I descend from generations of long-suffering Knicks fans. I remember my grandfather grimacing at the TV in our family home year after year, and my father shouting “C’MON” at the screen for as many years as he could stand it. As long as I’ve been alive, the Knicks were simply not good, and they haven’t won a championship since the ’70s. But at a certain point...the franchise began turning it around under our noses. When I attended a playoff game sometime in 2024 (way up in the nosebleeds), I was shocked that the vibe in Madison Square Garden was positively electric. Point guard Jalen Brunson—who would quickly achieve rock-star status and come to be known as the “King of New York”—had arrived and awoken the city’s ambitions. But after a few close attempts, the question still remains, and weighs heavily on Brunson’s mind as he spoke to VF writer Tom Kludt: Can the Knicks win it all?
The rest of today’s newsletter is also about outsiders making an impact. You’ve got an obituary celebrating the life’s work of the civil rights icon Jesse Jackson, who passed away at 84 years old today; a juicy interview with the directors of the new Netflix documentary, in which Tyra Banks atones for the sins of America’s Next Top Model; a profile of Brittany Hugoboom, the editor in chief of Evie magazine, the glossy conservative women’s magazine; and a scene report from a very horny, paranoid, red-pilled Valentine’s Day party; and a look how the “ICE Out” pins took New York Fashion Week by storm. |
ADRIENNE GREEN,
EXECUTIVE EDITOR |
In his four seasons leading the Knicks, New York’s most beloved athlete has restored the city’s belief in the possibility of its first NBA championship since the ’70s. |
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The real-life couple behind Netflix’s viral docuseries on Banks’s rare four-hour interview, their personal connection to the project, and why “some form of America’s Next Top Model is happening every day on TikTok.” |
A key deputy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson went from being a two-time US presidential candidate to an elder statesman of the Civil Rights Movement. |
“If American fashion wants credibility, it must stop treating immigration as a trend and start defending the people who make the industry exist,” says Mexican designer Patricio Campillo, who appeared after his runway show wearing an ICE Out pin. |
Evie magazine’s Brittany Hugoboom wants women to have it all (with some caveats for vaccines, hormones, and abortions). |
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