Brunello Cucinelli 2025 Transeasonal Campaign, Good Business Results, Commitment to Italy
/
Anne Talks Louis Vuitton Men Pre-Fall 2025 Collection and Dior Men Spring 2026
/
Anne Talks Louis Vuitton Men Pre-Fall 2025 Collection and Dior Men Spring 2026
Flaunt Magazine [IG] Issue 199, ‘Fleeting Twilight’ shares key looks from the Louis Vuitton Men’s Pre-Fall 2025 Collection. Creative Director Pharrell Williams previewed the collection in Miami December 2024, with the upcoming Met Gala dandy aesthetic on his mind.
I just reviewed again Jonathan Anderson’s swoon-worthy debut men’s collection for Christian Dior, and like Pharrell, he also tapped the ‘young aristocrats’ trend. Anderson added skirts for men and nipping his waists with overtly-femme swagger and white bow ties.
Louis Vuitton Men Compared to The Absolutely-Brilliant Jonathan Anderson Dior Mens Debut
Pharrell played his ties straight and long, Anderson likes bows. Both designers did white ties and the Louis Vuitton man does go to the office to afford his wardrobe preferences. He’s a working man. Anderson’s Dior man is a trust fund kid — or maybe the growing number of men — at least in America — living at home with parents.
Dandyism is a design key to writing about both collections — Dior Spring 2026 and Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall 2025. Yes, Pharrell was off to India with lean and long fluidity for his Spring 2026 collection, which AOC loved.
Read MoreChanel FW 2025 Campaign: Mona Tougaard in Paris by Mikael Jansson
/
How to make Chanel [IG] tweed suits once again a must-have for ‘it girls’ is surely a high priority on Matthieu Blazy’s October debut ‘To Do’ List.
Until then, in the Fall Winter 2025 campaign, we see Mona Tougaard out and about on the streets of Paris. As for rewriting codes, that’s Blazy’s job and this was a caretaker collection now on view in campaign images by Mikael Jansson [IG].
Read MoreSaint Laurent AW25 'Velvet Heat' Campaign with Moss, Sevigny and Rayder by Alas
/
Saint Laurent [IG] releases what it calls its AW25 women’s campaign, a steamy slice of life shot by Mert Alas [IG] in LA. Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello brings Kate Moss and Chloë Sevigny together for the first time in a sensual encounter called ‘Velvet Heat’.
90s top model Frankie Rayder also joins the campaign, adding a note of professional sobriety to the proceedings.
Read MoreHumanism 101: Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs: A Portrait of the American Dream
/
Humanism 101: Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs: A Portrait of the American Dream
Writing about the Ralph Lauren Pre-Fall 2025 Campaign in early July, I noted that the Ralph Lauren name — and especially Polo Ralph Lauren — carries great symbolism and respect in the Black community.
Two Humanists: Cucinelli and Lauren
My retraction comes from this early July 2025 statement in this post:
No one articulates humanist values like Brunello Cucinelli, but Ralph is way up there delivering major marketing changes but without a visual bullhorn.
With the release of Polo Ralph Lauren’s new Oak BluffCollection, its second collaboration with Morehouse College and Spelman College and their research and archival teams, I’m ending the competition in my mind between the two designers, great brand builders and global good guys. They are equal in my mind as global humanists after today.
Read MoreFendi Takes A Modern View of Roman Style in Fall 2025 Campaign by Steven Meisel
/
Fendi Takes A Modern View of Roman Style in Fall 2025 Campaign by Steven Meisel
AOC loves Paris and the south of France. But we’ve been saying for many months now that it’s an Italian moment, and nothing — not even the king of cashmere’s current Italian sweatshop scandal — will dampen AOC’s love affair with la dolce vita.
Fendi’s fall-winter 2025 campaign film begins with a visual dose of sophisticated retro nostalgia, peppered with modern reinvention. In speaking with WWD about the fall-winter 2025 collection, Silvia Venturini Fendi stressed the reality that the fall 2025 collection presents “a contemporary and comprehensive vision of the brand”.
Fendi is also aiming to convey this modern message with ancient roots with the inauguration of a new sprawling flagship on Milan’s Via Montenapoleone.
Anne Is Swept Away
Depending on your age, the soundtrack will completely sweep you away. OMG! Barry White.
If you have lived a privileged life resulting from family heritage — or are a working girl who made good and led a privileged life based on your smarts — and you regularly kissed the ground landing in Italia, you will be swooning.
Personally, Anne is destroyed with this campaign video.
Read MoreKristen McMenamy's Rebel Spirit Drips in Stunning Splendor for Dolce & Gabbana Couture
/
Supermodel Kristen McMenamy is the first to tell you that in the Nineties there were no rules. The Irish Catholic American third child out of seven born to her Pennsylvania family has earned her reputation as a visually ‘unique’ character in Italian fashion dramas. She also had rebel DNA flowing through her body head to toe.
Dolce & Gabbana [IG] dialed into McMenamy’s same rebel spirit in their new Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda Roma 2025 Campaign, shot by Luigi & Iango [IG]. The city’s architectural magnificence is captured in both materials and fabrics for Alta Moda fashion and spectacular treatments of ancient characters in the Alta Gioielleria, high jewelry collections. Roman statues transformed into pendants is very cool./ Makeup by Georgi Sandev; hair by Patti Bussa
Read MoreBella Hadid Gets Her Groove On for Miss Sixty Fall 2025 Campaign by Carlijn Jacobs
/
Bella Hadid fronts MIss Sixty’s Fall 2025 campaign from the privacy of her bedroom, finished with cherry-accented walls and plenty of shag. IB Kamara styles a blonde Hadid looking good in a range of denim styles from jean jackets and straight-leg jeans to flared jeans and mini skirts.
Carlijn Jacobs [IG], who photographed Bella in a retro supermarket in Mixx Sixty’s Spring 2025 campaign, gives another nod to the early 90s and 2000s. Love it.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton FW25 Offers Express Bag for High Speed, High Performance, High Self-Expectations Lives
/
Louis Vuitton FW25 Offers Express Bag for High Speed, High Performance, High Self-Expectations Lives
Louis Vuitton Women taps House Ambassadors Emma Stone and Hoyeon Jung for the Fall/Winter 2025 Campaign, lensed by Ethan James Green.
Before Speedy Came Express
Bags and luggage are the visual currency of the Louis Vuitton brand. They also ring the cash register at critical levels to support LV’s position in the LVMH heirarchy. The FW25 Campaign is focused on its latest handbag: the Express, a roomy reprise of the original name of Vuitton’s signature Speedy handbag.
Louis Vuitton’s Chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari delivered press comments detailing the important role ‘The Louis’ marks on the new journey the luxury brand is taking into the DNA of Louis Vuitton itself. Reinforcing key buzzwords, Beccari stressed the importance of Louis Vuitton’s spirit of travel being experienced not only by crossing national borders, “but through ideas, emotions and inspiration.”
Anne drills down on exactly what Beccari’s words mean.
Read More
FESTIVAL COLLECTION 2025 by Kate Moss & Bobby Gillespie for Zara by Mert & Marcus
/
In June, supermodel Kate Moss [IG] worked with longtime stylist, Katy England [IG] and England’s husband Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and founder of alternative rock band Primal Scream Bobby Gillespie on a Zara [IG] collaboration celebrating Glastonbury and Britain’s summer festival culture.
Called the Festival Collection, Moss’ second collaboration with Zara featured bohemian pieces inspired by "thrift stores of small-town America to the most elevated boutiques of Paris and Milan," per Zara.
Photographers Mert Alas [IG] and Marcus Piggott [IG] shot the Festival Collection campaign. In a cool twist, the lookbook imagery [shot by Casper Sejersen] stars young friends and family with Moss' daughter, Lila Moss, and England and Gillespie's son, Lux Gillespie.
Read MorePrada Balm in Banana Yellow Celebrates the 'Days of Summer' Campaign 2025
/
Prada Balm in Banana Yellow Celebrates the 'Days of Summer' Campaign 2025
AOC returns to Prada’s ‘Days of Summer’ marketing campaign, where the Prada pink gozzo is moored beside the Prada Capri boutique, in Via Roma 2, until July 13th.
Prada Beauty Lip Balms in Macaron Colors
This Prada campaign is being executed with such colors of comprehensive precision that Prada Beauty lipstick glosses are the mouth-enticing colors of French macarons. Scratch that. I mean Italian Macaron colors.
Read MoreTyler Mitchell Shoots Ralph Lauren Pre-Fall 2025 Campaign | AOC Talks Values
/
Tyler Mitchell Shoots Ralph Lauren Pre-Fall 2025 Campaign | AOC Talks Values
We’re living in a moment of small victories,and surely photographer Tyler Mitchell [IG] feels great pride — and his family even moreso — over Mitchell shooting the Ralph Lauren [IG] Pre-Fall 2025 Campaign. Ralph Lauren carries great symbolism and respect in the Black community.
Ralph Lauren 2024/25 Business Results
The top leadership got big raises coming off an excellent 2024 performance that resulted in a 16.8 percent increase in the stock price for the year ending March 31. Since March 31, the stock has risen another 20 percent.
Like Hermès, Brunello Cucinelli, and Prada, Ralph Lauren’s Asia business is very strong. In China Ralph Lauren saw 20 percent growth in China in their 4th quarter ending March 2025.
Louvet has definite opinions about why the business is strong in China:
It’s important to keep in mind that Ralph founded this company on values that are pretty universal: optimism, authenticity, timelessness, elegance, family. Those are globally relevant and are resonating wherever we play, including markets where you might be concerned about anti-American sentiment.
Read MoreThe Paradise of El Hierro: Maria Khan by Xavi Gordo for Bazaar Spain
/
The Paradise of El Hierro: Maria Khan by Xavi Gordo for Bazaar Spain
Harper’s Bazaar Spain [IG] May 2025 devotes an issue to the theme of water, with model Maria Khan lensed by Xavi Gordo [IG] in ‘Acqua’.
The island of El Hierro embraces and awes, like the crystal-clear, dark-bottomed water that surrounds it. Among its volcanoes and extraordinary natural sculptures, model María Khan finds peace in this swimwear story, an ode to the power of nature in the most sustainable corner of the Canary Islands.
Over the past few decades, this island has embraced a pioneering approach to sustainability, driven by a commitment to renewable energy and environmental conservation and its UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status.
Read MoreReflecting on Abercrombie & Fitch Danzy Estates Tennis Closet Drop and Coco Gauff
/
Abercrombie Danzy Estates Has Sporty & Rich Vibes
I’ve spent a couple hours really looking at Abercrombie — and I admit the Sporty & Rich connection in my brain got my attention. It’s valid as the first data bit, but another topic was working its way to my frontal lobe.
It seems that Danzy Estates has an open door to create very aspirational marketing — even if a luxury hotel in the south of France probably isn’t in the making. Mike Jeffries’ whites-only brand messaging — to say nothing about his sexual proclivities — will hang around Abercrombie’s neck for a long time.
Anne had an upfront and personal view of the brand’s struggles around race, as Jeffries built his ‘empire’. She is happy to know that Coco Gauff is welcome at today’s Abercrombie.
Read MoreBrunello Cucinelli 'The Summer That Never Left Campaign' by David Portela
/
Brunello Cucinelli [IG] shares The Summer That Never Left campaign, unveiling Cucinelli’s new High Summer 2025 Capsule Collection. Models Betty Schupp, Evie Harris, Francisco Henriques, Louis Baines, Marta Aguilar and Niyo Malik are styled by Michaela Buratti in images by David Portela [IG]. / Makeup by Fabiana Clavario
Brunello Cucinelli Business Update and Awards
On April 16, the cashmere-rich business announced confirmed sales growth of around 10% booked in 2024 and a 13% increase in profit. 2025 is going strong, with a 10% increase in the first quarter.
Read More
Dom Perignon's 'Creation is an Eternal Journey' Ode to Humanist Thinking
/
Dom Perignon's 'Creation is an Eternal Journey' Ode to Humanist Thinking
The newest initiative from Dom Pérignon, titled "Creation is an Eternal Journey," is 2 minutes of video beauty, longing and enthusiasm for a life well-lived in a world infused with turmoil and conflicting values.
The distinguished champagne producer, part of the LVMH group, has collaborated with seven established creatives from various disciplines to reinterpret the Dom Pérignon narrative in nonmaterialistic self-expression and humanist values.
The Dom Perignon [IG] ‘Creation Campaign includes Zoë Kravitz - actor and director [film]; Tilda Swinton - actor and artist [cinema & art]; Iggy Pop - pioneering musician [punk rock legend]; Anderson .Paak - music producer and director [Grammy-winning artist]; Clare Smyth - Michelin-starred chef [gastronomy]; Alexander Ekman - dancer and choreographer [contemporary dance]; and Takashi Murakami - contemporary artist [visual art icon].
Most LVMH brands are adept at sophisticated marketing to clients for whom nuances matter. With anti-billionaire hate growing exponentially in America and around the world, brands must be extra careful in how they communicate their values. A new book ‘The Haves and the Have-Yachts: Disparities on the Ultra Rich’ offers a field guide to the ultra-wealthy, exploring their lives and influence.
Read MoreGlobal Trade Routes Are Key to Jo Malone's History of Fragrance and Food Festing
/
Global Trade Routes Are Key to Jo Malone's History of Fragrance and Food Festing
Out of the kitchen and onto the portico, Jo Malone creates a delicious vision of high-style British dining, brought to life by Samuel Bradley [IG]. AOC means Jo Malone the brand, owned by Estee Lauder since 1999.
One of Princess Kate’s forever favorites is Jo Malone’s Orange Blossom cologne, which first debuted in 2003. The fragrance is described as a ‘shimmering garden oasis’ and ‘pure delight’, with a scent created with white floral notes of tangerine and orange blossom.
In a world where 45% of consumers say they are prepared to use natural ingredients or food products as substitutes in their beauty routines, foods influence on beauty and fragrance is higher impact than ever.
As Curion research points out, 40% of consumers now prioritize natural ingredients in beauty products.
Tracing the history of global trade routes is another focus of AOC, and Anne could be lost for days in new discoveries. AOC is infused with these learnings.
Read MoreYilhan Hua in Valentino 520 Campaign 2025 and a Look at China's Independent Women
/
