinyl record, CD, or tape?
LAUREN SHERMAN: Both Apple Music and Spotify. We buy vintage records all the time.
EMBEDDED: If you could only keep one streaming service for TV and/or movies, which would it be, and why? In general, do you prefer to get ads or pay more for ad-free tiers?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Max for the HBO shows, which are usually the only ones I really care about. Sometimes I’ll get Netflix to watch something specific (like the ultimate brain-killer, Emily in Paris), but then I’ll unsubscribe immediately after finishing it. I’d rather do that than pay for the lower ad tiers.
EMBEDDED: What’s your favorite non-social media app?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Letterboxd if that counts.
LAUREN SHERMAN: The Apple Health app.
EMBEDDED: What’s the most basic internet thing that you love?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Google translate
LAUREN SHERMAN: The fact that you can look up what day April 2 is going to fall on in 2025—you know, just having instant access to info.
EMBEDDED: Is there any content you want but can’t seem to find anywhere online?
LAUREN SHERMAN: Now that Homicide: Life on the Street is streaming, i don’t think so!
EMBEDDED: Do you regularly use eBay, Depop, or other shopping platforms? What’s a recent thing you’ve bought or sold?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: I love eBay. I’ve bought a bunch of vintage Victoria’s Secret catalogs there, including some of the very first editions in the late 1970s when Geena Davis was one of their models.
LAUREN SHERMAN: Bought an Armani jacket on The RealReal and a Nike vintage t-shirt on Etsy.
EMBEDDED: Is there a site you like for product recommendations? How do you decide, for example, which air filter to buy?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Strategist always!
LAUREN SHERMAN: I like the Strategist most for those types of sites.
EMBEDDED: Have you recently read an article, book, or social media post about the internet that you’ve found particularly insightful?
LAUREN SHERMAN: The recent season of Industry.
EMBEDDED: What’s the last thing that brought you joy online?
CHANTAL FERNANDEZ: Criterion Collection’s October special release trailers, specifically the Witches one.
LAUREN SHERMAN: This review of Selling Sexy.
Thanks Chantal and Lauren! Buy their book.
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