March-2023: Carolina Herrera Creative Women | Massimo Dutti Elevated Basics | Kylie Jenner for Dolce & Gabbana
/ Anne EnkeMarch 2023 Brand Posts with Excerpts
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One of the most tactically brilliant spring-summer 2023 ad campaigns we’ve seen so far is the pairing of photographer Elizaveta Porodina [IG] and actor, singer, songwriter Dove Cameron for Carolina Herrera [IG]./ Makeup by David Koppelaar; hair by Olivier Schawalder
AOC says “brilliant” because not only are we looking at the visually-compelling photography of the uber-talented Porodina. The entire campaign executed under the creative vision of Carolina Herrera’s Creative Director Wes Gordon is accompanied by an informative interview with the creatives, published in ELLE magazine.
Not a Canned Press Release
The campaign is accompanied by a discussion of the trained clinical psychologist gone rogue photographer’s style and how Dove Cameron first “fell in love” with Wes Gordom when he asked her to be his date to the 2021 CDFAs.
The ELLE story, birthed in Paris in October 2022, is even filled with information about Elizabeth’s unique camera techniques, which AOC has backed since her first entrance into the fashion photography scene.
The Case for Elevated Basics
The fashion trends term describing the Spring 2023 Massimo Dutti Limited Edition collection is ‘elevated basics’. Every fashion-aware person self-defines their own vision of ‘elevated basics’, but Massimo Dutti’s 2023 vision is one of sophisticated, chic simplicity and clarity.
The new campaign highlights models Ella Mccutcheon, Imaan Hammam, Tara Halliwell and Yilan Hua in images by Ezra Petronio [IG].
The vision is not a boring one, but more of a timeless, body-aware, polished, sensual approach in black and cream.
Skirts are longer for seekers of elevated basics, silhouettes are fluid. AOC asks if the long column of a dress is a modern woman’s caftan.
Note that caftans are showing up in men’s collections also, but the narrow, sleeveless column dress remains a typically female choice, except in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Almost like a fashion space rocket, China-based Shein [pronounced she-in, not shine] now owns almost a third (28 per cent) of America’s fast fashion market.
Few sustainability warriors saw it coming. And for all the convos about young people being passionate eco-conscious caretakers of our planet, at least in America, they have given a big hug to Shein.
In 2021, the Shein app became the most downloaded with over 17.5 million downloads across the Google Play and Apple stores.
In the Harper’s Bazaar Spain April 2023 fashion story ‘Romper Barreras’ [‘Breaking Barriers’], Pat Cleveland and Anna Cleveland are styled by Inmaculada Jiménez in images by Vladimir Martí [IG] for ‘The Picasso’ issue.
A Model Icon’s Life Turned Inside Out in March 2019
In Spring 2019, legendary AfricanAmerican model Pat Cleveland was diagnosed with colon cancer. The then 68-year-old model icon rushed to the American Hospital in Paris, after walking the Tommy Hilfiger and Zendaya show in very early March.
Resulting from the emergency surgery in Paris on March 23, Cleveland’s colon cancer was detected. Anna Cleveland, Pat’s daughter, who is also a model and performer, was living in Paris and able to care for her mother during the crisis.
4 Years Later, Pat Cleveland Is Thriving
In a miracle of miracles moment, Pat Cleveland is thriving four years out from her life-threatening medical event.
Colorectal cancer disproportionately affects the Black community, where the rates are the highest of any racial/ethnic group in the US. African Americans are about 20% more likely to get colorectal cancer and about 40% more likely to die from it than most other groups.
AOC has studied and promoted Karlie Kloss from her first steps into New York fashion world, because it was clear that she is a woman of principle and also a progressive activist at heart.
The folks at Carolina Herrera, now part of the Barcelona-based Puig Group of brands, were also drawn to Karlie, and not only because of her 6’2” stature and athletic/professional dancer training.
Karlie Kloss is the epitome of the classic Good Girl, updated for the 21st century. In fashion marketing, we toss around the term ‘boss lady’ with ease. Karlie Kloss helps define what a boss lady IS.
Zara delivers another WOW collection, this time turning their increasingly sophisticated eye to Spring 2023 Swimwear and Beachwear.
We argue that Zara’s tremendous success raising their pricepoints, accompanied by stellar marketing campaigns and a discerning design eye is bringing new customers to the brand, while pulling a segment of existing customers into the new pricing tier.
Banana Republic’s Spring 2023 March campaign drop takes us to Taos, New Mexico, with photographer Richard Phibbs [IG] bringing his deep understanding of humanity, nature and ancestral roots to the campaign.
A currently incomplete model list includes Ella Eckerson, Louise de Chevigny, and Maria Borges. We will fill out the rest over the weekend, with other pieces of this Banana Republic Spring 2023 campaign.
Personally, I feel that Banana Republic is back on the right track, and I don’t want them to mess up. And a part of me was wondering how Phibbs could go to Taos and not have adobe buildings or any shots connected to Georgia O’Keeffe in the imagery. How about an indigenous model or two?
The photographer did all of the above in the Banana Republic Spring 2023 campaign. But it’s a compliment to Richard Phibbs that I refused to believe that this sequence of images constituted the campaign.
They’re lovely but also a very incomplete story for him. Not for 80-90% of the photographers I can name, but not Phibbs. What matters to me also matters to him. ~ Anne
A‘Spirited Romance’ swept through global cyberspace this week, as Zara Studio launched its S/S 2023 Campaign. The limited-edition, top tier of Zara’s spring offering inspires a spiritual pause on sleepless nights and digital frenzy.
Do you still remember the smell of fresh grass? Did you ever eat clover? How about just lying on on a blanket and seeing a sky so beautiful, it seems impossible that a climate emergency is at hand?
Models Annemary Aderbrigbe, Ava Christian, He Cong and Ida Heiner are the spring muses lensed by Steven Meisel. Frequent collaborator Fabien Baron acts as creative director in a moment where fashion swings back to sensual elegance and beautiful clothes, styled here by another Meisel-Baron collaborator Karl Templer.
There will always be contrived fashion around us, but the trend to clothes that we wear as honest pleasure — as opposed to them wearing us as artifice, an IG photo op and to feed some designer’s ego is real.
One of fashion’s nicest women Lily Aldridge joins forces with Weekend Max Mara in a smile-generating, warm-weather, global traveler collaboration “From Lily With Love.”
Photographer Zoey Grossman [IG] captures the California vibe collection that uses organic cotton and linen blends and other sustainable materials. AOC believes the denim is organic cotton denim, which uses less water, energy, and toxic chemicals than conventionally grown cotton. Rating groups also say workers are treated better.
The Lily Aldridge AOC knows divides her time between New York City and Nashville, nurturing her daughter Dixie Pearl. Lily is well known for her philanthropy, partnering with causes close to her heart including St. Jude Children's Hospital and humanitarian initiatives such as No Kid Hungry, World of Children and Everytown for Gun Safety.
There are givers in fashion. And there are takers. Lily Aldridge is a giver in every part of her beautiful spirit.
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen fronts the Winter 2023 campaign for footwear brand Arezzo, lensed by Fernando Tomaz [IG]. Pedro Sales styles the campaign with creative direction by Giovanni Bianco and set design by Jean Labanca.
Arezzo & Co. the 50-year-old Brazilian conglomerate behind Arezzo, Gisele’s ad campaign featured here, Schutz and Alexandre Birman acquired 65 percent of Paris Texas footwear brand two weeks ago.
Arezzo Acquires Majority Stake in Paris Texas Footwear
The question is: will Gisele next be stepping out in buzzy Milan, Italy-based Paris Texas boots? That could happen.
It was Emily Ratajkowski who put Paris Texas knee-high leather boots on the map in 2018 via Instagram. The brand was founded in 2015 by sisters Annamaria and Margherita Brivio.
Technically-speaking, when Virgil Abloh’s parents came from Ghana and settled in Rockford, Ill. which is close to Chicago, he was conceived in what once was New France in North America.
The design of the Louis Vuitton ‘Crochet Leather Overshirt’ is hardly workwear in the style of the American West . . . or even coal miners in Appalachia. Those pretty crochet Louis Vuitton flowers and emblems would get real dusty damn fast.
To purchase the jacket will cost you $37,000 and it’s made to order, so you must contact your local LV to pursue the conversation.
OMG! What LV could do under Pharrell is to create the patches custom — with plenty of LVs, of course. But after purchasing a DNA test as part of the jacket, the wearer could learn his/her roots. Then a select number of patches could honor those roots.
Five women who were denied abortions in Texas have filed a lawsuit against the state. Two doctors are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit, believed to be the first action brought on behalf of women denied abortions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The plaintiffs, who are represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, say they were denied abortions under Texas state law SB8 despite medically-verified, significant risks to themselves and/or their severely impaired fetuses that made abortion a medical necessity.
‘Medical Emergency’ Must Be Defined
The lawsuit asks the court for clarity on what situations fall under the “medical emergency” exception in Texas’ abortion ban.
"With the threat of losing their medical licenses, fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and up to 99 years in prison lingering over their heads, it is no wonder that doctors and hospitals are turning patients away—even patients in medical emergencies," the suit reads.
At the time the SB8 law was written, groups such as the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists expressed grave concerns, arguing that the proposed law was too vague to provide physicians with assurances they would not face legal consequences for carrying out their maternal health, caregiver duties.
Evgeniya Chernyshova, a former model and actor, has spoken publicly for the first time about her violent sexual assault by disgraced Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chernyshova spoke about her violent encounter with Weinstein in 2013 at the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival and her decision to come forward at the urging of her daughter.
Chernyshova was the first witness called in Weinstein's Los Angeles trial last year 2022. Her testimony persuaded the jury to convict Weinstein on three charges of rape and sexual assault including forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and penetration by foreign object.
Following sister Kim Kardashian’s fantastic Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2023 campaign released last week, Kylie Jenner goes to bat for Dolce & Gabbana Eyewear in a new campaign lensed by Mert & Marcus [IG].
Jenner shared the campaign with her 280m IG followers. That’s called reach!
As for the Kardashian women being cheap, I’m sure that Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce have paid a premium price for their prior insults against the family. Given the full range of their business savvy, the Kardashian women know their worth.
It wouldn’t surprised me if Mama Bear Kris Jenner added a 3-5 years, 5-10% penalty to the contract, right before their disbelieving eyes.
Cuz that’s how the Kardashian women roll, and AOC admires them for their moxie.
Until this week, the best news about the future of North Carolina Democrats was the development of a future Apple campus in Durham, the fourth largest city in the state. Next came confirmation that fellow digital-world goliath Meta [parent to Facebook and Instagram] would also be locating a major office complex in Durham.
The city of 300,000 people is expected to double in size in the next 25 years, generating high hopes for Democrats that North Carolina will become a more progressive state politically.
Future Is Now and It’s Younger
That future reality met today with the February 2023 ouster of Democratic North Carolina state party chair Bobbie Richardson, running for her second term, replaced by 25-year-old Anderson Clayton to guide them through the upcoming 2024 election. Note that both ‘Bobbie’ and ‘Anderson’ are women.
