Versace's Fall 2024 Campaign Style Seduction at LA's Marmont Hotel by Mert & Marcus
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Kendall 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'Legendary' Versace Muse Claudia Schiffer, Loli Bahia & Mona Tougaard in SS2024 Campaign
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Original supermodel and “legendary’ Gianni Versace muse, Claudia Schiffer takes the star position in the Versace spring/summer 2024 campaign.
Friend to the house and close friend of Donatella Versace, Schiffer wore a similar Atelier Versace version of the dress to the recent premiere of the Argylle movie in London.
Photographer Mert Alas [IG] captures Claudia, who is joined by Loli Bahia, Mona Tougaard, and Fernando Lindez in the campaign spotlight.
Read MoreTop Model Anok Yai Talks Knife Fights and Finding God in Africa for W Magazine #4
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Returning to W Magazine’s Volume #4 2023, Mert Alas turns his lens to very top model Anok Yai.
Anok describes herself as a prolific artist, working mostly in oils but now experimenting with fire. Yes . . . fire. She has also taken up knife fighting lessons as a way of coping with restlessness. I believe she is now at a level of expertise in knife fighting, that she can land movie roles in major scenes.
“When I’m fighting, it feels like a dance that goes so fast, you have to meditate,” she says. “Because the second you lose focus, you’re hit with a knife.”
Read MoreDua Lipa Covers Vogue France September, Wearing Style Austerity Lensed by Mert Alas
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Top talent Dua Lipa covers the September 2023 issue of Vogue France, wearing ALAÏA in a 180° turn away from her bushy, dark brows. Barely-there nude makeup and a blonde no-brows, visual closeup launches a fashion story portrait of Dua Lipa by Mert Alas solo [IG] to kick off the fall 2023 fashion season with austerity.
In contrast to her center stage May 2023, joyful butterflies, exquisitely beautiful Versace ‘La Vacanza’ Magic in Cannes, a joyless darkness has settled over Dua Lipa’s France. It is perhaps a sign of the times.
Dua Lipa has a mini Oprah operation going on with her Service95 website, a place of intellectual ideas and commentary — and her podcast.
Even more consequential are her words about homophobia and transphobia and how close they are to misogyny.
Dua Lipa is highly articulate in how she sees this challenge :
“Homophobia and transphobia are close to misogyny. A lot of people, deep down, are just afraid of themselves. The freedom of others confronts them with what they do not have the courage to express. The beauty of a free, true and proud being paralyzes them.”
Read MoreKate Moss | Mert & Marcus | W Magazine September 2008 | 'Hammam'
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Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, known as Mert & Marcus, are top fashion photographers celebrated for their bold and provocative style. The duo remains very busy and relevant in fashion world in 2023, 15 years after their collaboration with W Magazine in 2008 for the editorial ‘Hammam’, featuring Kate MoKate Moss and Mert & Marcus at Charleston for British Vogue 2021
AOC revisited this 2008 Kate Moss by Mert & Marcus editorial Saturday for refreshing with large images, after The Guardian linked into AOC’s 2021 feature on ‘Charleston’ in Sussex, England. Kate was photographed by Mert & Marcus wearing Fendi Couture for British Vogue.
‘Charleston’ was home to the Bloombury set of writers, artists and members of the creatives set in England. While we write our own new article about ‘Charleston’ and the artists associated with this important place in European history — and also in America — you can visit the ‘living museum’ online.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton Makes Zendaya Official in 2023 Capucines Campaign by Mert & Marcus
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On Thursday rumors that Zendaya had made a major luxury brand move were confirmed, with Louis Vuitton announcing her as its newest house ambassador.
Master photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott captured Zendaya as the face of its Capucines bag, shot in color-saturated, cinematic images of blue sky and a quiet Mediterranean backdrop at the restored 1929 Roquebrune-Cap-Martin house, designed by Irsh architect Eileen Gray./ Hair by Raoul Alejandre; makeup by Antoinette Hill
The Golden Globe–winning actor’s career is in fifth gear, with two highly-anticipated films this year. ‘Challengers’, a Luca Guadagnino–directed tennis drama [‘Call Me by Your Name’] will release in August on August 11, 2023. Zendaya stars with ‘The Crown’s’ Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist ‘West Side Story’ in a tennis tournament in which her husband faces off against her former lover.
Read MoreKylie Jenner Fronts DG Logo Bag Campaign, Lensed by Mert & Marcus
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Dolce & Gabbana is not a toned-down brand, but Kylie Jenner’s softer, more natural makeup enhances the sensual message of her new DG Logo bag campaign.
Sophisticated, uber-competent women like Kylie rarely take handbags to bed.
Then again . . . a leopard print throw, black stockings with black nails and a silk bra photographed against the backdrop of an Italian tapestry may convey the well-travelled road to the riches of earning your own DG Logo bag — Karlie style — or being gifted the Italian treasure by photographers duo Mert & Marcus [IG], who photographed the campaign.
Consider the fact that Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott own a spectacular 10-bedroom Moorish villa in Ibiza. Who knows . . . there may be a DG Logo bag gifted to special guests like Kylie.
Read MoreSensual but Straightlaced Tailoring by Mert & Marcus for D La Repubblica Spring 2023 Fashion
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Top model Kristen McMenamy leads a model ensemble including Amber Later, Camille Chifflot, Mila Van Eeten, Sihana Shalaj, and Soo-Joo Park in ‘ÜBER LIEBE’[About Love’]
McMenamy covers D La Repubblica Fashion Issue Volume III, styled by Jacob K with dramatic but spare and focused fashion images captured by Mert & Marcus.
Read MoreKim Kardashian Burns Down the Italian Villa in Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2023 Campaign
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Kim Kardashian deepens her relationship with Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana, fronting the deeply sensual Spring 2023 campaign lensed by Mert & Marcus [IG].
Jack Borkett and Dani Levi style Kim in these blistering hot images. Kim’s hair is by close friend Chris Appleton; makeup by Ariel.
The haters will take jabs at KK but I think she looks and performs spectacularly. AOC is not interested in anybody’s opinions about what model could have done a better job.
Whatever one thinks about Kim Kardashian, the world knows her as a sexy and beautiful woman, as a genuinely-devoted mother, and as a business tycoon who has built an uber-successful $3.2 billionaire SKIMMS brand, which could soon rival the crippled Victoria’s Secret.
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2023 Gucci Cruise 'Cosmogonie' Campaign Ode to Philosophy Bridging Space & Time
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AOC had not viewed the 2023 Gucci Cruise Collection Cosmogonie video. Transported emotionally and psychologically by the recent Dior Cruise 2023 show, I am even more impacted by the 2023 Gucci Cruise presentation.
Never has AOC connected so deeply with Gucci’s now-departed creative director Alessandro Michele.
Michele was inspired by the work of Walter Benjamin, a 20th-century, German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist.
Benjamin deserves his own AOC post in this moment of the daily drumbeat of hate against progressive thinkers from Donald Trump, Kanye West and many others.
Read MoreBella Hadid Returns to Swarovski Holiday Campaign After Speaking Against Antisemitism
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Without naming her client, Bella did ruminate in a recent interview on the contained backlash she received this year about her new role as the Swarovski ambassador.
Bella’s pro-Palestinian, perceived as anti-Israeli posts on IG, created pushback by some Israeli jewelry stores and dealers against Swarovski.
Last week, Bella Hadid did not specifically call out Kanye West, but she noted on Instagram that it would be a “disservice” to herself and her loved ones if she did not “speak up.” She went on to specifically condemn antisemitism and the “things” that have been shared about it recently on “public platforms”.
“To allow any form of antisemitism to slip by, as desensitized as the world has become, it would be a disservice to my friends, the families I have grown up with, the people I love and work with, myself, and even the Palestinian cause as a whole,” she wrote.
She then emphasised that her Palestinian community does not stand for “hatred or violence,” adding that anti-Semitic social media posts “will never be okay”.
Read MoreBalmain's Environmental Message in FW2022 Campaign by Mert & Marcus
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Balmain gets futuristic with a Fall-Winter 2022 ad campaign shot by Mert & Marcus [IG]. Models Aweng Chuol, Cherif Douamba, Chu Wong, Christina Jugo, Claus Mukasa Kaonge, Lila Moss, Lulu Wood, Tanya Churbanova, and Tye Tubbax trek into the desert setting with stylists Charlotte Stockdale and Katie Lyall.
Read MoreLily James Leads Goddesses and Rebels in Versace Fall 2022/23 Campaign
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Goddesses and Regal Rebels dominate Versace’s Fall 2022/23 Campaign, led by ‘Pam & Tommy’ star Lily James. The Emmy-nominated James plays a Versace goddess in a summer where AOC has read the word ‘goddess’ from non-AOC sources at every turn.
Read MoreStella McCartney's Mushroom Rich SS 2022 Campaign by Mert & Marcus
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Stella McCartney's Mushroom Rich SS 2022 Campaign by Mert & Marcus AOC Fashion
The Stella McCartney brand, defined by its sustainability commitments and credentials, is now so firmly entrenched in the minds of luxury consumers, that we can look at her Spring-Summer 2022 campaign as pure fashion. Stella is more committed than ever to now cultivate a larger message of people’s relationship with nature.
Photographed by Mert & Marcus [IG], the creative entourage captures the new Stella McCartney campaign with supermodel Natalia Vodianova center stage. The fashion shoot happened at France’s Marqueyssac gardens, one of France's listed 'Jardins Remarquable' sitting high above the Dordogne river.
Additional photography from the Stella McCartney’s Spring 2022-Summer 2022 campaign took place at the Espace Niemeyer in Paris, the site of Stella’s runway show. “The space gives the sense of being in a mushroom cap, an iconic nod to Oscar Niemeyer’s artistic expression and openness,” says the Stella McCartney website.
Fashion’s GAIA Queens
Spring 2022 mushrooms, center stage at Stella McCartney’s runway show in fall.2021, got a fresh boost two weeks ago. Sarah Burton stepped into the mushrooms and mycelium creative romp with her post-Paris, mid-March Alexander McQueen Fall 2022 runway show in New York City.
The womanly synergy of Stella McCartney, Sara Burton and Gabriela Hearst leading the discussion around our relationship to nature and organic processes cannot be ignored.
Is sustainability primary a ‘woman’s thing’? The dynamic has changed in the last decade with women now much more likely than men to be green activists and financial contributors to environmental causes. Be sure to set Google search time parameters when exploring this topic, because the current data delivers very different results from total Google results.
Fashion’s Leather Debate
Committed to making mycelium a big topic in fashion world, Stella works with mycologist and ‘Entangled Life’ author Merlin Sheldrake to host summer events paying homage to mushrooms. Activities include cooking sessions with globally renowned chefs, synthesizer music created from the sounds of fungi growing by Cosmo Sheldrake and this season’s hand-drawn print, emblazoned on luxury wallpaper by British heritage fabrics house Cole & Son.
Related: Stella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Hugs Shroom Power Sustainability AOC Fashion
The Times’ Vanessa Friedman is not entirely fair — or her memory failed her — when she wrote that sustainability finally made its full-throated entrance in the spring 2022 shows with Stella McCartney’s collection.
Friedman wrote: “Well, hello sustainability. Wondering when you’d show up.” The fashion industry expert must have slept through Gabriela Hearst’ Chloé show: Gabriela Hearst Takes Chloé to Bugatti Speed in Redefining Purpose for Luxury Brands
Within this creative atmosphere, the fashion crowd heard the voice of American mycologist and entrepreneur Paul Stamets, who is considered an intellectual and industry leader in everything associated with fungi. In only a few seconds, Stamets summed up the future of fashion with his admonition: “In fashion, mushrooms are the future.”
AOC Archives: Mert & Marcus, Vodianova, Stella McCartney
Donatella Versace Covers Vogue Italia March 2022 by Mert & Marcus
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Donatella Versace Covers Vogue Italia March 2022 by Mert & Marcus AOC Fashion
Donatella Versace in Vogue Italia
Donatella Versace covers the March 2022 issue of Vogue Italia.
Donatella has come light-years since the murder of her brother, shot on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion in July, 2997. Overnight, the sister of Versace was forced to take over creative direction of the Versace vision of female empowerment.
And while Donatella Versace has experienced a major metamorphosis since taking the reins of Versace, she shares with writer Giuliana Matarrese her vulnerability: "Interviews always make me a little nervous: among other things, I keep asking myself why you chose me for this cover, one day you will explain it to me".
Versace’s north star vision — pulsating with Italian blood — is lensed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and styled by Jacob K in Atsuko Kudo; Balenciaga; Christopher Kane — who designed Versus from 2009 t0 2012, covering a period of six seasons; Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello; Versace and more.
No More Shadow
Gianni Versace taught women not to be afraid of their sexuality, that it was a positive aspect of their DNA and identity. It’s a mantle that Donna Versace also wears. It’s important also to understand that Donatella finally feels free of Gianni’s death and his dominance over her life.
“My brother’s death was so brutal that I spent years in shock,” she explains, saying that she was Gianni’s shadow. “ I was insecure, I felt the eyes of the world on me, I felt in the air of distrust: I was there, to be the creative director, certainly not because someone had promoted me, but because I had to replace him.”
Gucci Love Parade Campaign Spring 2022 by Mert & Marcus in Hollywood
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Gucci Love Parade Campaign Spring 2022 by Mert & Marcus in Hollywood AOC Fashion
Glamorous decadence defines Gucci’s Spring 2022 ‘Love Parade’ campaign lensed by Mert & Marcus [[G] AOC only misses Martha Stewart, who would have been a superb addition to the lineup.
After Martha jetted to LA for the Super Bowl, hosting the Puppy Bowl with her bestie Snoop Dogg, well she is sorely missed by us in this Hollywood extravaganza. We’re not sure this is a “chic Hollywood party”, given that food fights might break out any second among Miley Cyrus, Liu Wen, Beanie Feldstein, Tess McMillan, Jared Leto Jungjae Lee, Deng Lun and surely more.
Burberry S/S 2022 Campaign by Mert & Marcus and Chris Rhodes
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