De Beers Jewellers has been rebranded as De Beers London with a new campaign celebrating the company’s roots in London and southern Africa, with the tag line “True brilliance comes from within.”
Top model Adwoa Aboah launches a new campaign for De Beers London called Portraits of True Brilliance. In addition to her career as a model, Aboah is a mental health activist and new mom.
This name change reflects the brand’s new attitude, which is female-focused and proud of its roots in London and southern Africa. Much of that pride is well-deserved because De Beers in Botswana is making historic changes outlined in AOC’s July 2023 post Botswana and De Beers Renew Long-Term, Progressive Diamond Mining Partnership.
Miu Miu Gymnasium is on the move, with a series of pop-ups that cull elegant, sports-loving pieces from Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2025 runway collection. It’s interesting to read Miu Miu presenting quirky proportions as part of the heart of the Miu Miu name.
Supporting the new Miu Miu Gymnasium campaign are models Akari Higashi, Daria Malchuk and Olga Lane, with photography by Camilla Riccardo [IG]./ Hair by Patti Bussa; makeup by Rocco Santamorena
The Miu Miu Gymnasium pop-up project is now online until March 4th and will follow a dedicated rollout in exclusive locations in Japan, China, Hong Kong SAR and Korea.
Energy is intense at Miu Miu with Prada Group on confirming today the appointment of Silvia Onofri as chief executive officer of the Miu Miu brand, effective Feb. 26. Details coming.
Singer-songwriter Dua Lipa is the face of the new CHANEL 25 handbag.
In the film directed by Gordon von Steiner, Lipa arrives at a studio in New York City for a Chanel fashion photo shoot. Posing with the 25 bag, a much-needed, hold-everything accessory for people on the go, Dua Lipa sings along to the ‘80s hit “She Drives Me Crazy” by the Fine Young Cannibals.
Gucci creative director Sabato de Sarno is leaving Gucci after two years. Gucci’s Feb. 25 runway show will be designed by its design studio, the brand said Thursday, Feb.6.
Gucci’s Problems Are Bigger than de Sarno’s Tepid Designs
AOC does not believe that Gucci’s revenue plunge of 26% in the third quarter of 2024, a scary reflection of the brand’s current status, was solely the result of de Sarno’s tepid approach to design.
We note that his ‘marching orders’ came from Kering head and Gucci’s billionaire owner François-Henri Pinault.
You cannot cut the heart out of Alessandro Michele’s Gucci success and expect those same customers to now buy a quiet Gucci, with marketing campaigns that prompted AOC to write that the models look like they’re making a case for lobotomies for women.
Versace [IG] shares its SS 2025 ad campaign ‘Individuality as an Attitude’, led by Chief Creative Director Donatella Versace, with photography by Mert Alas [IG] and Marcus Piggott [IG].
Models Chen Yang, Jacqui Hooper, Loli Bahia, Karyna Maziar, Mona Tougaard and Tristan Watkins are styled by Jacob K with art direction by Ezra Petronio and Lane Petrusevych./ Hair by Mustafa Yanaz; makeup by Lucia Pieroni
Luxury house Louis Vuitton doesn’t need to use three banned in America initials i-e-d when reinforcing the 21st century DNA of the world’s largest luxury brand.
There’s no luxury house that AOC watches more closely than Louis Vuitton in understanding their ‘take’ on where we’re heading culturally. I should clarify that it’s Louis Vuitton Men — more than women’s — that clarifies the brand’s vision in the public sphere.
AOC didn’t understand just how tight former Christian Dior Men’s creative director Kim Jones was with Virgil Abloh, when Jones was at the helm of Louis Vuitton Men’s from 2011-2018 and passed the baton to Abloh as his mentor.
With Pharrell Williams succeeding Abloh [RIP] — we’re looking at a continuous cultural vision for LV that’s about 15 years old across three creative directors who formed their own modern-day rat pack.
It makes sense now that AOC has struggled to discuss the gorgeous Zimmermann 2025 Ad Campaign, featuring model Abeny Nhial as inspired by the ‘70s cult surfing film ‘Morning of the Earth’. Not until Anne queried ‘desert surfing’ was AOC in sync with Benny Horne’s exquisite Zimmermann campaign images shot in Morocco.
Conceptually, desert dunes have long captured the human imagination with their striking landscapes and haunting beauty. In the Arab world, these natural formations hold significant physical and cultural importance.
Keep in mind that these magnificent images of Abeny Nhial, wearing Zimmermann’s Illuminate Macramé Gown, capture the very contradictions expressed in the 21st century reality of desert surfing.
Properly-lined for a more modest audience than Hollywood, the Illuminate’s DNA is in perfect sync with new fashion waves being created in the ‘foreign lands’ of Zimmermann’s most successful store.
Barbour x ERDEM delivers exquisite, modern loveliness in the form of a new capsule collection with four key utilitarian, wax jackets from Barbour [IG] and romantic, garden-inspired, poetic dresses and skirts from ERDEM [IG].
Throughout the lookbook, each jacket buttons over ERDEM billowing, lustrous cloud-like chiffon skirts and dresses styled by Felix Paradza and lensed by Jackie Nickerson [IG]./ Hair by Maki Tanaka; makeup by Amy Conway
Rianne Van Rompaey Stars in Chloé SS 2025 Campaign Lensed by David Sims
Dutch sensual beauty and top model Rianne Van Rompaey delivers spectacular images for the Chloé [IG] SS 2025 campaign. Elodie David styles Rianne in sublime images by David Sims [IG].
The campaign is privileged escapism at its best. In this complicated time in our shared global history, it may surprise you to read AOC say “we’re here for it.” The campaign images are a welcome quickie getaway that absolutely recharges our minds and bodies.
Our resilience needs nourishment, no matter how dedicated we are to the fight for democratic, humanist values. This campaign delivers.
Burberry [IG] is celebrating Valentine’s Day 2025 with a series of paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Jack Kenna [IG]. The modern-perspective artist creates unconventional pairings of familiar objects in a bold, abstract style.
Kenna’s commissioned Burberry artwork features the Rocking Horse bag, an essential Burberry gift inspired by the house’s equestrian heritage and two very different perspectives on the Burberry scarf. From the Burberry website, add yet another painting of the Mini Snip Chain bag.
In Burberry’s Reinvention: Hope Springs Eternal
Burberry posted positive news in the third quarter ending Dec. 28, with a comparable store drop of 4%, compared with a business analysts forecast of 12%.
New Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman is credited with stemming the double-digit sales declines that defined the first half of 2024. As Schulman noted in a call with analysts, the American market, led by Burberry’s refurbished New York store resulted in a 4% increase Y2Y in America for the 3rd quarter.
"Fortunately, there are flowers,” Monsieur Dior once mused in his memoirs. His words now blossom in a spare, seemingly fragile and delicate beauty in Victoire de Castellane’s latest ‘La Rose Dior’ collection for Dior Joaillerie.
Frequent Dior photographer Elina Kechicheva's [IG] ‘Celestial Poetry’ images capture the quiet allure of Rennaisance paintings in her signature highlights of the new ‘La Rose Dior’ collection.
Models Zoe Head and Li Linzi are styled by Samuel François in Dior Magazine Issue 48. / Makeup by William Bartel; hair by Sebastien Richard; set design Jean-Hugues de Chatillon
Supermodel Edie Campbell [IG] is not only beloved at AOC. She makes Anne smile. It was Alice Walker who said “You can’t keep a good woman down,” and that’s our first response to Campbell’s Spring 2025 Etro Vela Bag campaign, where Edie hits a home run, while barely lifting her pinkie finger.
Etro designer Marco De Vincenzo’s Vela Bag has a lot of appeal.
The new campaign is a repeat performance from Etro Vela’s Fall 2024 images, also shot by Giampaolo Sgura [IG] and styled by Simon Rutigliano. Edie’s visually-intense hair is by Pier Paolo Lai with makeup by Luca Cianciolo.
LVMH dazzles the world of high jewelry watches, hosting the sixth edition of LVMH Watch Week on January 21-22 in New York, and January 30-31 in Paris.
Tiffany’s legacy as the world’s preeminent purveyor of exceptional timepieces began in 1847. Over a span of nearly two centuries in 2025, Tiffany artisans have given life to impressive diamond-set watches that fuse jewelry with timepieces. Today, each exquisite watch and time object handcrafted in Switzerland by the maison celebrates this illustrious horological heritage.
Kim Kardashian says that "Every Skims campaign is designed to be iconic, and Rosé [Park] embodies that perfectly," before continuing . . . "Her elegance and energy are unmatched, and she's the ultimate Valentine for 2025."
This is a celebrity-fronted, lingerie campaign with the lovely, charming Rosé. It goes on sale at SKIMS January 23 at 12pm ET.
As much as AOC loves Louis Vuitton [IG], their ad campaigns can be ho-hum. The Spring 2025 campaign, shot by Steven Meisel [IG] with Louis Vuitton ambassadors Blackpink’s Lisa and actor Ronan Saoirse, is indeed worthy of fashion’s largest, omnipotent luxury brand.
Few luxury houses are associated with an illustrious name like The Fondation Louis Vuitton, the prominent art museum and cultural center located in Paris in the Bois de Boulogne.
Placing two gifted women artists like Lisa and Ronan, who are also Nicolas Ghesquière muses, in the presence of French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso’s artwork for a campaign shot by one of the world’s most celebrated fashion photographers Steven Meisel is a truly definitive statement for the Louis Vuitton Spring 2025 campaign.
The campaign pairs actors Yara Shahidi and George MacKay exploring the new collection as a tender ode to humanity. The video and images by Canadian filmmaker and actor Xavier Dolan [IG], capture the filtered light of possibility that greets a new day, or the preciousness of afternoon sun settling almost mystically over a room.
In its place is a slow-living interlude of reflections between two people emerges, humans so connected that words are not required. And if we are alone in the moment, we realize that we are not . . . alone. There is energy all around us, our plants are flowering and we can curl up on the daybed or sofa to drift in this moment of lightness.
Models Abény Nhial, Grace Valentine and Lara Menezes front Fendi’s [IG] Peekaboo Spring/Summer 2025 campaign. Photographer Emir Eralp [IG] is behind the lens with creative direction by Antonio Moscogiuri. / Hair by Dora Roberti
Bella Hadid Walks Out of an '80s Enjoli Commercial Straight into Miss Sixty
Bella Hadid looks like Miss Texas in the new Miss Sixty [IG] commercial lensed by Carlijn Jacobs [IG] and styled by Ib Kamara.
Bella Hadid: Miss Texas
Was it on anyone’s bingo card that Bella Hadid would be named the National Cutting Horse Association's (NCHA) 2024 Limited Age Event (LAE) Rookie of the Year . . . after "entering the cutting community a little over a year ago."
Somehow Bella Hadid has managed to create a whole new life in Texas with her love Adan Banuelos.
I’ve read stories about Bella sleeping in the van, getting up at 5am and making breakfast — not for the Miss Sixty crew — but for her beloved cowboys. I can just see her — with the 2 hr. time difference — flipping pancakes with one hand as the sun rises, while on the phone with New York, dealing with the crisis of Orabella sold-out products all over America.
I swear that woman walked into the Miss Sixty photoshoot, straight out of an old-school Enjoli commercial. And I just love it. ~ Anne
Models Amanda Murphy and Fatou Jobe are styled by Alex Harrington in high-end jeweler ‘Material Good’ Holiday 2024/25 campaign. Photographers Tanya [IG] + Zhenya [IG] Posternak captured the campaign with creative direction by Jasmine Holm and Marcus Hollands. / Hair by Joey George; makeup by Fatou Jobe
Luxury Transcends an Object
Co-founders Rob Ronen and Michael Herman opened Material Good [IG] in 2015, armed with extensive experience in luxury watch and fine jewelry sales. Anchored in Soho New York, the marketing and sales goal of Material Good seeks to refresh — not reinvent — the luxury buying experience with a deeply personal connection to clients.
As Zara engages in a ferocious battle with low-price competitors Shein and Temu and is delivering heroic results, it wasn’t enough for the money guys on Wall Street. After a tiny miss against the projections of analysts, Zara lost 5% of its value in hours in early December. And it could have worse, with 5% a recovery number against an earlier 7-7.8% selloff.
Jeffries analysts told WSJ that the results were impressive and the miss was fractional, but investors are demanding results. Seriously! Meanwhile Shein is taking a beating these days and it could again delay their IPO [initial public offering].
Zara’s Footprint in China
As to Zara in China, the company has downsized from 570 stores in 2019 to just 192 as of Jan. 31, 2024. Zara argues that the post-pandemic sales channels have changed in significant ways — largely driven by technology and China’s passion for live shopping shows.
Notably, Zara’s five-hour long, weekly live-broadcasts on Douyin, TikTok's Chinese sister site, have helped boost Zara's sales since they launched in November, according to retail analytics firm EDITED.
"Zara's livestream approach built significant brand awareness in China," EDITED analyst Krista Corrigan advises.
Zara sold out of most sizes in 50% more products in China in the first three months of this year than in the same period of 2023, according to EDITED. Based on these statistics, Zara was correct in shrinking its store footprint to move in more tech-friendly directions, driven by young Zara shoppers.