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Culture, Creatives, Humanism, Earth
Humanity’s Profound Loss of Frank Gehry Cuts Deeply
ALAMY GUIZIOU FRANCK / HEMIS.FR.
Frank Gehry’s Humanist Legacy: Global Guggenheims to Louis Vuitton AOC New Humanism
The moment AOC heard the sad news of the passing of architect Frank Gehry, Anne went to LVMH website, knowing the news would be a deeply-personal event for Bernard Arnault, his family and the entire Louis Vuitton group.
As expected, a message from Bernard Arnault was waiting for us. It reads:
"I am profoundly saddened by the passing of Frank Gehry, in whom I lose a very dear friend and for whom I shall forever retain boundless admiration. I owe to him one of the longest, most intense, and most ambitious creative partnerships I have ever had the privilege to experience. His oeuvre, crowned by the Pritzker Prize, is immense. He will remain a genius of lightness, transparency, and grace. Frank Gehry—who possessed an unparalleled gift for shaping forms, pleating glass like canvas, making it dance like a silhouette—will long endure as a living source of inspiration for Louis Vuitton as well as for all the Maisons of the LVMH group. With the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, he bestowed upon Paris and upon France his greatest masterpiece, the highest expression of his creative power, commensurate with the friendship he bore our city and the affection he showed for our culture.
My wife, my children, and I express our deepest condolences to his wife, Berta, and his children."
Anne shares her own deeply-felt thoughts about the loss of Frank Gehry, a humanist who has inspired her thinking for decades.
AOC intends to give this visionary, global architect ‘the best we’ve got’ in the coming months. Read on.
Model Hannah Motler appeared in ‘Surréel’, a fashion story for Numéro France [IG] #255, September 2025. Rebecca Bleynie styled Motler in Chanel, Dries Van Noten, Ferragamo, Givenchy, Guess, Issey Miyake, Louis Vuitton, Maison Alaia, Moschino, Prada, YSL and more in images by Koto Bolofo [IG]./ Hair by Annesofie Begtrup; makeup by Maria Olsson
Circling back with Koto Bolofo to see what we missed in 2025, AOC discovered BOLOVISION, now in its fourth issue release. You can purchase all four volumes of BOLOVISION on ArtbooksOnline.eu.
Michelle Yeoh in ‘Wicked: For Good’: The Critics Weigh In
The Oscar-winning Malaysian actor and action star known for doing her own stunts is presently making her ‘Wicked’ character terrifying to all who view her.
The film ‘Wicked: For Good’ brought in $150 million in North America and $226 milion worldwide, over its Friday opening blockbuster weekend.
What do everyday people think of the movie? Mid-afternoon on Monday, ‘Wicked: For Good’ had a positive critic’s score of 70% but the audience rating is 95%.
Read the Excerpts in: Culture, Creativity, Humanism, Earth
Brand News
Matthieu Blazy Is an Empath Bringing Spirit and Joy to Chanel Spring 2026
The international model lineup in Vogue’s Chanel story includes Abény Nhial, Achol Ayor, Aditsa Berzenia, Awar Odhiang, Bhoomi Yadav, Charlotte Boggia, Dru Campbell, Feng Jiao Long, Luiza Perote and Zaya Guarani, styled by Amanda Harlech in images by Rafael Pavarotti [IG]. / Hair by Karim Belghiran; makeup by Ammy Drammeh
Blazy is an empath; hands down. AOC has written about his leadership style, mixed with his creative curiosity, and prior overt gestures to get the recognition for the women in his Bottega Veneta atelier that they deserved.
A certain circle of ladies — luxury clients — quietly process all these small gestures into our collective memory, weaving our impression of a designer’s values and how s[he] operates in the world at large. Many women luxury clients do not fit this mold.
But ever so quietly — and reliably with increasingly large numbers of women — the designer’s spirit imprint on a brand matters. His or her values spill over onto the client woman wearing the clothes — if you consider that clothes have functioned as totems for thousands of years.
Banana Republic ‘San Francisco, 1978’, A Difficult Year
Banana Republic [IG] released its Fall 2025 Campaign ‘San Francisco, 1978’, with a series of images that mean more if we look under the hood of human events that year, including the brand’s founding.
Banana Republic ‘San Francisco 1978’ models Andreea Diaconu, David Corenswet [actor playing Superman], Giacomo Cavalli, and Paula Soares are lensed by Sonia Szostak [IG] with creative direction by Michael Scanlon. / Hair by Michal Bielecki; makeup by Dan Duran
Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down in 1978
AOC queried whether 1978 in San Francisco-Mill Valley was a good year. The response was ‘not really’. Surely millions of Californians living in Banana Republic country would disagree. So we ran down why the response to our question was so glum.
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Women’s News, Interviews, History
Bazaar Spain Honors Gymnast Simone Biles
December is the month for Harper’s Bazaar country-specific WOTY [Women of the Year] 2025 awards for women who inspire. AOC opens with Harper’s Bazaar Spain’s [IG] selection of Simone Biles for the Sport Icon Award.
Claudia Laukamp styles Biles in images by JUANKR [IG].
In the case of Simone Biles, she is a model of women who have embraced their vulnerability and “turned their wounds into feats of courage”.
From dealing with two — not one — cases of “the twisties” as we learned just recently; to the absolutely savage way Biles was treated by men when she withdrew from Tokyo Olympics for fear of breaking her neck; to Simone Biles testifying before Congress on September 15, 2021, in the Larry Nasser case of her own sexual abuse by the doctor of women gymnasts — Simone Biles is the inspiring type of woman Harper’s Bazaar Spain is honoring this December.
WSJ Beauty Innovator Hailey Bieber's Rhode Success Story
WSJ writer Chavie Lieber catches up with Bieber a few hours away from her Sephora launch. By every press report, the LVMH-owned Sephora launch was successful with $10 million in two days of sales. It was not only the best launch ever for the beauty stores and online retailer, it beat the prior record-holder by 2.5 times, selling 3 Rhode items per second.
Returning a few days later, Lieber reports the shelves were empty as a little girl with a British accent was close to tears, as she wailed: “There’s no more blush from Haaayley Biebaaa!”
Read the Excerpts in: Interviews: Models, Artists, Business
Jewelry News
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Body Wellness, Sexuality, Culture & Politics
Read the Excerpts In: Wellness, Sexuality, Body Politics, Culture