Ulla Johnson Fall 2020 Campaign by Yelena Yemchuk | Ulla's Tears for Jacob Blake

Ulla Johnson Fall 2020 Campaign by Yelena Yemchuk | Ulla's Tears for Jacob Blake

The spirits of female nomads permeate Ulla Johnson’s Fall 2020 collection, filmed in this new campaign video , shot in the unfamiliar terrain of Long Island’s North Fork and starring Indira Scott and Jordan Daniels. April Hughes styles the shoot with images by Yelena Yemchuk.

AOC is not surprised to visit Ulla Johnson’s Instagram and immediately discover a tribute to Jacob Blake. Any designer who works with artisans in Peru and Kenya, while living in Ft. Green, Brooklyn is probably committed to the Black Lives Matter movement. Ulla writes:

“This is Jacob Blake. He was shot seven times in the back in front of his children. The cycle of violence in our country must come to an end. The moment is now for us to join our voices in unison to demand change at the local, state, and federal level, to cast out the current regime, to retrain our police officers, to fund our social workers, to unite our actions against a system that perpetuates racist violence.”

At this moment, Anne hears activists in Washington, DC gathered on this important day in America’s racial history. Jacob Blake’s sister is speaking, as he lies in a hospital bed paralyzed— BUT SHACKLED !!! — to his bed.

August 28: Anne’s Annual Day of Reflection

Today is the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held in Washington, DC on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. It’s also the anniversary of the brutal murder of the young, 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955.

It’s also my birthday, and so the day of August 28, — one that should be spent in quiet celebration — is always a day of deep reflection for me about America’s original sin of slavery. Even more painful is the reality that decades later systemic racism is worse than ever in our country — best exemplified by the presidency of Donald Trump.

Net-a-Porter and Gemfield's Support Space for Giants Elephants in Kenya

Net-a-Porter and Gemfield's Gemstones Support Space for Giants Elephants in Kenya

Walk for Giants is a new campaign of the international conservation charity Space for Giants, made possible by Gemfields, a world-leading supplier of responsibly sourced coloured gemstones, and supported by NET-A-PORTER, the world’s leading online luxury fashion retailer.

Models Arizona Muse and Selena Forrest are photographed by Francesco Carrozzini, in both color images and black and whites on location at the Enasoit Game Sanctuary in Laikipia, Kenya.

In our COVID pandemic world, contributions to Space for Giants has suffered a serious blow. There is mixed messaging out there, but Net-a-Porter says that *100% of the profits from the sale of this product will go to Space for Giants (charity number 1159227).” I’m reading “proceeds”, which means revenue on some fashion websites. That information is incorrect.

Adut Akech Sees Red for Zara FW 2020 Lookbook Series 021 | Adut's New Guy

Adut Akech Sees Red for Zara FW 2020 Lookbook Series 021

South Sudanese-Australian top model Adut Akech delivers a big jolt of modern fashion passion to global, weary spirits, posing in the Zara Fall/Winter 2020 Red Outfits Lookbook in Series 021.. Adut has comes so far since her runway debut as an exclusive in the Saint Laurent SS 2017 show.

Based on Adut’s own Instagram page, she is more than cozy with Nigerian Afrobeats hitmaker Runtown. The two dazzlers reportedly met in Europe with Runtown also connected to Fashion Week with his campaigns for Dior, Versace, Triple R and his friendship with Nigerian stylist Ugo Mozie.

Joan Smalls by Zoey Grossman for Victoria's Secret Bombshell Passion Fragrance

Joan Smalls by Zoey Grossman for VS Bombshell  (2).jpg

Joan Smalls by Zoey Grossman for Victoria's Secret Bombshell Passion Fragrance AOC Body

Top model and racial justice activist Joan Smalls returns to the Victoria’s Secret spotlight, lensed by Zoey Grosssman in this Victoria’s Secret’s Bombshell Passion campaign. AOC shares the luscious images of key ingredients creating the Bombshell Passion fragrance, including notes of queen peony, Sparkling cassis and fuchsia rose. Read more Bombshell Passion news at Victoria’s Secret.

Joan Smalls activist shared a new essay throughout the Conde Nast network, as part of Vogue’s Hope campaign. Read on at British Vogue: “Are You Ready To Be That Force For Change?” Joan Smalls On How Fashion Can Truly Become Diverse

Nadine Ijewere Flashes Selena Forrest in Ethical Jewelry for Vogue UK September 2020

Nadine Ijewere Flashes Selena Forrest in Ethical Jewelry for Vogue UK September 2020

Rising model Selena Forrest is styled by Poppy Kain in ‘Moment of Clarity’, a fashion story about ethical jewelry. Photographer Nadine Ijewere is behind the lens for British Vogue September 2020./ Hair by Shiori Takahashi; makeup by Lucy Burt

Erik Madigan Heck Shares 'Studies in Stillness' in Harper's Bazaar UK July 2020

Brianna Killion Heck by Erik Madigan Heck for Harper's Bazaar UK July 2020 (12).jpg

Erik Madigan Heck Shares 'Studies in Stillness' in Harper's Bazaar UK July 2020

Fashion photographer Erik Madigan Heck creates a personal exploration of nature’s colors, textures and magnificence in ‘Studies in Stillness’. The images feature Heck’s beloved wife Brianna Killion Heck and reflect their creative dialogue within the constraints of the global pandemic. The images are published in Harper’s Bazaar UK July 2020.

In 2014, Erik Madigan Heck’s family life was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, accompanied by an interview with Alexandra Genova called ‘Behind the Goddess Myth’. It’s a superb interview and intellectual discussion about the photographer’s work, accompanied by gorgeous images of Heck’s family.

Heck’s family portraits flirt between reality and fantasy. The Connecticut forest backdrop of his home isn’t quite nature as we know it: woodland greens become turquoise blues and blushing pinks become coral peach. “Color has always been one of the most important things for my work—and up here it’s the changing of the seasons too,” he says. “So I’ll take what’s already there and I’ll elaborate. I‘m not inventing things that aren’t there, just pushing them in certain directions.”

A Racial Equity Tools Glossary for People Seeking Racial Justice

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.

Reading ‘How one woman pulled off the first consumer boycott — and helped inspire the British to abolish slavery’, on The Conversation, I became fixated on a comment that read:

thanks for the interesting article and for not using subjective racial terms. the story reads rationally and perfectly well without them, and avoids validating the mythology of race.

Thinking that I knew the meaning of his words, I Googled anyway and discovered this Racial Equity Tools Glossary. You can download a pdf version of this glossary from this link.

Words and phrases defined and discussed with the “context of racial equality” include: accountability, ally, anti-black, anti-racist, colonization, critical race theory, cultural misappropriation, cultural racism, decolonization, ethnicity, implicit bias, individual racism, institutional racism, internalized racism, intersectionality, microaggression, racial justice, racial reconciliation, racist, restorative justice.

Bella Hadid: Helmut Lang Pre-Fall 2020; Instagram Baba Rumble

Bella Hadid: Helmut Lang Pre-Fall 2020; Instagram Baba Rumble

Bella Hadid poses in Helmut Lang’s Pre-Fall 2020 campaign, with Ethan James Green in the studio. Brian Phillips is in charge of creative direction with Patti Wilson on styling. / Hair by Jimmy Paul; makeup by Hannah Murray

Bella Hadid’s July 2020 Instagram Rumble

Instagram apologized to Bella Hadid on Tuesday, July 8, after removing an image of her father’s passport.

“Instagram removed my story that only said ‘My baba And his birthplace of Palestine’ with a photograph of his American passport,” the 23-year-old supermodel said Tuesday on her Instagram Story.

The proud Hadid daughter pilloried the social media platform: “@instagram exactly what part of me being proud of my father’s birthplace of Palestine is ‘bullying, harassment, graphic or sexual nudity?'”

British Vogue August 2020 'Reset' Issue Honors Nature & Creatives

British Vogue August 2020 'Reset' Issue Honors Nature & Creatives

Photographer Nick Knight pays high compliments to British Vogue’s EIC Edward Enninful, explaining the mutual synergy that gave life to the first project of its kind for British Vogue’s August 2020 issue: the commissioning of 14 special covers that tapped Britain’s greatest artists and photographers from Tim Walker to Nadine Ijewere, David Hockney, Lubaina Himid and ‘yes’ Nick Knight. Expand the list to include Mert Alas, David Sims, Marcus Piggott, Jamie Hawkesworth, Juergen Teller, Alasdair McLellan, Martin Parr, David Bailey and Craig McDean.

In a followup to the magazine’s recent online auction in collaboration with Sharon Wolter Ferguson’s HEWI (Hardly Ever Wore It), this new project also makes British Vogue an engine of change and support for people in need. “The original prints of each depiction of nature – be it an everyday skyline or the memory of a place much missed – will be auctioned off in aid of Covid-19 relief charities later this year.”

British Vogue’s August Issue, Reset, and the 20-page story ‘All Across the Land’, written by British naturalist Helen Macdonald, supports a mission not only of showcasing the beautiful, but also highlighting that our planet is the living, breathing core of our human existence. As such, Edward Enninful’s 2020 mission is to RESET our relationship to nature.

Knight’s Reset cover was not the first publicity release, but it explains some highly-relevant backstory about the project. The debut cover for the project launch belongs to David Hockney.

Nick Knight on the August 2020 British Vogue Backstory