Burberry Drops New Creative Expression-2 by Tyrone Lebon in a Good Start
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Gisele Bundchen Fronts Arezzo Winter 2023 Campaign | Is Paris Texas Next?
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Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen fronts the Winter 2023 campaign for footwear brand Arezzo, lensed by Fernando Tomaz [IG]. Pedro Sales styles the campaign with creative direction by Giovanni Bianco and set design by Jean Labanca.
Arezzo & Co. the 50-year-old Brazilian conglomerate behind Arezzo, Gisele’s ad campaign featured here, Schutz and Alexandre Birman acquired 65 percent of Paris Texas footwear brand two weeks ago.
Arezzo Acquires Majority Stake in Paris Texas Footwear
The question is: will Gisele next be stepping out in buzzy Milan, Italy-based Paris Texas boots? That could happen.
It was Emily Ratajkowski who put Paris Texas knee-high leather boots on the map in 2018 via Instagram. The brand was founded in 2015 by sisters Annamaria and Margherita Brivio.
Read MoreActor Whitney Peak Named Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Ambassador
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Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle Fragrance has a new ambassador — 20-year-old actor Whitney Peak [IG], who now follows in the footsteps of Kate Moss and Keira Knightly.
The Ugandian-Canadian actor has an existing relationship with Chanel. Peak had a major role in the 2021 HBO Max reboot of the Gossip Girl series, the Apple TV+ series Home Before Dark, the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and the Disney+ film Hocus Pocus 2.
The Coco Mademoiselle fragrance and Whitney Peak are a perfect match. Whitney Peak isn’t a shy femme; rather she embraces her bold and carefree side, as expressed in her natural, 2023 Diana Ross hairdo.
Read MoreWhat If the Louis Vuitton Men's 'Crochet Leather Overshirt' Came With Its Own DNA Test?
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Technically-speaking, when Virgil Abloh’s parents came from Ghana and settled in Rockford, Ill. which is close to Chicago, he was conceived in what once was New France in North America.
The design of the Louis Vuitton ‘Crochet Leather Overshirt’ is hardly workwear in the style of the American West . . . or even coal miners in Appalachia. Those pretty crochet Louis Vuitton flowers and emblems would get real dusty damn fast.
To purchase the jacket will cost you $37,000 and it’s made to order, so you must contact your local LV to pursue the conversation.
OMG! What LV could do under Pharrell is to create the patches custom — with plenty of LVs, of course. But after purchasing a DNA test as part of the jacket, the wearer could learn his/her roots. Then a select number of patches could honor those roots.
Read MoreKylie Jenner for Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2023 Eyewear Campaign Joins Kim's RTW Ads
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Following sister Kim Kardashian’s fantastic Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2023 campaign released last week, Kylie Jenner goes to bat for Dolce & Gabbana Eyewear in a new campaign lensed by Mert & Marcus [IG].
Jenner shared the campaign with her 280m IG followers. That’s called reach!
As for the Kardashian women being cheap, I’m sure that Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce have paid a premium price for their prior insults against the family. Given the full range of their business savvy, the Kardashian women know their worth.
It wouldn’t surprised me if Mama Bear Kris Jenner added a 3-5 years, 5-10% penalty to the contract, right before their disbelieving eyes.
Cuz that’s how the Kardashian women roll, and AOC admires them for their moxie.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton SS 2023 Campaign with Hoyeon Jung and Cast by David Sims
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South Korean ‘Squid Game’ actor and Louis Vuitton ambassador Hoyeon Jung plays with scale in the Spring 2023 campaign.
Jung just booked another very important beauty ambassador role with Lancôme.
The campaign is fast and young — more than usual. The playhouse structure is modeled after Louis Vuitton’s historic home in Asnieres, located on the left bank of the river Seine, some eight kilometres from the center of Paris.
Today the home is called ‘La Galerie’, and it functions as a permanent exhibition space for Louis Vuitton.
The rest of the cast includes Elio Berenett, Franzisla Jetzek, Greta Oberwalleney, Killian Smits, Sarah Brown and Samile Bermannelli.
Frequent LV photographer David Sims [IG] is behind the lens, with styling by Marie-Amelie Sauve.
Read MoreLOEWE SS 2023 Women's Campaign with Taylor Russell by David Sims
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The LOEWE Spring Summer 2023 women's campaign, shot by David Sims [IG], features LOEWE Global Brand Ambassador Taylor Russell posing as a form of acting.
A theme throughout the LOEWE Spring 2023 season, beginning with the late September 30, 2022 fashion show is artifice and provocation.
LOEWE’s enormously-talented creative director Jonathan Anderson took his audience on a modern, almost clinical journey into the natural world, with anthurium flowers as his guide.
Enter the Anthuriums
This ‘non-threatening’majority-view flower is the perfect hospitality gift, even for someone you don’t know well.
These modern flowers look like an erect phallus penetrating a flower that is in fact poisonous. Not only with pets but in the human mouth, you will experience a painful burning sensation with blisters and swelling if you eat an anthurium.
In this LOEWE Spring 2023 Campaign, Taylor Russell wears anthuriums as a breast plate. There’s a lot of human psychology going on here.
Read MoreMax Mara Spring 2023 Collection with Adut, Annemary, Dara by Ethan James Green
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Max Mara’s Spring-Summer 2023 campaign has sophisticated swagger. Models trio Adut Akech, Annemary Aderibigbe and Dara Allen step it up to remind us that they are far more than muses or mannequins. Fashion editor Tonne Goodman styles the shoot — a collection of sophisticated essentials with discreet details that she herself would wear — in images photographed by Ethan James Green.
Looking at the images immediately took me back to December 2018, when former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi exited a tough meeting with then president Donald Trump.
The shot of Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer leaving a hard-as-nails meeting with Trump went viral, generating such digital heat that Max Mara creative director Ian Griffiths responded that the coat would be reissued.
AOC has always liked Ian Griffiths because he’s a male designer willing to explore his own contradictions. He does just that in speaking about the 2023 campaign inspired by the French Riviera. Griffiths has not been caught up in trying to make women ‘its’ or ‘theys’, degendering us in such a way that the very concept of women’s rights is no longer necessary. We’re all humans, no need to discuss the failure of mostly — but not exclusively — men to acknowledge women’s inequality.
Read MoreDior Men's Summer 2023 Campaign Is a Rich Adventure for Garden Lovers
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Dior Men’s Kim Jones once again joined France and England in a celebration of flowers and gardening in his Summer 2023 campaign.
Jones united his beloved, Bloomsbury, free-spirit artists with their equally free-spirit lifestyles on the English side of the channel to Christian Dior’s seaside childhood home in Granville, Normandy.
In choosing the work and life of Duncan Grant, a British post-impressionist, Bloomsbury painter who shares a birthday with Christian Dior, the artistic synergy is further intertwined between England and France.
These campaign images by Rafael Pavarotti [IG] are like fine champagne. The talented photographer is at ease swinging from a highly-stylized, Erdem-inspired, vintage garden with dark undertones campaign to these images that are crisp and modern, imbued with a cleaner and lighter garden vibe.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton SS2023 Capucine Campaign Teaches Us Kintsugi with Lea Seydoux
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Louis Vuitton’s Capucine bag heads into its second decade, showcased for Spring/Summer 2023 by maison ambassador Lea Seydoux.
In this moment of so many challenges central to our lives, the Spring 2023 Capucine bag with a handle made using the ancient Japanese Kintsugi technique may be the most special.
Seriously, can the handle of a Louis Vuitton Capucine bag teach us a life lesson?
In an throwaway, one and done, age of mass production and reckless disposal, ‘kintsugi’ is not only focused on repairing our favorite chipped vessels.
Now we learn that ‘kintsugi’ is also a way of crafting — even mending — our lives. It’s very Zen and challenges humans to consider the contemplation of imperfection, as well as the constant flux and impermanence of all things.
Read MoreEtro Unveils 'Eden of Etropia' Spring 2023 Campaign Lensed by Zhong Lin
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Etro unveils ‘Eden of Etropia’, the first campaign for new creative director Marco De Vincenzo celebrating the spring 2023 collection.
Not only is the campaign beautiful on a visceral level. It drives a dagger [literally in the video] into the apple and a search for the truth of women’s identity.
Inspired by the paintings and portraits of the Pre-Raphaelites, Marco De Vincenzo communicates his poetic vision, creating a new paradise centered around the apple, the iconic fruit of the collection and a potent symbol of love, seduction and eternity.
That’s great copy. But the truth is also that the word ‘malus’ besides being Latin for ‘apple’ is also a very negative word associated with bad, evil and wicked. From a religious perspective the apple reference with Eve didn’t even appear in versions of the New Testament until 500 AD.
I wrote about this discovery after watching a PBS show ‘Mysteries of the Garden of Eden’, first released in 2007. The documentary will be purchased before sundown at whatever price.
Read MoreDigging Deeper Into Pharrell Williams' Real Mission at Louis Vuitton Mens
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A fashion industry earthquake happened this week with the appointment of Pharrell Williams as Creative Director at Louis Vuitton Men’s, replacing his close friend Virgil Abloh who passsed in November 2021. The hip hop mogul, business entrepreneur, social activist with a high-volume voice on racial and gender-justice has drawn major criticism from fashion writers who argue that Pharrell’s lack of a formal design education indicates that all that matters to LVMH is his celebrity status.
I don’t mean to sound sassy, but knowing that Louis Vuitton doubled its volume from $10 billion to $20 billion in the last four years suggests that this executive team knows what it’s doing. I’m a maverick to the core and rarely silent on important topics.
But I do show respect to professionals who have just accomplished unimaginable results in business, results that defy logic. Before accusing them of being money-hungry Las Vegas strippers ready to trash the most valuable brand in the luxury world for a few bucks, I dig deeper.
Read MoreThe Beautiful Pharrell Williams has been Named Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director
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I never praise myself, but I KNEW Pharrell was the perfect human for Louis Vuitton Mens and that LV would see it that way, too.
I’ve asked Louis Vuitton Mens [and Dior — too — both men and women] and Etro this morning to pick up the mantle that few businesses can lead. LVMH is well aware of what I am saying. And they are listening.
This video about Pharrell’s ‘Black Ambition’ organization is only about two years old. Clearly Virgil knew how ill he was, but we see here Virgil and Pharrell really speaking to issues of black success. The convo goes deep into their values as humans.
Felecia Hatcher is very succesful in her own right and she serves as CEO of ‘Black Ambition’.
Read MorePhoebe Philo Returns in September 2023: Sound the Trumpets!
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On Resee.com, Phoebe-era Céline is one of the top-three selling labels. Imagine that fact: Phoebe’s Céline follows Chanel and Hermès.
Phoebe understands us — the woman wearing her fashion — is a constant theme among her devoted. Lynette Nylander, the executive editorial director of Dazed, explained further. Down to the most finite detail “how wide her armholes are, the fact that she always paired things with trainers. This is someone who’s not living a curb-to-cab lifestyle. I’m on the subway, I’m sweating, but I still want to evoke some sense of fantasy. Phoebe was the master of doing that.”
Backed by LVMH, Phoebe Philo will be available to see and buy in September 2023. One assumes this will go well, because for every 20-year-old, who doesn’t even know about Phoebe Philo, there’s a 35-year-old who is thrilled to have her back in business.
Read MoreChristian Dior SS2023 Campaign by Brigitte Niedermair Honors Catherine de Medici
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The Christian Dior Spring 2023 Campaign celebrates femininity, power and grace, as explored through the eye and lens of frequent Dior photographer Brigitte Niedermair [IG].
Models include Carla Pereira, Freja Rothmann, Jen Thomson, Sherry Shi, and Stella Lucia.
Preparing for the season, Chiuri discovered a map of Paris in the Dior archives, one that put Avenue Montaigne at its center, even though the street doesn’t represent the actual center of the city.
In short order, the map became a focal print for the spring 2023 collection — a maverick toile de Jouy print that is a sophisticated addition to Dior’s already rich use of toile de Jouy.
Old World unique artistry and needlework inspire the Dior spring 2023 collection, and raffia is used to maximum advantage. Beautiful raffia coats are decorated with delicate flowers and birds, also in play on the accessories. The embroidery work is spectacular.
Read MoreDaniel Lee's Burberry Spring 2023 Campaign by Tyrone Lebon Targets British Identity
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It was difficult to miss the equestrian knight motif racing across the new Spring 2023 Burberry Campaign as part of “the first creative expression” shared by Daniel Lee, Burberry’s Chief Creative Officer.
For AOC, our focus was on the faces of the British heritage brand Burberry, the visualization of who wears this brand.
Daniel Lee, with roots in West Yorkshire, England agrees. “Burberry flies the flag for Britishness and for the UK and for culture. So, we have to use our platforms because we have a responsibility to communicate those things,” Lee told ‘Vogue Runway’ in December.
The designer continued:
"I don’t know if this is the right way to say this, but more than surprising people, I really would like them to see the new vision and feel reassured — like, ‘Oh, yeah, this makes sense: This is what Burberry should be.’”
Read MoreLevi Strauss & Co Partners with Pakistan's Artistic Milliners Organic Cotton Production
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Denim giant Levi Strauss & Co is now sourcing organic cotton directly from farmers in Pakistan as part of its membership of the Organic Cotton Accelerator (OCA) initiative.
Levi's is sourcing the organic cotton through Pakistan-based denim mill Artistic Milliners' Organic programme which involves 2,000 cotton farmers in the Kohlu region of Baluchistan.
The vast majority of cotton farmers and pickers are women, and the focus of Artistic Milliners is female empowerment. Founded in 1949 with a small factory of 22 women, the company now has a workforce of 18,000 employeess.
Read MoreTyler Mitchell Captures Louis Vuitton Spring 2023 Mens Campaign, Shot in Almeria, Spain
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Photographer Tyler Mitchell [IG] was over the moon, shooting “a gang of boys in the Spanish desert” near Almería, Spain. The minute I saw Mitchell’s name I understood how impacted he was by the shoot. To his credit, Tyler said as much: “I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity. Photography has brought me many places but this is my first main campaign for a heritage house of such stature. Those who know me know how much this means.”
In an excellent interview Mitchell has with FRIEZE, the photographer explains how his new work is being influenced by his growing understanding of historical paintings.
AOC understands the constant mention of boyhood games and imaginations in the evolving Louis Vuitton Menswear discussion, but to me it’s just as important that cool men are relating to amusing and creative elements in their clothes. Creativity is known to be a uniting force among diverse peoples.
Virgil Abloh understood that reality. Clearly Louis Vuitton understands it in their deeply personal embrace of Virgil’s talents — then and now. And Tyler Mitchell is a similarly soft-spoken, creative personality that fits beautifully into the Louis Vuitton hive.
Read MoreLoro Piana Spring 2023 Campaign Grand Italian Tour by Inez & Vinoodh
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Loro Piana is also on an Italian grand tour in the cashmere brand’s Spring/Summer 2023 campaign.
Models Amar Akway, Mika Schneider, Rianne Van Rompaey and Leon Dame present an appetizer excursion of authentic Italian experiences that are in communion with nature, land and community.
Inez and Vinoodh [IG] capture the quartet, styled by Aleksandra Woroniecka./ Makeup by Lisa Butler; hair by Eugene Souleiman
Writing about Loro Piana’s Fall 2022 collection and campaign, AOC shared highly-specific information about a decade’s worth of the brand’s processes and control over its cashmere production.
‘Transparency’ is a stake in the ground among today’s cashmere brands, including less expensive but very well-run cashmere labels. There is no “Don’t worry, be happy, I’ve got this issue under control so you don’t have to worry” in today’s cashmere business.
Read MoreGivenchy Spring 2023 Campaign Prompts a Fresh Look at Brand Strategy
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