Actor Lily James has three films out this year [‘Finally Dawn’, ‘Relay’ and ‘Swiped’] and a new production company called Parodos Productions, which James co-founded with Gala Gordon. Both women are in their mid-thirties and Gordon is also a British actor.
They launched Parodos Productions to champion fresh voices and female-led stories like the film ‘Swiped’. Parodos has joined 20th Century Studios and Ethea Entertainment as co-producer of the film inspired by the story of Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and former CEO of online dating platform Bumble. James plays the lead role and Gordon is executive producer on the film.
Bumble founder Wolfe Herd couldn’t contribute in any way to ‘Swiped’ because she’s governed by a NDA. “Part of why I wanted to make this movie is to explore how NDAs are weaponized against women,” James told Bloomberg/Businessweek.
“In a way this film becomes a form of reclamation not just for Whitney but for women who have been told to keep quiet,” James says.
Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and more are returning for the sequel of their 2006 hit ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. That’s all the buzz and now Emily Blunt is bringing her “shocking platinum hair” to her cover story for Vogue Hong Kong [IG] August 2025 issue.
Playing Dawn Staples in ‘The Smashing Machine’
In October we will see Blunt in ‘The Smashing Machine’, where she plays Dawn Staples in the biographical sports drama film about her ex-husband, UFC champion Mark Kerr. Directed by Benny Safdie, the film explores the brutal and raw nature of MMA.
Mark Kerr is played by Emily Blunt’s longtime friend and co-star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Blunt and Johnson have significant mutual trust in each other, which was required to portray a high-combustion relationship that was searingly contentious and then “filled with love, connection, and intimacy.”
Both Blunt and Johnson committed themselves to being vulnerable, and it shows in the finished film, according to the cover star.
Hailey Bieber’s sustainable skincare brand Rhode [IG] is in high gear, with less than 3 weeks to go for its Sephora launch on September 4.
The recently-acquired, sensational-success brand Rhode will be carried by all Sephora freestanding stores in the U.S. and Canada, as well as on LVMH-owned Sephora website.
Bieber has expertly walked a business tightrope with plenty of social media dazzle and celebrity PR grounded in product manufacturing expertise and distribution goals.
Focus, or better yet ‘clarity’ has been Hailey Bieber’s middle name since launching Rhode, and she has not faltered. With the acquisition of Rhode by ELF Beauty for $1 billion, Bieber has moved into an exclusive club of successful new business launches
Actor Jennifer Aniston covers the September 2025 issue of Vanity Fair [IG], sitting for a major interview with Julie Miller 20 years after her divorce from Brad Pitt.
Aniston is styled by Paul Cavaco in Balenciaga, Gucci, Loro Piana, Rabanne, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, Schiaparelli and more. The actor wears Bulgari High Jewelry in images by Norman Jean Roy [IG].
Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock are close friends, and the most interesting parts of the interview focus on changes in Hollywood regarding women’s power and influence.
“We were from that time in the business where no one wanted the ladies to be friends—it was about pitting everyone against each other,” Sandra Bullock says. “We were told we weren’t supposed to do that—meaning like and respect and honor each other.”
Models South Korean heritage Hyunji Shin and Spanish heritage model Pau Ramis front the Brunello Cucinelli summer 2025 Transeasonal Campaign.
Brunello Cucinelli’s Commitment to Italy
Always the philosopher, one of the world’s most important humanists commented about his obligations to shareholders and his equally important obligations to Italy, after reporting a revenue increase of 10.2 percent in the first half of 2025 on his July analysts call.
"The fact is that we have an Italian company pay taxes in Italy... this is our struggle, you know, with regard to improving the profits. We will never bring or transfer our company to the Netherlands, to Luxembourg," Cucinelli added.
Cucinelli explained that his motivation for staying in Italy is in large part to support the wider supply chain. "We are serious Italian entrepreneurs who believe in made-in-Italian manufacturing with high-end craftsmanship, high-end exclusivity, high-end quality. We want to work on a local level in Italy."
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.