‘Acqua Fiuggi: Loved by Vogue’ Reinvention Campaign Taps Elizaveta Porodina
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Rianne Van Rompaey's 'Last Dance' As She Leaves Modeling To Be Her Real Self
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Rianne Van Rompaey's 'Last Dance' As She Leaves Modeling To Be Her Real Self
The infinitely-talented Rianne Von Rompaey covers the April 2025 issue of Harper’s Bazaar France [IG], styled by Emmanuelle Alt in ‘Rianne, Last Dance’. Carlijn Jacobs [IG] photographs the aspiring actor — and perhaps future screenwriter and/or producer.
This may be one of the last times we see the Dutch model in 2024/5 campaigns for Chanel, Chloé, Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford and more. Rianne also does an unusual amount of editorial work — all on this AOC link.
Especially after completing her first short film in fall 2024, working with director David Finlay, Rianne Van Rompaey wants to plunge into this new world of creative opportunities. I watched the 8-minute film this morning —which Rianne wrote, starred in and produced — and was highly impacted by the film itself and Rianne’s superior talents.
Read MoreA Scorching Adriana Lima in 2015 Decadence Fragrance Debut for Marc Jacobs by Steven Meisel
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Designer Marc Jacobs introduced his hotter-than-Hades campaign for his new fragrance ‘Decadence’ in fall 2015. AOC discovered it last week as part of our Pre-2020 Post Renewal project at AOC.
Absolutely one of the most sensual models in history, Adriana Lima torches the campaign video, with moves that might seem a bit ‘forced’ today. But Lima is hotter than Hades under the creative talents of Steven Meisel. This video is a reminder of just how much fashion world has turned down the volume.
Read MoreVittoria Ceretti Reveals She Was a Whale in Another Life in Vogue France April 2025
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Vittoria Ceretti Reveals She Was a Whale in Another Life in Vogue France April 2025
Vittoria Ceretti has a truly original interview in Vogue France. The top model is styled by Alastair McKimm and lensed by Carin Backoff [IG].
In fact, they made her response to an innocent question the headline, even though her response came mid-interview:
"I have always been sure that I was a whale, in a previous life."
Why a whale?
Because she lives in the ocean - I love the ocean as much as it scares me. And they are mammals, so they keep their young with them, even for very long trips.
Ceretti gave him a real opener with that answer, but Mr. Dreyfus wanted none of it. Of course, this was not the ‘end of it’ with Anne and AOC. Read our update and much more of the actual interview on top-of-page link.
Read More'The Leopard' Star Deva Cassel for Madame Figaro March 2025
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'The Leopard' Star Deva Cassel for Madame Figaro March 2025
The visually-stunning, luxurious production, inspired by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's renowned novel situated in Sicily, premiered on Netflix USA on March 5. During the initial five days, 'The Leopard' accumulated over 3 million global views and secured a spot in the platform's Top 10 across more than 30 nations such as Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and Spain. In Italy, 'The Leopard' swiftly climbed to the No. 1 position.
Deva Cassel plays the role of Angelica Sedara, amid the 1860s fall of the Sicilian aristocracy. She enjoys a high-society romance with Prince Tancredi Falconeri, played by actor Saul Nanni, who is now her lover.
Photographer Branislav Simoncik [IG] photographed Cassel at the Italian embassy in Paris for these sumptuous images of a beautiful young woman destined to rise high in the creative world, in the footsteps of her parents Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel.
Read MoreAriana Grande by Elizaveta Porodina in 'Pure Fantasy' for Vogue Italy March 2025
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Ariana Grande by Elizaveta Porodina in 'Pure Fantasy' for Vogue Italy March 2025
Top talent Ariana Grande gets the Elizaveta Porodina [IG] treatment, styled by Max Ortega for Vogue Italia’s March 2025 issue.
Ariana Grande’s fashion story ‘Pure Fantasy’ ignites marvels among many of her fans, who have never seen her look so ethereal, so mystical, so lovely and other-worldly./ Hair by GaborK; makeup by Michael Anthony
Elizaveta Porodina specializes in transforming her subjects, who have never appeared in images like hers. It’s as if she’s doing a psychological excavation of people’s inner selves — especially women — prompting them to look differently at the human in the mirror.
Read MoreGustav Klimt Painting of Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona Forces Reflection on Human Zoos
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Gustav Klimt Painting of Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona and ‘Human Zoos’
A potentially lost forever, early artwork by renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, missing since the 1930s, is now being exhibited after its recent recovery. The painting portrays Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona, a leader of the Ga people from what is now known as Ghana in West Africa. Created in 1897, the portrait shows the prince in profile set against an abstract floral backdrop. Measuring just over 2 feet in height, the compact artwork is being showcased by the Viennese gallery Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (W&K) at the TEFAF Maastricht art fair in the Netherlands, with an asking price of €15 million (approximately $16.3 million).
The Rise of Ethnographic Showcases or ‘Human Zoos’
According to W&K, the painting was created by the artist amid the 1897 Vienna Völkerschau. These Völkerschau exhibitions were ethnographic showcases — also called human zoos — from the colonial era. These widely-attended exhibitions across Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries were often businesses created for financial profit.
Read MoreWhen LOEWE’s Jonathan Anderson Was Inspired by The Glasgow School
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AOC is reviewing the totality of Anderson’s work for LOEWE, including work we’ve not shared before. These fashion images capturing the 2018 Loewe x Charles Rennie Mackintosh capsule collection are a perfect example of Anderson’s enormous respect for Arts & Crafts movements worldwide.
The handsome Felix Sueur joined with models Fran Summers and Giselle Norman in the Loewe x Charles Rennie Mackintosh capsule collection lookbook lensed by fashion photographer Craig McDean with styling by Benjamin Bruno. /Hair by Anthony Turner; makeup by Lynsey Alexander
Read MoreJonathan Anderson Departs LOEWE | Where He's Headed Is Hardly a Secret
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Designer Jonathan Anderson Resigns As Loewe’s Creative Director After 11 Years
The news was confirmed Monday, March 17 following months of speculation about the evolving chess game supporting creative talent at LVMH. The question is whether all players will be in place in a day or two, or the completion wait goes on.
After spending hours revisiting Jonathan Anderson’s body of work, taking the reins at Dior would be absolute perfection for him. Both Anderson are Chiuri are humanists, with a profound attachment to craft and human artistry. Both designers embrace the entire international community at large and are devoted to honoring history in fresh, new ways.
To seal the deal for AOC, watching the LOEWE Pre-Spring/Summer 2025 Campaign video, Lilith’s name appears as 1800 BC in the upper left hand corner of the art studio segment. That love note to feminists and Jewish women nails it for Jonathan Anderson at Anne of Carversiville.
Read MorePharrell Williams Carries the Olympic Torch Onwards to UNESCO for Louis Vuitton Men
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Pharrell Williams Carries the Olympic Torch Onwards to UNESCO for Louis Vuitton Men
The Louis Vuitton Men Spring 2025 campaign, lensed by Stef Mitchell with Gabriel Moses [IG] as photographer and director, The visual effects continue the major themes Louis Vuitton Men creative director Pharrell Williams introduced at his fashion show held in Paris at UNESCO House.
This season Vuitton Men teamed up with Air Afrique in Paris, a consultancy inspired by those glorious years when all things seemed possible, and a multicultural youth quake took hold around the world.
After his recent role representing Louis Vuitton and his adopted country of France at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Williams was feeling the love of his own humanrace [Pharrell’s skincare brand] family.
Read MoreLVMH Orchestrates 3 Next Act Chairs for Bertrand, Arnault, Angeloglou March 2025
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LVMH Orchestrates 3 Next Act Chairs for Bertrand, Arnault, Angeloglou March 2025
LVMH has taken major steps to fortify management of its largest brands Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior with promotions from its own rich stable of executive talent.
Damien Bertrand, currently CEO of Loro Piana, will become deputy CEO of Louis Vuitton.
Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou, who joined Vuitton as strategic missions director for fashion and leather goods and was later named executive vice president, will become deputy CEO of Christian Dior Couture.
Frédéric Arnault, currently CEO of LVMH Watches, which comprises Tag Heuer, Hublot and Zenith, will become CEO of Loro Piana.
Read MoreGigi Hadid Covers Vogue April, Inspiring a Jazz Age Dive into the Harlem Renaissance
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Gigi Hadid Inspires a Jazz Age Dive into the Harlem Renaissance
Supermodel Gigi Hadid graces the cover of American Vogue’s April 2025 issue, styled by Alex Harrington in ‘Jazz Age’ inspired, fashion opulence. Annie Leibovitz [IG] captures the story in the buildup to the 2025 Met Gala’ on Monday, May 5.
A Fusion of Talent, Creativity and Extraordinary Financial Wealth
The Harlem Renaissance was a time of rich cultural exchange and collaboration between African American artists and intellectuals and their white counterparts. While it was fundamentally rooted in the celebration of African American culture, the period was also marked by significant interracial interactions, particularly in the realms of art, literature, and music.
Those white counterparts were other artists themselves. And white patrons also played a crucial role in the movement's development by providing financial support and exposure opportunities for Black artists, in particular.
Read MoreHotel Stories: The Ritz Paris Founders César and Marie-Louise Ritz Pt-1
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Hotel Stories: The Ritz Paris Founders César and Marie-Louise Ritz
From the outset, the Ritz Paris, one of the most iconic luxury hotels in the world, set new benchmarks for luxury and hospitality, drawing an elite clientele that included royalty, politicians, artists, and writers. The hotel's origins are deeply intertwined with the vision and standards of César Ritz, whose legacy continues to influence luxury hospitality today at Ritz-Carlton hotels worldwide.
AOC is exploring the history of Ritz Paris, the lives of people staying at the hotel and also its founders. I’m struck writing the first words with the idea of forming a timeline around great luxury brands.
We have Louis Vuitton arriving in Paris as a young man with little money in 1837 and César Ritz arriving 30 years later. The Ritz Paris opened in 1898, the year after Guccio Gucci arrived in London in 1897, finding work as a bellhop at the Savoy Hotel.
Read MoreRihanna Covers Harper's Bazaar US March 2025 Legacy Issue, by Luis Alberto Rodriguez
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Rihanna Covers Harper's Bazaar US March 2025 Legacy Issue, by Luis Alberto Rodriguez
She’s a “titan of music” and a “self-made mogul” who “ just might have manifested her dream life”, writes Lynette Nylander for Harper’s Bazaar US March 2025 ‘Legacy’ issue.
The interview happened before the lifting of a major cloud hanging over the couple’s life and family — husband A$AP Rocky’s court case in Los Angeles.
Most AOC readers know about the not-guilty verdict that sent the couple into each other’s arms on February 18, 2025. But another story so relevant is the extraordinary words Rocky spoke to his lawyer Joe Tacopina right before the verdict was read.
Read MoreLa Beauté Louis Vuitton Launches in Fall 2025, Dame Pat McGrath Creative Director
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Louis Vuitton is launching La Beauté Louis Vuitton with Dame Pat McGrath
The makeup collection will initially launch with 55 lipsticks, 10 lip balms and eight eye palettes. "Working backstage for over 20 years at Louis Vuitton fashion shows, I am thrilled to now play such a key role in the launch of La Beauté Louis Vuitton, which is the result of extraordinary craftmanship, creativity and innovation," says McGrath.
McGrath will continue to oversee her own make-up brand, Pat McGrath Labs, which she launched in 2015 with great success. The LVMH structure for La Beauté Louis Vuitton mirrors the one in place with Guerlain’s Violette Serrat.
Read MoreAOC Taps Debra Shaw in Dior Cruise 2025 for a History Lesson on Pre-Christian Scottish Women
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AOC Taps Debra Shaw in Dior Cruise 2025 for a History Lesson on Pre-Christian Scottish Women
Maria Grazia Chiuri staged her Dior Cruise 2025 show in the gardens of Drummond Castle in Scotland, with bagpipes making the occasion. The winter Luxe issue of Grazia UK [IG] features top model Debra Shaw wearing key pieces from the Dior Cruise 2025 collection, lensed by Silvana Trevale [IG] at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland.
Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri Always Finds the Unique Makers for Her Collections
In fashion we concentrate so much on shape Grazia said, but textiles are a big part of our job—what you can do with them, and the changes you can make through them.” So, Chiuri went to the traditional—the tartan and cashmeres, the tweeds and the Argyles—and deftly filtered them into a collection which variously drew on the geopolitics of fabrics.
Chiuri’s collection and brief history lesson took AOC on a breakthrough journey into the history of women in Scotland and beyond. Anne never intended to land in a deep-dive into the Middle Ages. In fact, that’s exactly where our Gleneagles Defender landed.
Read MoreCelina Ralph for Sunday Times Style UK Suggests Regression on Larger Size Models
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