Jourdan Dunn at Castle of Mey for Bazaar UK June 2024 Cover Story by Richard Phibbs
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Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Joins The Equity Studio As Partner with Anna Sweeting
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Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has closed the book on her involvement with Rosie Inc. and has now joined The Equity Studio, a new firm providing funding and strategic advice to beauty, wellness and lifestyle companies.
Led by investor Anna Sweeting, Huntington-Whiteley has partner status. The Equity Studio will invest in growth-stage consumer companies in the early to mid stages of development in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe.
Huntington-Whiteley launched Rose Inc. with biotech darling turned incubator Amyris, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023.
Read MoreLiu Wen Covers Vogue China June 2024, Margaret Zhang's Finale. What's Next?
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Luxury brands and thoughtful fashion writers like AOC are studying this last issue of Vogue China under the signature and vision of departed EIC Margaret Zhang.
The June 2024 issue features supermodel Liu Wen on three covers. The towering-influence Chinese model is styled by Vivienne Sun, with creative direction by Matt Mcdonald and images by Hong Kong based Wing Shya [IG].
What Vogue China watchers are analyzing is how ‘New China Style’ — and AOC adds the ‘thoughtful expression of Chinese government values’ — is expressed by luxury fashion and media going forward.
Expressing China’s 21st century modern identity through the lens of traditions thousands of years old is key for the next EIC of Vogue China.
Issues Around Gender Identity, Masculinity and Feminism in China
Generally speaking, ‘male identity’ has been under the microscope in China, even more than ‘female identity’ and feminism itself. There is a statistical problem with China’s birth rate created with its old one-child, government policy.
Additionally, the Chinese government has not hesitated for one moment to demand changes and shut down media that projects images of men through the LGBTQAI+ lens. Many readers may not know that the Chinese government banned effiminate men on TV in September 2021.
Whether luxury brands acknowledge this topic or not, it’s on their minds, given the importance of the Chinese market in future growth plans.
Read MoreZendaya Unfurled in 'Her Own Way' by Josh Olins for Vogue Australia May 2024
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Zendaya adds another Vogue cover fashion story to her May 2024, ‘Challengers’ movie tour, fashion story portfolio. Sydney, Australia was the first stop on the 27-year-old’s publicity tour and Hannah-Rose Yee sat down with the actor on behalf of Vogue Australia.
Photographer Josh Olins [IG] takes incredibly-poignant and deeply-personal images of the actor, styled by Law Roach. The one below is one of the most intimate, unrehearsed and unique images in my AOC memory.
It has intimacy, vulnerability, a bit of exhaustion or letting-go in the moment. There is no tension in her shoulders, signifying to me great trust and comfort with the photographer. The image has an old masters, British museum quality to it.
Read MoreKendall Jenner Covers Vogue US June-July 2024, Talks Her True Feelings
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The highest paid model in the world for the last six years is supermodel Kendall Jenner, and she is celebrating her 10-year anniversary in the fashion business on the cover of Vogue Magazine’s June/July 2024 issue. Jenner is interviewed by Rob Haskell in ‘Kendall Jenner Is in Her Feelings’ following her New Year’s trip to Barbados.
Kendall is styled by Tabitha Simmons with images by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott [IG], who shot the fashion story at the One&Only Mandarina on Mexico’s Pacific Coast./ Hair by Jimmy Paul; makeup by Mary Phillips
There is absolutely no joy expressed in Jenner’s decade of building a successful career that put her on top of the Forbes 2023 list, with estimated annual earnings related to fashion and style projects at $40 million.
The Power of Negative Thinking
Jenner’s biggest goal over these 10 years has been to prove people wrong about her — which AOC agrees doesn’t sound like much fun for such a successful person. We all know that haters online are not kind to women in the spotlight. But Kendall also agrees that she is not a positive person generally.
Read More'Rebel Rebel' Channels Tina Modotti for Vogue Greece May 2024, Lensed by Thanassis Krikis
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Model Africa Garcia is styled by Nicholas Georgiou in ‘Rebel Rebel’, lensed by Thanassis Krikis [IG] for Vogue Greece [IG] May 2024. / Hair by Christos Kallaniotis; makeup by Athina Karakitsou
Garcia’s summer wardrobe is inspired by the Italian-American photographer, model, actor, and activist Tina Modotti, whose retrospective at Jeu de Paume in Paris is closing Sunday, May 12.
The photographer’s young life took a dramatic turn in 1920, when Tina Modotti met Edward Weston.
The couple moved to Mexico City in 1922 and opened a portrait studio. They lived in the energized intellectual life of Mexico City in the interwar years, surrounded by a circle of friends that included Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein and Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician Leon Trotsky, as well as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
Read MoreBrunello Cucinelli SS 2024 Campaign Is Gentle Luxury While House Sales & Profits Soar
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Lachlan Bailey [IG] and Brunello Cucinelli [IG] make perfect sense together. We find Bailey behind the lens for Brunello Cucinelli’s May 2024 drop.
The cast includes Cate Underwood, Lucky Blue Smith, Nour Rizk and Ryan Porter with styling by Michela Buratti. / Hair by Werner Amort; makeup by Pedro Pianto
While much luxury retail has stumbled in the first quarter of 2024, Brunello Cucinelli posted a 16.5 revenue percent increase through March 31. Based on current orders, the gentle luxury house is projecting revenue growth of 10 percent in 2024.
Read More'Love Lies Bleeding' Actor Kristen Stewart by Zoey Grossman for Porter Edit May 6, 2024
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‘Twilight Saga’ franchise star Kristen Stewart is styled by Bojana Kozarevic in a fashion story ‘Laid Bare’, a collection of sultry separates from Acne Studios, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Dries Van Noten, JW Anderson, Saint Laurent, Tom Ford and more. Stewart covers Porter Edit’s May 6 issue, lensed by Zoey Grossman [IG]./ Hair by Adir Abergel; makeup by Jillian Dempsey
Billie JD Porter interviews Stewart, fresh off her press tour for ‘Love Lies Bleeding’, where she plays “Lou – a seemingly nihilistic gym manager, whose world is turned upside down when she falls hard and fast for a female bodybuilder.”
The actor has spoken multiple times about the challenges of bankrolling ‘The Chronology of Water’, the film she is about to direct and one she has struggled to finance until now.
Stewart jazzes up the descriptors, saying the movie "is about incest and periods and a woman violently repossessing her voice and body, and it is, at times, hard to watch ... but it’s gonna be a f---ing thrill ride."
Read MoreErin Wasson Poses in Aussie Brand Spell's 'Bohème 2024' Campaign
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Marseille-based model Erin Wasson poses for Aussie brand Spell’s Bohème 2024 campaign. Photographer Jamie Green [IG] writes that Wasson rolled out of a cab 90 minutes from Marseille, saying “You’ve got me for 8 hours, babe.”
If you don’t know Spell, they have one store in Byron Bay and a global internet business. Sustainability has been at the heart of Spell for over a decade, and they lead with fibers that are circular, regenerative and renewable.
In spite of the brand’s ‘California Girl’ in Australia positioning, Spell uses words atypical for PR campaigns. On the topic of sustainability, Spell says they are ‘braver, clearer and frankly – gutsier’.
Nice . . . especially the gutsy part. Fashion needs more gutsy people. Less facade; more guts . . . PLEASE. And thanks, Spell for being a Certified B Corporation.
Read More2023 Was Spectacular for Khaite and Founder Catherine Holstein. Here's Her New York Story
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2023 was a banner year for Khaite with the brand opening a store in Soho, New York, and a second one in Seoul. Khaite popped into Water Mill, New York — at Holstein’s summer home — to show the pre-Fall collection. [See image above.]
In an amazing sequence Holstein sold another stake in her company to growth equity firm Stripes, after being launched in 2016 by brand incubator Assembled Brands. In 2023, as part of its Stripes presentation, Khaite announced plans to open 10 additional brick and mortar stores in the next five years.
In a well-written 2006 New York Times headline, ‘To Barneys, and Step on It’, Eric Wilson detailed the life-changing events for the 22-year-old Parson’s student Catherine Holstein, who had designed six sailor dresses.
Distilled to its essence, Holstein and Khaite is a wonderful New York story, filled with true grit determination and also the power of connections. Lots of them. AOC delights in sharing the details.
Read MoreVogue Portugal May 2024 Covers Announce an Exploration of Nature & Motherhood
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Mother-Nature, Gaia, Terra Mater, the “cult of the feminine” is center stage in the May 2024 issue of Vogue Portugal, writes Sofia Lucas.
The editorial issue overview opens with a quote from Aristotle:
“In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous” - Aristotle
As educated women, we do not bow down to Aristotle, for clear and concise reasons.
There’s no record that Aristotle, the great philosopher and foundational contributor to Western civilization, saw significant value in women. He argued quite the opposite, and AOC contends that Aristotle was a creator of the misogyny and not merely reflecting his time in history.
Read MoreSydney Sweeney's Jimmy Choo 'Road to Joy' Campaign by Oliver Hadlee Pearch
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