Gigi Hadid's Joyful Wisdom and Spring Fashion for InStyle US March 2022

Gigi Hadid's Joyful Wisdom and Spring Fashion for InStyle US March 2022 AOC Fashion

Supermodel Gigi Hadid projects a magnetic, joyful persona on the cover of InStyle US Magazine’s March 2022 issue. EIC Laura Brown describes Khai’s mom as “unselfconsciously animated”, as Hadid follows up her spectacular “sisterhood” images from the Versace Spring 2022 campaign with another announcement.

Netflix announced Hadid would be joining Tan France as co-host of the second season of ‘Next in Fashion’, a perfect next step in Gigi’s public life.

Julia Von Boehm styles Gigi in Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Gucci, Isabel Marant, Prada, Valentino and more, with jewelry galore lensed by Yulia Gorbachenko [IG] . / Hair by Bob Recine; Makeup by Erin Parsons

Joan Smalls Takes Paris, Lensed by Chrisean Rose for InStyle December 2022

Joan Smalls Takes Paris, Lensed by Chrisean Rose for InStyle December 2022 AOC Fashion

Seeing supermodel Joan Smalls wearing a Louis Vuitton coat with magnificent Bettina Vermillon boots, in a December 2021 InStyle Magazine fashion story headline that reads: Joan Smalls Turned the Streets of Paris into Her Personal Catwalk — well my heart literally tightened with emotion.

Sandy Armeni styles Smalls in images by Chrisean Rose {IG} / Makeup by Hila Karmand;hair by Hos

"It's where I broke through," says the Puerto Rican model, recalling the gig that launched her career: a place in Givenchy's spring 2010 haute couture show. "That was one of the most memorable moments I've ever experienced." It was an opportunity she had to fight for.

Paris is challenging and nurturing at the same time for all of us. Then we add on the reality of Joan Smalls being a person of color battling for more diversity in a fashion industry that wasn’t. However Paris has challenged me, it has challenged Joan Smalls even more so.

When I write that Paris understands certain people, Smalls articulates the feeling.

"Looking back, I appreciate what I have that much more because of what it took to get here," she says. "It wasn't handed to me easily. I had this hunger in me to achieve more and not just settle for what I was given."

In the days after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the rise of BLM protests, Joan Smalls raised her voice loudly and in ways that resonated deeply. In February, 2021 Joan was joined by IMG and the Black Fashion Council to Launch #Change Fashion.

WWD explains the new organization, dedicated to encouraging companies to take responsibility for their impact on the world and provides concrete steps that will ensure the industry is working toward racial justice.

Melodie Monrose Is All 'Hot Stuff' Accessories for InStyle September 2021

Melodie Monrose Is All 'Hot Stuff' Accessories for InStyle September 2021 AOC Fashion

Model Melodie Monrose poses in eye candy accessories styled by Lotte Elisa. Photographer Chris Scheurich [IG] flashes ‘Hot Stuff’ fashion for InStyle US September 2021./ Hair & makeup by Phoenix Rose

Karen Elson Poses for InStyle September 2021, Talks New Pro-Karen Modeling Venture

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Karen Elson Poses for InStyle September 2021, Talks New Pro-Karen Modeling Venture AOC Fashion

Supermodel Karen Elson poses on the subscribers cover of InStyle Magazine’s September 2021 issue. Elson is styled by Daniela Paudice in images by Yelena Yemchuk [IG]./ Hair by Recine; makeup by Romy Soleimani

This entire fashion story is fabulous. Elson looks fantastic and Yemchuk’s images are rich and powerfully beautiful.

InStyle’s Karen Elson interview ‘Karen Elson Has the Power’ by Laura Brown delivers a power punch paragraph.

After 18 months of the universally painful and isolating COVID-19 experience, the modeling industry has been one of the first to revert to less than empathetic behavior. So Elson did something radical: She left her agents and now represents herself. The boldness of the move cannot be overstated. Agents not only groom a model's career, they manage finances and travel, often breeding less independence than codependence. And that, of course, can be less than healthy..

I just reread The Cut — which is where we first read that Karen Elson is on her own. And now I’ve read the InStyle article. There’s nothing new in this piece about Karen Elson, her work with Model Alliance and all the great role model work that Karen Elson does.

Elson at large raises issues about models getting respect — and money. We know about Elson and the Model Alliance’s campaigns for better treatment for models. Elson has asked previously, why do models not get compensated in ways similar to photographers, for example? Elson is raising some very big questions about the world of modeling beyond respect and being treated with a bit of empathy. Her questions include long-term compensation for creative work that rains money years later.

It’s clear that InStyle EIC Laura Brown has a low opinion of model agencies. But there’s no smoking gun in the InStyle story. I’m speed reading, but there’s not one example of the modeling industry being “one of the first to revert to less than empathetic behavior”, post-COVID. That’s a strong statement, Ms. Brown. Examples would be nice to support your assertion.

The issues — especially the financial issues that Elson raises — have always been at the center of AOC’s commentary about the 80’s supers. Elson observes:

I look at someone like Maye Musk, who I'm obsessed with, and I think, "All right. She's 73 years old. She's badass. She's still doing it." And the norms are being finally pushed up against. I look at Precious Lee. I look at Paloma [Elsesser]. Even Kaia [Gerber], who's now acting. These girls have got so much more to offer than just their beauty. Something has shifted. I remember [casting director] James Scully said to me that in the '80s the models had all the power. They were the ones who were calling the shots, like Linda Evangelista: "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000." I love Linda, by the way. She is the funniest person on the planet. But they were in charge, and then. Somewhere in the '90s it went to, "Oh, they've got too much power. We've got to smack them back down."

AOC — and Anne personally — have always maintained that the smackdown of models was real — that the industry did say that the supers had too much power (and money). The downsizing of size 4-6 models to size 0 was about far more than sample sizes and the growth of the Asian market where women are smaller.

When you strip supermodel bodies of healthy muscles for ‘heroin chic’ waifs, you are an industry smacking models down to size — literally. And you are stripping them of sexual power. It’s happened to every great goddess in history.

Karen Elson — like most of us — endured a period of intense reflection during COVID lockdown. Elson decided — and we APPLAUD her — that she wants to represent herself. I hope she creates a new paradigm of some kind for other models to follow.

Elson is a realist and given the personal goals she has created for herself, she believes she can do a better job of selling Karen Elson, than her old agency. And she wants some editorial control over her jobs. Saying no to one, doesn’t means she never gets another.

If Google and Apple have talented employees not wanting to work in an office five days a week and Morgan Stanley has MBAs saying ‘no’ to investment banking over no quality of life, it makes perfect sense that Karen Elson doesn’t want to leave her kids on her first getaway post-COVID and run to meet a photographer who decided that very morning that s(he) had to have HER. And could she hop a plain pronto. Elson said “no’. Her kids were more important.

It’s not as if a more empowered model industry never existed. Personally, I think feminism at large got derailed in the late 90s and women have been losing ground ever sense. As Elson points out, there’s some hopeful signs out there in fashion world right now.

It’s silly to make predictions. But many of us are watching very carefully to see how our post-COVID world defines itself. As one new variant hits after another, we may be living a new life for decades to come. Can fashion adjust? It will have to. ~ Anne

Read the entire Karen Elson InStyle interview.

American Ballet Theatre Dancers by AB+DM for InStyle July 2021

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American Ballet Theatre Dancers by AB+DM for InStyle July 2021 AOC Fashion

The first ‘to do’ in reading ‘Ballet Is Back, Baby’ a fashion story shot by AB+DM for Instyle US and published early June online for the July issue, is to verify the facts. Julia von Boehm styles dancers from American Ballet Theatre in a heady mix of Alexander McQueen, Commando, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Givenchy, JW Anderson, Khaite, Mônot, Spanx,Thom Brown and more./ Hair by Shin Arima; makeup by Frankie Boyd

The Dancers include Isabella Boylston, ABT Principal Dancer; James Whiteside, ABT Principal Dancer; ABT Corp dancers: Anabel Katsnelson, Betsy McBride, Emily Hayes, João Menegussi, Melvin Lawovi and Yoon Jung Seo, ABT Studio Corps.

“Verifying the facts” refers to a bus tour select American Ballet Theatre dancers were scheduled to make across America, as they faced another cancelled official season in 2021.

In fact, the #ABTAcrossAmerica US tour did happen — at outside venues and not the predictable ones for a ballet tour. These shots on ABT’s IG — not in geographical order — show the dancers bringing joy to lawn-lovers in Minneapolis, MN; Middleburg, VA; Chicago, MI; Iowa City, IA; Lincoln NE. Other stops included St. Louis, Mo and Charleston, SC. The dancers made it back to New York City for a special closing performance last week, July 21.

Pregnant Martha Hunt Poses in Fendi + Bulgari for InStyle Russia

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Martha Hunt Poses in Fendi + Bulgari by Natalie Kogan for InStyle Russia August 2021

Top model Martha Hunt appears four-months pregnant in Natalie Kogan’s fashion story ‘The lead is played by . . . ‘. Bobette Cohn styles the Bulgari ambassador in Fendi and Bulgari, both LVMH brands, for the August 2021 issue of InStyle Russia.

Hunt is expecting her first child with photographer Jason McDonald. The duo announced their engagement in January 2020, but COVID has seriously derailed their wedding plans. It was a Victoria’s Secret old-home week when former VS Angel Hunt announced her pregnancy mid-June.

Martha Hunt Archives @ AOC

Alexander Neumann Flashes 'Black Klansman' Actor Laura Harrier For InStyle March 2018

Alexander Neumann Flashes 'Black Klansman' Actor Laura Harrier For InStyle March 2018

Chicago-born actor Laura Harrier, of Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)  cites Hilary Banks from 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' as her number-one style influence. "She's a bad bitch, always unapologetically herself and unafraid to stand out and be beautiful," Harrier says in her InStyle interview. 

 “Style is not a formula for me—it’s instinctual,” Harrier tells InStyle. “I know right away if I like something or not.”

Laura Harrier is styled by Carolina Orrico, then lensed by Alexander Neumann for InStyle'sMarch 2018 issue./ Hair by Lacy Redway; makeup by Linda Gradin