Frida Aasen In For Love & Lemons for Victoria's Secret Spring 2022 Lingerie

Frida Aasen In For Love & Lemons for Victoria's Secret Spring 2022 Lingerie AOC Body

Newly-engaged Norwegian beauty Frida Aasen models the new For Love & Lemons Spring 2022 lingerie collection exclusively for Victoria’s Secret. As always florals, lace and intricate details abound in this collection of ultra feminine lingerie.

Frida’s hat may be the biggest scene stealer of all, but the brightest hues, freshest prints, and dreamy feminine lingerie run a close second, in this first installment of For Love & Lemons for Victoria’s Secret Spring 2022.

Frida Aasen has been dating Italian businessman and entrepreneur Tommy Chiabra, CEO of Royal Yacht International, since 2019 and said ‘yes’ at a romantic proposal in Portofino, Italy in August 2021.

Harley Weir Captures Mona and Rianne in Isabel Marant SS 2022 Campaign

Harley Weir Captures Mona and Rianne in Isabel Marant SS 2022 Campaign AOC Fashion

French brand Isabel Marant shares a series of other-worldly images starring Mona Tougaard, Rianne van Rompaey and Leon Dame in its Spring-Summer 2022 campaign. The day in the life of the world visual celebration is perhaps an example of nature’s beauty in peril?

Since 1994, Isabel Marant is “credited with inventing the bohemian Parisienne hipster-meets-tomboy look”, says WWD in describing the brand.

Geraldine Saglio styles the campaign images that highlight utilitarian looks with feminine flourishes. Global activist and artist photographer Harley Weir [IG] behind the lens. There is more going on in these images than exquisite sunsets, but one must stop and think about what one is seeing — a quality in short supply today./ Makeup by Ana Takahashi; hair by Damien Boissinot

Dior's Spring 2022 Ad Campaign and New Bergdorf Goodman Shop Explode with Optimism

Dior's Spring 2022 Ad Campaign and New Bergdorf Goodman Shop Explode with Optimism AOC Fashion

Dior releases its Spring 2022 campaign, with its show-stopping, jewel-like colors and sporty vibe. Marc Bohan’s 1961 ‘Slim Look’ wasn’t the only important heritage reference mined for Maria Grazia Chiuri’s spring 2022 show. Bohan’s Dior Sport line was also center stage.

The Dior design vision represents a 180-degree turn in the road from Dior’s Olympics Grecian goddess resort show. As opposed to enduring the pandemic, Chiuri chose to fight back with bold colored, contagious optimism and the ‘60s global spirit of female liberation.

Seeing the unity of dress among young women from America to Britain, Sudan and Afghanistan — YES, Sudan and Afghanistan — reminds us of the perilous, patriarchal attempts worldwide to deny women their own self-determination. The images from that time period are almost impossible to believe, and they certainly created a horrific backlash against women’s fashion integration into global public spaces, previously occupied by men.

Italian artist Anna Paparatti and the legendary Roman nightclub the Piper Club inspired Chiuri’s design direction, one that pays homage to 1960s pop style with a crayola-colors explosion of boundary-crashing, purposeful ‘60s design.

The Spring 2022 campaign is lensed by Brigitte Niedermair [IG] and is timed with the opening of Dior’s new boutique at Bergdorf Goodman New York. References to the new Dior Bergdorf shop — see end of post — are lensed by Francis Dzikowski [IG] courtesy of Bergdorf Goodman.

Music for the events is set to the beat of Daft Punk’s ‘Around the World’, with video by Fabien Baron and choreography by Matilda Fleberg.

The Campaign

Models include Maryel Uchida, Naomi Ekindi, Sculy Mejia and Steinberg. Performers Angela Arcueno, Ahtayaw Ea, Soleila Chaou, Nicolas Huchard, Shirwann Jeammes, Laureen Parruitte and Julia Spiesser also appear in the Dior Sporty runway and campaign images.

Tod's Post First 2021 Increase in Six Years Under Designer Walter Chiapponi

Tod's Books 40% Revenue Increase in 2021 under Creative Director Walter Chiapponi AOC Fashion

Italian luxury brand Tod’s defied financial analysts forecasts, booking a 40% increase in revenues to 883.8 million euros ($997 million) in 2021. This was the first increase in sales since 2015, boosted by strong fourth-quarter growth in Europe and the United States. This good news catches our attention because major sales increases in the luxury market aren’t being driven by Europe.

Walter Chiapponi at Tod’s

Analysts haven’t yet credited Tod’s creative director Walter Chiapponi for the sales performance, but the topic should be front and center in Tod’s talk. The Italian luxury market veteran — who showed his first collection for the House in February 2020 for fall/winter 2020 — is Tod’s first creative director to be responsible for men’s and women’s fashion as well as leather goods.

“I think it’s a matter of maturity,” the soft-spoken designer told the press about his Tod’s arrival. “When you’ve been creative in a very extreme way for so long, you want to do something more grounded, more elegant, more sophisticated. I’m in my 40s, and now I really detest seeing [fashion] that gets old in a few weeks.”

Tod’s Pre-Fall 2022 Lookbook

Walter Chiapponi’s pre-fall 2022 lookbook caught AOC’s eye. Model Kathie Lam is styled by Margherita Moro, then lensed by Anton Gottlob [IG]. / Hair by Massimo Gamba; makeup by Tanja Friscic

Chiapponi described his Tod’s assignment as one of updating traditional Italian casualwear with what he calls “a dirtier, more modern take on bon ton.” Tod’s gains an inner wild child and a bit of edge without disrupting their core identity of bourgeois propriety.

The new creative director supports strongly Tod’s commitment to responsible sustainability practices. Beyond using certified organic fabrics, Chiapponi presented “a new furry texture, lining an oversized sweatshirt/bomber hybrid. Made with a yarn woven from the upper and fluffier part of the fleece of the sheep, which is not harmed when shearing, it was extra-soft to the touch.” via Vogue

Coach Delivers Horse and Carriage Code for New Generation by Tyler Mitchell

Coach Delivers Horse and Carriage Code for New Generation by Tyler Mitchell AOC Fashion

Alessandra Ambrosio Poses in GAL Floripa Swimwear 'Flourish' and 'New Beginnings' Designs

Alessandra Ambrosio Poses in GAL Floripa Swimwear 'Flourish' and 'New Beginnings' Designs AOC Fashion

Supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio feeds spring fever with two new designs in her GAL Floripa swimwear collection. Photographer Lauren Alexandra [IG] captures Ambrosio modeling key pieces from the Flourish and New Beginnings collections.

The word sustainability or any reference to protecting the earth or the Amazon is not uttered on the GAL Floripa website.

10 Years of Strong Balmain Women by Mert and Marcus for Spring 2022 Campaign

10 Years of Strong Balmain Women by Mert and Marcus for Spring 2022 Campaign AOC Fashion

Balmain’s Spring-Summer 2022 Campaign assembles fashion’s top names in a lineup that includes Adut Akech, Carla Bruni, Lara Stone, Mariacarla Boscono, and Naomi Campbell. Stylists Charlotte Stockdale and Katie Lyall meld svelte bodies and bodycon dresses, plenty of metallic elements in bags and strong shoulders lensed by Mert & Marcus [IG]. at last season’s Balmain show.

Olivier Rousteing has been Balmain’s Creative Director for a decade in fall 2021. He has also made a scarred, yet inspiring recovery from the terrible fireplace explosion in his house. "I woke up the next morning in Paris’ Hôpital Saint Louis. The talented staff at that famous hospital, which was dealing with an incredible number of COVID cases at that same time took amazing care of me. I cannot thank them enough,” the designer wrote about his private journey to recovery.

WSJ Magazine recently sat down with Olivier Rousteing in its My Monday Morning series.

Kim Kardashian Fronts Balenciaga Spring 2022 Campaign As Official 'Friend' of the Brand

Kim Kardashian Fronts Balenciaga Spring 2022 Campaign As Official 'Friend' of the Brand AOC Fashion

Kim Kardashian is officially joined to Balenciaga, taking a center stage position in the brand’s second phase of their Spring 2022 campaign. Don’t go looking for it on Balenciaga’s Instagram, which is wiped clean except for one image of Kim Kardashian.

Kardashian previously told The New York Times, "I had a Balmain era, I had a Givenchy era, and this is my Balenciaga era... When I wear clothes designed by Demna, I feel cool. I feel no matter what I wear, it's going to be all right, because he designed it and he's the coolest."

The SKIMS mogul made a grand entrance at last year’s Met Gala ‘disguised’ in Balenciaga. In her new role for the brand, Kardashian joins Justin Bieber as a ‘friend ‘— or ambassador — for the brand. Photographer Stef Mitchell [IG] captures the mother of four in her Calabasas home.

Mitchell also captured the extended campaign cast, which includes Isabelle Huppert in her Paris home, Marie-Agnès Diene in her atelier, and Tommy Blue in Paris.

Elsa Hosk in Logan Hollowell Jewelry Valentine's Day Ads by Zoey Grossman

Elsa Hosk Channels Logan Hollowell Pink Sapphires and Red Rubies Ethical Energy AOC Fashion

Top model Elsa Hosk feels the Logan Hollowell energy vibe, lighting up skin and soul with pink sapphires and red rubies captured by Zoey Grossman. Logan Hollowell Jewelry designs are inspired by the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air.

LV x NBA: AOC Catches Up With a Brilliant Virgil Abloh 'For the Ages' Collaboration

AOC is working to define the key creative concepts of the esteemed and beloved, now departed into the cosmos, Louis Vuitton Men’s Artistic Director Virgil Abloh. At no point did we cover Abloh’s work with the NBA.

Looking Back to Move Forward

Rather than just post-date articles into the past — which we typically do in posting archival material, in order to keep the model, photographers and now brand archives sequential by date — AOC shares this new article about a collection that actually debuted in May 2021. More will come.

Pretend you are reading this article, as we would have written it, had we known about the second LV x NBA collaboration [or the first one!!!]. Having just looked at three collections — this one is the second drop — the product design is just gorgeous.

We will pull together other elements of the collab, because AOC’s marketing/branding instincts are having a big WOW moment over this concept.

Note also that the $2200 late May drop basketball that AOC references at the end of this article is now on sale at Sotheby’s for $8000. This discovery prompted me to ask Google if Sotheby’s is now in the resale market, as opposed to exclusively bidding auctions. The answer is “yes”. Read on.

AOC Writes About a May 2021 LV x NBA Drop

Louis Vuitton sharee its second collection created in collaboration with the NBA called Louis Vuitton x Capsule Collection II in May 2021.

LV artistic director Virgil Abloh delivered a collection that merges American sports and fine French craftsmanship, as well as uniting the signature emblems of the two iconic institutions in a sophisticated and male elegance way.

Abloh referred to the process as “transversal”, a concept fundamental to his design approach in fashion as well as architecture.

In geometry, a transversal is a line that passes through two lines in the same plane at two distinct points. If the angles created by the intersection are identical, then the lines are running technically parallel in geometry-speak. Abloh sought to create ideas that intersect seemingly parallel lines not automatically guaranteed to intersect at some future point. He created the intersection of seemingly ‘of little interest to each other ‘entities.

The three-year partnership between the NBA and Louis Vuitton was announced in January 2020.

“Fashion muses aren’t predictable. Ideas of luxury can be found in the sports world and its champions as much as in traditional forms of artistry. This collection celebrates the cultural contribution of basketball and its diverse characters, and the idea of relatability as a force of unity today,” Abloh said in announcing the exciting collab.

The second LV x NBA collection for Pre Fall 21 alluded to the way basketball players dress as they travel to games, conduct their many business affairs off the court and often speak at press conferences. Many NBA players manage businesses directly related to their sports prowess, but also in unrelated categories like real estate. Many are investors in major new business concepts and especially ones looking for seed money — translated startups.

Louis Vuitton hopes that NBA fans will identify with and support the collab, rich in sophisticated merchandise that goes far beyond the mass market concept of NBA merchandising.

NBA Playoff Winners Meet Louis Vuitton Trunk Makers

WWD reported, when the project was announced in early 2020, that The Larry O’Brien Trophy, presented annually to the NBA team that wins the final championship game, “now travels in a case custom-made by six craftsmen working more than 100 hours at the Vuitton workshops in the Paris suburb of Asnières. Coated in the house’s signature monogram canvas, it is lined with microfiber in the NBA’s trademark blue.”

In another brilliant move, Vuitton has created a matching double-door wardrobe trunk for the players who won the championship, designed to house clothing, accessories and footwear.

Given the rich sophistication of the merchandise, it deserves a worthy trunk to travel in.

Virgil Abloh and Don Crawley

The Louis Vuitton x Capsule Collection II also featured selected pieces designed together with Don Crawley, known professionally as Don C, an American streetwear designer from Chicago, Illinois. Crawley has a long relationship with Kanye West.

The collection also introduced the first ever Louis Vuitton basketball [LV x NBA] at a cool price of $2200. The Louis Vuitton x NBA Capsule Collection II dropped in stores worldwide on May 28th, 2021.

AOC loves the Louis Vuitton collaboration with the NBA in a heart-felt way, because it gives the NBA players the respect they deserve in a post Colin Kaepernick [NFL, we know] world. There’s no NBA-related “shut up and dribble” BS attitude in this LV project. Call AOC inspired. ~ Anne