Bibi Breslin in Samarkand, A Critical Silk Road City for Holiday Magazine No.396
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Billie Eilish Came After Dr. Priscilla Chan With Her Blast to Billionaires at WSJ Innovators Awards
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Billie Eilish Came After Dr. Priscilla Chan With Her Blast to Billionaires at WSJ Innovators Awards
Billie Eilish [IG] made a classic Ballbreaker move at Wednesday's WSJ Magazine [IG] 2025 Innovator Awards, where Eilish was receiving the Music Innovator Award in New York City on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
Eilish had platinum-level money in her sight with the best binoculars money can buy when she planned her acceptance award speech for last night. Now that we know that Dr. Priscilla Chan had already received her award before Billie, we have tempered slightly our euthusiasm over her performance.
Billie came after Dr. Chan in the awards order, and the Zuckerberg-Chan $45 billion donation to CZI was already acknowledged and praised in the audience when Chan received her award from Karlie Kloss.
Her short speech is playing well across the internet, and with the crisis that America is moving towards this weekend, Eilish will inspire our young people. Goddess knows, they need it.
Read MoreCindy Crawford, Daniel Ralph Mfaya and Romeil Johnson by Matthew Brookes for C Magazine
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Cindy Crawford, Daniel Ralph Mfaya and Romeil Johnson by Matthew Brookes for C Magazine
C Magazine is celebrating their 20th anniversary, with a memorable October 2025 issue. Founder Jennifer Smith Hale has gifted us a spectacular cover story featuring supermodel Cindy Crawford, An Icon Reimaginied at Paramount Studios, lensed by Mathew Brookes [IG].
Beyoncé’s dancers Daniel Ralph Mfaya [IG] and Romeil Johnson [IG] are essential to the glory of these images. Yes, the lens is very kind to this trio. And yet, they do not become artifice.
Romeil Johnson shares his thoughts on his IG:
PINCH ME. I had the absolute pleasure of accompanying THEE @cindycrawford for C Magazines 20th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE. . . you’re a vision!!!!! It’s an honor to get to even witness you work this up close, let alone stand next to you. Forever an Icon, thank you for sharing your light.
It’s interesting that the ‘sharing of light’ becomes an expressed metaphor in this photoshoot with Johnson’s comments, as Pharrell led a crowd of 300,000 humans gathered in Rome in September, creating their own light show for humanity. This becomes the glue that binds like-minded people to look into the eyes of our fellow travelers in this spirit-infused journey of peace. ~ Anne
Read MoreMulberry Invites 'Wicked: For Good Star' Cynthia Erivo to Tim Walker Fall 2025 Campaign
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Mulberry Invites ‘Wicked: For Good Star’ Cynthia Erivo to Tim Walker 2025 Campaign
Mulberry [IG] has engaged British actor Cynthia Erivo to front its ‘The Mulberry Spirit’ Fall 2025 campaign, lensed by Tim Walker [IG] and styled by Kate Phelan.
Anne has experienced meteor showers all over her brain in the last week, after writing about Anok Yai’s Perfect Magazine #9 fashion story. I called her “a high priest for humanity” and meant it. You cannot imagine the psychological, spiritual, emotional roller coaster ride I’ve been on for the last week.
It’s another story — except that my Anok Yai-induced psycho drama dropped me off last week in the care of Cynthia Erivo and the November 2025 debut of ‘Wicked: For Good’. The trailer is stellar. It’s right up there with Pharrell’s Vatican City Concert 2025, discussed last night when I learned that Deva Cassell’s movie ‘Zero.A.D’ — where she plays the Virgin Mary — had been moved to 2026.
Read MoreAnok Yai by Thibaut Grevet: A High Priestess for Humanity in Perfect Magazine #9
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Anok Yai by Thibaut Grevet: A High Priestess for Humanity in Perfect Magazine #9
Superstar creative and top model Anok Yai [IG] is styled by Jaheel Weaver [IG] in images by Thibaut Grevet [IG] for The Perfect Magazine #9 [IG]. The trio shares creative director credentials for a fashion story called ‘Rust’, but as Anok explains on her IG — and quoted here on AOC — the story is about a deliberate act of claiming one’s own ‘Rebirth by fire.’ / Hair by Jacob Kajrup; makeup by Ana Takahashi; set design by Afra Zamara
Many Models are More than Mannequins
I believe that editorials should be like short films; It should take you on a journey and it should draw you into its world. I’m not gonna lie, there’s nothing I hate more than sitting in front of a white wall and looking bored. I decided to come up with ideas for editorials that I would want to see.
Anok continues from her very insightful perch of an accomplished artist and creative who runs into life and not away from it. The prism of her mind goes deeply into the human spirit and experience; and the contradictions of life.
I’ve always been enamored by stories of people disappearing or faking their deaths to start new lives with new identities. Cutting all contact with the past —essentially becoming a new person.
What drives someone to that point .. Desperation? Reinvention? Crime? Autonomy? Love?
Read MoreTemplo di Hera Metaponto by Andrew Jacobs for Vogue Italia September 2025
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Models Caitlin Soetendal and Penelope Ternes are styled by Luca Galasso in ‘Mater(i)a Scultorea, sculptural fashion pieces from Chanel, Maison Alaia, Simone Rocha and more lensed by Andrew Jacobs [IG] for Vogue Italia [IG] September 2025./ Hair by Dre Demry Sanders; makeup by Michaela Bosch
The Greeks in Southern Italy
The fashion shoot takes place at Metaponto, located in the fertile region of Basilicata in southern Italy, an area that traces its origins to ancient Greek colonization during the 7th century BCE.
Metaponto As a Cultural Center
Metaponto quickly became part of the network of Greek polities in Magna Graecia, a term used to describe the cluster of wealthy and influential Greek colonies in southern Italy. The city became a cultural center, attracting philosophers and artists. Pythagoras himself is said to have spent time in Metaponto, further elevating its status. Over time, Metaponto developed into a significant and thriving city, integral to the overarching narrative of Greek colonization and cultural exchange in the Mediterranean region and across southern Italy.
Read MorePeng Chang in Vogue Spain September 2025: AOC Talks Her Model Strategy
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Peng Chang in Vogue Spain September 2025: AOC Talks Her Model Strategy
At 5’7” Peng Chang doesn’t have a strong presence on the runways. But her editorial work is stellar, starting off with the most important article ever on AOC: Peng Chang in 'Heat Wave' by Zhong Lin for Vogue Taiwan January 2022
Peng Chang’s potential as a campaign muse is also strong, and she can capitalize on her art-house persona. This card — the art-house one — may be her strongest — especially when you have photographers Zhong Lin and Elizaveta Porodina on your resume.
Read MoreSaint Laurent Winter 2025 Campaign at Villa Oasis in Marrakech
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Saint Laurent Winter 2025 Campaign at Villa Oasis in Marrakech
Models Ajus Samuel, Libby Taverner, Lota Blaskovic and Noor Khan are center stage in the large collection of visuals developed for the Saint Laurent Winter 2025 Campaign.
Drew Vickers [IG] acts as photographer and director for this artistic color explosion, styled by Paul Sinclaire and with the actual collages created by Arnaud Michaux [IG].
This is the first time the private residence for Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé — Villa Oasis — has been used for a commercial campaign.
Collage effects are unusually effective in the campaign, acting as a metaphor for the French-Moroccan cultural design fusion that has fueled French design for decades.
Read MoreTrump Administration Crackdown on Civil War and Slavery References Begins
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Trump Administration Crackdown on Civil War and Slavery References Begins
The Trump administration has ordered the removal of information on slavery at multiple national parks and other cultural institutions in an effort to end advocacy of corrosive ideologies in America.
At Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia, Trump officials told park employees to take down a sign that criticizes the post-Civil War “Lost Cause” ideology, saying that it romanticized the Confederacy and denied slavery’s central role in the conflict.
The National Portrait Gallery of Art in Washington houses the original version of “The Scourged Back,” also known as “Whipped Peter.” It’s also scheduled for removal.
AOC shares the life of Peter Gordon, aka ‘Whipped Peter’. His story and photos jolted northerners who had no idea that slavery could be so cruel.
Read MoreKirsten Dunst in Town & Country Prompts a Look at Marie Antoinette's White Women World
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AOC Delves into Sofia Coppola’s White World of Women
Hollywood actor Kirsten Dunst covers the September 2025 issue of Town & Country [IG], interviewed by Mickey Rapkin in ‘Cool Girl Colossus’. Dunst is styled by Deborah Afshani in images by Tina Tyrell [IG].
Late Emerging Criticism of Economic and Racial Realities in ‘Marie Antoinette’
While there was no serious race-related pushback against the film initially, over time Coppola’s preoccupation with a “privileged white woman’s problems” has become a source of criticism. Even agreeing that Marie Antoinette can be viewed universally, critics and students both insist that Coppola’s world of women is white and preferably rich.
In her Town & Country interview, Dunst reveals that she just finished reading a script for director Sofia Coppola’s latest film project.
Kirsten Dunst and Sofia Coppola have collaborated on four feature films: The Virgin Suicides [1999], Marie Antoinette [2006], The Bling Ring [2013], and The Beguiled [2017]. Dunst starred in the first three films and had a cameo in the fourth.
Read MorePharrell Williams Heads to Rome with Voices of Fire for Vatican City Unity Concert
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Pharrell Williams Heads to Rome with Voices of Fire for Vatican City Unity Concert
In Rome, Pharrell will co-direct with Andrea Bocelli the ‘Grace for the World’ closing celebration of the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity. The “landmark cultural and spiritual event” will take place in St. Peter’s Square and will stream live on Disney+, Hulu, and ABC News Live on Sept. 13 at 3 p.m. ET.
According to a press release, the concert will “bring together music, reflection, and visual storytelling in a singular live experience,” and feature live performances by Bocelli, Williams with the Voices of Fire Gospel Choir, Teddy Swims, John Legend, a 250-person international choir and more talents. There will also be an aerial drone and light show by Nova Sky Stories, including imagery inspired by the Sistine Chapel.
Pharrell called the upcoming gathering “a rare cultural moment where the world stops and collectively tunes in. It is a message of unity and grace for all of humanity”.
Read MoreHumanism 101: Sarah Burton Givenchy Fall 2025 Campaign Lensed by Collier Schorr
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Humanism 101: Sarah Burton Givenchy Fall 2025 Campaign Lensed by Collier Schorr
Givenchy designer and creative director Sarah Burton grabs media focus for her Fall 2025 Campaign and its embrace of humanist values. In a quiet, elegant, modern strategy, Givenchy sends a signal to Burton’s clients old and new, that they are welcomed with a warm embrace by the maison. Thank you, Sarah Burton.
The Givenchy campaign, lensed by Collier Schorr [IG] joins the current Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs campaign under a new heading AOC is calling Humanism 101.
Burton happily embraces a wide spectrum of women in new ways, breaking the mold with a unique campaign message that Humanism 101 chief Brunello Cucinelli will love.
“The beauty of all women inspires me — including my team,” Burton said. “I wanted to capture the brilliant women I work with amongst the cast — real moments with everyone working together.”
Read MoreHumanism 101: Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs: A Portrait of the American Dream
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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 MoreActor Eva Mendes Embraces a Sensual Life | What Might Neuroimaging Her Brain Reveal?
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Actor Eva Mendes Embraces a Sensual Life | What Might Neuroimaging Her Brain Reveal?
Actor, activist, wife of Ryan Gosling and mom to their two daughters, Eva Mendes is a fabulously sensual woman. Much of American culture would call her a sex bomb.
Eva Mendes also calls herself a sex bomb, highly influenced by her husband’s deep appreciation for her sex appeal.
I asked AI to explain how neuroimaging would differentiate brain activity in a person who particularly enjoys fragrant flowers, dancing, and swimming with heightened awareness and intense pleasure. Someone like Eva Mendes.
AOC has been a huge fan of brain science for years because our brains are truthful when different regions are activited.
The basic idea I want to communicate is that our brains are a fingerprint of sorts of who we are. In the case of Eva Mendes, I promise you that she has highly-elevated SPS, as defined in point 4.
She also has elevated Openness to Experience, as defined in my Louis Vuitton analysis from Monday, see final notes in article link.
Read MoreDoechii Covers British Vogue August 2025 Issue, Lensed by Elizaveta Porodina
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Doechii Covers British Vogue August 2025 Issue, Lensed by Elizaveta Porodina
I’ll not derail this spectacular British Vogue [IG] August 2025 issue cover story starring Doechii, with the origin of the expression ‘hell on wheels’. Or how it morphed into a gender-specific phrase applied to women.
Stella Greenspan styles Doechii in regal clothes from top luxury houses, lensed by Elizaveta Porodina.
Vogue writer Jazmine Hughes, author of Doechii’s cover story ‘“I Was Born To Do This”: Hip-Hop Disruptor Doechii On The Year She Entered The Stratosphere’ covers a wide berth in the interview.
Life is good for Florida’s self-described Swamp Princess, who grew up in Tampa, Fla. Here we get a taste of Doechii’s sound.
Read MoreNaomi Campbell Taps Humanity's Origins in Dazed Magazine 'Celebration' Issue 2025
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Naomi Campbell Taps Humanity's Origins in Dazed Magazine 'Celebration' Issue 2025
Supermodel Naomi Campbell takes one cover of Dazed Magazine’s [IG] Summer 2025 issue, the last one under the editorial vision of IB Kamara, who also photographs Naomi.
The glorious Naomi Campbell channels humanity’s oldest African origins and self-adornment using beads, shells and hair collages made of twigs, real flowers, leaves and even stones and butterflies that honor the deep ties between humans and nature.
Transit In and Out of Africa Was Not a One-Way Ticket
No discovery has unseated the region of Lake Turkana, which includes the Omo Valley of southern Ethiopia and the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, as the route humans took out of Africa into the Levant.
AOC readers understand the attempts by white nationalists to press the case for a superior group of humans who came from the north, eventually reaching the Levant themselves. Anne has a personal mission to follow this argument very closely.
Out of Africa and into Bronze Age Canaan
After sharing critical new DNA info on Africans carrying Neanderthal DNA at much higher levels than previously tested [blowing out the white men from the north theory], AOC moves to recent DNA analysis that proves as high as 30% shared DNA between Palestinian and Jewish men with ancestors living together as Bronze Age Canaanites.
Read MoreCharlotte Gainsbourg for W Magazine Korea Vol.7 'Women In Motion' by Peter Ash Lee
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Charlotte Gainsbourg for W Magazine Korea Vol.7 'Women In Motion' by Peter Ash Lee
Charlotte Gainsbourg takes a cover of W Magazine Korea [IG] Vol.7 July 2025 ‘Women In Motion’ issue. Peter Ash Lee [IG] captures the actor wearing Saint Laurent throughout the fashion story, styled by Shin Kim, with creative direction by Nat Canguilhem, who also collaborated with Nicolas Salet aka ne3ko on last week’s Saint Laurent SS2026 mens show in Paris. / Hair by Yuji Okuda; Yusaku Nakahara
The Saint Laurent talent shares that making the documentary ‘Jane by Charlotte’ about her mother Jane Birkin became a very complex endeavor.
The problem is that I started without knowing what I wanted. That must have been dissatisfied with mom. Because I was too vague. Mom must have thought I would make a documentary about her professional life and work. I didn't want to make something that would have already been made about my mother, and I wanted a much more personal story. So my mother was uncomfortable with my approach at first, and eventually stopped working for about 2 years. In the meantime, I came to understand what I really wanted to do.
Read MoreThe Paradise of El Hierro: Maria Khan by Xavi Gordo for Bazaar Spain
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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 MoreMaison Keï Akai Presents “Damier” Exhibition Featuring Richard Bernardin until June 30, 2025
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Maison Keï Akai Presents “Damier” Exhibition Featuring Richard Bernardin until June 30, 2025
Maison Keï Akai is proud to unveil DAMIER, a striking new black-and-white group exhibition opening on Thursday, June 12th, in celebration of Grand Prix Montreal 2025 weekend. Drawing inspiration from the graphic elegance of the iconic checkered flag, the exhibition is a bold homage to the visual language of Formula 1 and the energy it brings to Montreal each summer.
AOC’s pleasure in sharing this Maison Keï Akai news flows from the intersection of multiple events, cultural issues and people who have touched my life in very positive ways.
Richard Bernardin: the Heart of Maison Keï Akai’s ‘Damier Exhibition
Breathing “life, sensuality and wisdom” [all Anne’s words] into the Montreal exhibition is internationally-acclaimed fashion photographer Richard Bernardin, whose evocative large-format black-and-white prints will be prominently featured.
Read MoreDeva Cassel in Dior for Re-Edition SS2025 | Anne's Thoughts on Nepo Babies
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