It’s no exaggeration to say that luxury fashion has fallen in love with the countryside. The Sunday Times Style [IG] tells us to ‘Grab your Chanel wellies’ thanks to a fashion story featuring Ukrainian model Anastasia Netrebiuk.

Flossie Saunders styles the fashion story with country clothes from Alexa Chung, Brunello Cucinelli, Chloe, Connolly, Del Core, Margaret Howell, Max Mara, Mulberry, Purdey and more. Photographer Theresa Marx [IG] captures ‘The Devil Wears Barbour’ style tale, named after the countrywear brand founded in 1894.

Barbour does set the stage about this slow living, back to the land vision, humanistic-values, brand-integrity-rich clothing company — describing the ‘Barbour Way of Life’.

I’d say it’s very Ralph Lauren — especially now that Ralph Lauren is officially a cultural creative, and I’m loving him to death for it. But Barbour preceded Ralph by about 50 years.

Creating Beauty As Purpose

Brunello Cucinelli’s landing page, a brand also featured in The Sunday Times Style fashion story, has a pre-entry message, one I was discussing this morning with my closest human friend: Kant’s philosophical observation that “Beauty is the symbol of the morally good”.

Trust me, I understand the pitfall of even speaking of “creating beauty as purpose”. Do not slay me for uttering these words, which ended up being about whiteness and white nationalism. But that was not Kant’s original intention, and many have argued that Kant was the original “woke” philosopher.

Brunello Cucinelli follows his website entry Kant quote with their explanation of '“Our idea of Humanistic Capitalism and Human Sustainability”, a speech delivered by Cucinelli to the World’s Great Leaders on the occasion of the G20 meeting in Rome, October 31, 2021.

Brunello Cucinelli began his G20 speech with another overriding theme from Kant:

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person, or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.”

This digression in the middle of the Sunday Times Style UK fashion story is allowed, because it’s my website. I can take us on a tangent if I want to do so. LOL But also because there is a constellation of thought going on here in a fashion world that isn’t known for deep thought.

This plunge into deep water comes this morning, because — in my own mind — the Kant perspective summarizies my own views about creating beauty as a form of purpose for creatives and also my own responsibility to humanity.

At this moment, I will return to the fashion images, but share the fact that while writing this short narrative, I stopped to order a yellow umbrella.

What that says about slogging through global politics including authoritarianism, racism, misogyny and sustainability in this moment, I leave to your consideration. But I promise you that this topic is a big one and if you are a wise creative person, you will take it under advisement. Enuf for now. Have a great day. ~ Anne