May 2024 Brands: Conspicuous Consumption in China Under Microscope | Rosie Huntington Whiteley Joins The Equity Studio | Brunello Cucinelli’s ‘Gentle Luxury’
/ Anne Enke
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Top model He Cong graces the pages of Marie Claire China’s [IG] June 2024 issue. The Hunan-region beauty is styled by Austin Feng in red-inspired, fashion elegance lensed by Zhong Lin [IG].
China’s Monitoring of Flaunting Money on Social Media
This month [May 2024], China’s new ‘Clear and Bright’ campaign swung into action on social media. The campaign vows to crack down on influencers who create "ostentatious personas to cater to vulgar needs, and deliberately display extravagant lifestyles filled with money".
Jing Daily weighed in this morning, writing that across Chinese social media platforms like Weibo, Tencent, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu all reflect suspended accounts this week.
China Tackles Its Growing Income Gap Culture
The drive to reduce ostentatious displays of wealth [or internet cleanup, as Jing Daily calls it] “is part of a larger effort by Chinese authorities to curate and control social cultures to tackle China’s widening income disparity and wealth inequality.”
Top model Mona Tougaard poses in the inaugural issue of Beyond Noise [IG], styled by co-founder Sarah Richardson and creative director Pieter Mulier in The Art of Alaïa. Photographer Larissa Hofmann [IG] is behind the lens, capturing Tougaard in the elevated print project, scheduled to start shipping in the USA and EU/UK on May 31, 2024.
The biannual magazine Beyond Noise is a project of stylist Sarah Richardson and her photographer husband Richard Bush. Investor Stefan Ericsson also was key to launching the project.
Beyond Noise targets America as its core market, then the U.K., Europe and the rest of the world. Richardson calls America an ‘optimistic country’ [ask me in November, Sarah] but one in need of a women’s voice beyond American Vogue.
Bottega Veneta's [IG] Summer Solstice 2024 campaign and new capsule collection highlight resortwear essentials that embody the brand's commitment to quality and craftsmanship, offering luxury pieces ideal for summer adventures.
The campaign features models Anok Yai, Badhiel Lony Nyang, Haroon Sherzad, Isaiah Zacarias, Pasquale Nappi, and Penelope Ternes. The visuals were photographed by Louise and Maria Thornfeldt [IG] with creative direction by Bottega’s design visionary Matthieu Blazy. / Hair by Duffy; makeup by Hiromi Ueda
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has closed the book on her involvement with Rosie Inc. and has now joined The Equity Studio, a new firm providing funding and strategic advice to beauty, wellness and lifestyle companies.
Led by investor Anna Sweeting, Huntington-Whiteley has partner status. The Equity Studio will invest in growth-stage consumer companies in the early to mid stages of development in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe.
Huntington-Whiteley launched Rose Inc. with biotech darling turned incubator Amyris, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023.
Luxury brands and thoughtful fashion writers like AOC are studying this last issue of Vogue China under the signature and vision of departed EIC Margaret Zhang.
The June 2024 issue features supermodel Liu Wen on three covers. The towering-influence Chinese model is styled by Vivienne Sun, with creative direction by Matt Mcdonald and images by Hong Kong based Wing Shya [IG].
What Vogue China watchers are analyzing is how ‘New China Style’ — and AOC adds the ‘thoughtful expression of Chinese government values’ — is expressed by luxury fashion and media going forward.
Expressing China’s 21st century modern identity through the lens of traditions thousands of years old is key for the next EIC of Vogue China.
Issues Around Gender Identity, Masculinity and Feminism in China
Generally speaking, ‘male identity’ has been under the microscope in China, even more than ‘female identity’ and feminism itself. There is a statistical problem with China’s birth rate created with its old one-child, government policy.
Additionally, the Chinese government has not hesitated for one moment to demand changes and shut down media that projects images of men through the LGBTQAI+ lens. Many readers may not know that the Chinese government banned effiminate men on TV in September 2021.
Whether luxury brands acknowledge this topic or not, it’s on their minds, given the importance of the Chinese market in future growth plans.
Lachlan Bailey [IG] and Brunello Cucinelli [IG] make perfect sense together. We find Bailey behind the lens for Brunello Cucinelli’s May 2024 drop.
The cast includes Cate Underwood, Lucky Blue Smith, Nour Rizk and Ryan Porter with styling by Michela Buratti. / Hair by Werner Amort; makeup by Pedro Pianto
While much luxury retail has stumbled in the first quarter of 2024, Brunello Cucinelli posted a 16.5 revenue percent increase through March 31. Based on current orders, the gentle luxury house is projecting revenue growth of 10 percent in 2024.
Marseille-based model Erin Wasson poses for Aussie brand Spell’s Bohème 2024 campaign. Photographer Jamie Green [IG] writes that Wasson rolled out of a cab 90 minutes from Marseille, saying “You’ve got me for 8 hours, babe.”
If you don’t know Spell, they have one store in Byron Bay and a global internet business. Sustainability has been at the heart of Spell for over a decade, and they lead with fibers that are circular, regenerative and renewable.
In spite of the brand’s ‘California Girl’ in Australia positioning, Spell uses words atypical for PR campaigns. On the topic of sustainability, Spell says they are ‘braver, clearer and frankly – gutsier’.
Nice . . . especially the gutsy part. Fashion needs more gutsy people. Less facade; more guts . . . PLEASE. And thanks, Spell for being a Certified B Corporation.
2023 was a banner year for Khaite with the brand opening a store in Soho, New York, and a second one in Seoul. Khaite popped into Water Mill, New York — at Holstein’s summer home — to show the pre-Fall collection. [See image above.]
In an amazing sequence Holstein sold another stake in her company to growth equity firm Stripes, after being launched in 2016 by brand incubator Assembled Brands. In 2023, as part of its Stripes presentation, Khaite announced plans to open 10 additional brick and mortar stores in the next five years.
In a well-written 2006 New York Times headline, ‘To Barneys, and Step on It’, Eric Wilson detailed the life-changing events for the 22-year-old Parson’s student Catherine Holstein, who had designed six sailor dresses.
Distilled to its essence, Holstein and Khaite is a wonderful New York story, filled with true grit determination and also the power of connections. Lots of them. AOC delights in sharing the details.
Mother-Nature, Gaia, Terra Mater, the “cult of the feminine” is center stage in the May 2024 issue of Vogue Portugal, writes Sofia Lucas.
The editorial issue overview opens with a quote from Aristotle:
“In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous” - Aristotle
As educated women, we do not bow down to Aristotle, for clear and concise reasons.
There’s no record that Aristotle, the great philosopher and foundational contributor to Western civilization, saw significant value in women. He argued quite the opposite, and AOC contends that Aristotle was a creator of the misogyny and not merely reflecting his time in history.
Actor Sydney Sweeney is behind the wheel of Jimmy Choo’s [IG] Summer 2024 campaign, ‘Road to Joy.’
In my life, AOC has never asked “Who did it better?” But after reading ‘Dazed’ describe Sweeney preparing for her Jimmy Choo roadtrip as packing up her stuff starting with a “few pairs of cunty stillettos”, I couldn’t help laughing and then reflecting on one of the sexiest roadtrip campaigns that I remember.
Jimmy Choo creative director Sandra Choi had to see the ‘Euphoria’ star in her scorching ‘old convertible breakdown in the Palm Springs desert’ June 2022 campaign for Tory Burch Miller sandals.
Clearly Choi decided that she could do it better, being a visionary for Jimmy Choo. This is a great decision, if you’re bringing plenty of prove-it ammo to the gunfight.
It’s close, as to which Sweeney campaign wins — because they are sisters.
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