First Louis Vuitton Hotel Will Open in Paris on Avenue des Champs Élysées
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Steffi Thaler in Dolce Gabbana Lingerie, Accessories for L’Beauté Mexico
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Spanish model Steffi Thaler invites us into the evolving world of Italian brand Dolce & Gabbana, featured in this expansive, lingerie-rich, sensual dressing fashion story in Mexico’s L’Beauté Magazine.
At the beginning of 2022, the Italian fashion house revealed that the brand intended to end its licensing deal with Shiseido, taking Dolce & Gabbana’s fragrance and beauty lines (founded in 1992 and 2009 respectively) in-house.
In September 2023 Dolce & Gabbana Beauty released a fragrance named Devotion. At the end of 2023, the brand carved out a space for its fragrance and beauty products in its flagship London store on 6-8 Bond St.
Read MoreWinter 2023.24 Armani Neve Ski Campaign by Brett Lloyd and St. Moritz Boutique
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Giorgio Armani launched Armani Neve in the mid-90s, long before ski collections became a trend. The Italian perfectionist’s approach to high-style design and ‘la dolce vita’ living on the ski slopes makes another decades-old bow with the new Winter 2023/24 collection.
Models Giacomo Cavalli, Ibrahim Idoow, Jiayun Xie, Tommy Vanden Meerssche, and Valerie Scherzinger are captured by photographer Brett Lloyd [IG] and styled by Mauro Demestria in retro feeling images perfect for a St. Moritz New Year’s. / Makeup by Arianna Campa; hair by Giovanni Iovino
Read MoreBanana Republic Winter 2023/24 Campaign Taps Josh Olins
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Banana Republic [IG] gathers models Mayowa Nicholas, Roberto Sipos, and Suvi Riggs Koponen for their winter 2023 campaign.
Shot in Norway by Josh Olins [IG] with creative direction by Remi Paringaux and Ryan Spacey, the campaign acknowledges — not only the majesty of nature — but indirectly, its fragility.
Banana Republic is introducing new cashmere items connected to this campaign, including this Caro Lightweight Cashmere Cardigan [website] in 12 colors.
Refusing to promote cashmere without clarity on its sourcing standards as verified by outside agencies, Anne of Carversville notes that Banana Republic cashmere is part of an initiative called The Good Cashmere Standard (GCS).
Read MoreGUESS Masters 'La Dolce Vita' with Holiday 2023-24 Campaign at Villa Alpebella
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GUESS returns to southern Europe for the Holiday 2023/24 campaign, lensed at the Villa Alpebella in Forte dei Marmi, Italy. In August, 2023 GUESS opened a store in Forte dei Marmi with a grand party at Villa Alpebella, owned by the Bocelli family, led by famous tenor Andrea Bocelli.
The Italian singer Matteo Bocelli, one of Andrea Bocelli’s three children, is featured in the new GUESS Holiday 2023/24 campaign, appearing with Albanian model and singer Oriola Marashi.
Ukrainian female duo Vicoolya [photographer] & Saida [stylist and art director] [IG] created the campaign. They are best friends who handle everything connected to a shoot: makeup, hair, styling, location, lighting, photographing, retouching... Vicoolya & Saida handle everything.
Read MoreWill Sotheby's Magazine Cover LeNell Santa Ana Camacho's Whisky Journey Red Hook to Birmingham?
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When former editor in chief of WSJ Magazine Kristina O’Neill departed her position in April 2023, the luxury fashion and style world knew she was going somewhere important.
Kristina O’Neill has been named editor in chief of the new Sotheby’s Magazine, starting Jan. 8. She will report directly to Gareth Jones, Sotheby’s chief marketing officer.
In perhaps the best story of all, Sotheby’s recent American whisky auction set new records with two big blockbusters. LeNell’s Red Hook Rye 23 Year and Rathskeller Rye, each sold far beyond their highest initial estimate ranges. The LRHR 23 year scoring $56,250 (est range $20,000 – $30,000) and RR grabbing $37,500 ($18,000 – $24,000).
Read MoreMassimo Dutti Take Us to the Cotswolds Winter 2023.24 | AOC Gives a History Lesson
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Spanish premium clothing retailer Massimo Dutti tags model Luly Tenney for a December 2023 trip to the Cotswolds. Brits can be notoriously practical about their weather, and Massimo Dutti delivers a new winter into spring lesson in how to face abrasive weather elements in style.
The history of the Cotswolds dates back thousands of years, with evidence of Neolithic settlements and ancient burial mounds dotting the landscape.
Cotswold History Currently Dates from 4000 BC
The Neolithic period of human history, typically dated 7000-1700 BC — is so important, because it signals the beginning of a settled human lifestyle. People learned to cultivate plants and domesticate animals for food, rather than relying solely on hunting and gathering practices.
Read MoreMissoni FW 2023.24 Images Come As Italian Luxury House Explores Full Sale
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Models Liv Walters, Maty Fall and Yang Ling deliver recognizable Missoni spirit to fall/winter 2023/24 imagery at a time when the Italian heritage house has retained Rothschild to explore a full sale of the company.
In 2018 Italian investment fund FSI injected 70 million euros into the house, for 41% of the business, with the remaining shares held by the Missoni family.
From AOC’s angle of vision, the Italian heritage brands have never been so desirable — and from a cultural-creatives, values-based proposition, not modern values which say “s[he] who wears the most wealth on her back wins.”
Read MoreZara Ad Reminds Me: Christians, Jews, Muslims All Believe in Weeping Angels
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Jackets Without a Good Fit
Zara has removed this controversial advertising campaign from the front page of its website after pro-Palestine activists called for an international boycott of the retailer.
Inditex, the company that owns Zara, said on Monday that the photos were taken in September 2023, before the current war erupted between Hamas and Israel. The creative brief was approved in July — which makes sense to AOC.
However alert to perceptions gone wrong, I myself was in the process of writing about my night at the Louvre in Paris 20 years ago, marveling over the jazz-evening setup with the statuary in seeming disarray, strewn like these images but with blue strobe lights for extra effect.
Only when I went to Zara’s IG did I realize that something was very wrong with the campaign.
Read MoreTom Ford SS2024 Campaign Launches Zegna-Lauder March to Top 10 Luxury Brand
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Tom Ford’s codes, “of glamour, sexiness, elegance, and beauty,” are embraced by promoted Tom Ford Creative Director Peter Hawkings as well, the designer told Vogue in advance of his September 2023 Milan Tom Ford runway debut.
In the just-released Spring 2024 Tom Ford ad campaign, the visual impact is Zegna with edge. Stars of the Tom Ford Spring 2024 campaign are Alaato Jazyper, Dara Gueye, Eva Komuves, Ilias Loopmans, and Jeanne Cadieu, lensed by Robin Galiegue [IG].
Tom Ford does not need fixing in the minds of Estee Lauder, the business tean at Zegna or Hawkings himself. In that case, who is better than Peter Hawkings to inherit the Tom Ford design mantle and not be obsessed with turning a design vision inside out to make it “his own.”
Read MoreHTSI Magazine Celebrates Nicolas Ghesquière and 10 Years at Louis Vuitton
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As Louis Vuitton artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière [IG] celebrates his 10-year anniversary with the brand, as well as the renewal of his contract for another five years, HTSI Magazine [IG] launches a huge celebration around the designer, the label and the muses.
Ethan James Green photographed Ghesquière himself for a HTSI [Financial Times How to Spend It] interview with the designer ‘First, we have fun’: Nicolas Ghesquière on a decade at Louis Vuitton.
Bibi Cornejo Borthwick with WeFolk [IG] agency photographs the 10 models, talents and ambassadors for these remaining images, styled by Isabelle Kountoure.
Models and talents expand on HTSI’s IG comments quoted on AOC in a separate online article. They appear in chronological order of their first project with Nicolas Ghesquire for Louis Vuitton.
Read MorePrada Privatesphere Holiday 2023 Campaign Triggers Our Reflection on Elon Musk
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AOC’s first reaction to these Prada holiday, model-focused images has nothing to do with buying gifts for friends and family this holiday season.
Prada and the Future of Humanity
Anne’s response was focused on a deeply-felt anxiety that she would feel so much better if Prada Group owned Starlink, X and SpaceX — rather than Elon Musk. The ‘l’enfant terrible’ with a massive daddy complex can keep Tesla.
“The constantly forward-thinking ethos of Prada for humanity has broadened to his desire of adventure and to brave new horizons: space,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group marketing director, stated with the announcement that Prada is partnering with Texas-based Axiom Space to design the lunar space suits for the hopefully-glorious 2025 Artemis III mission. [Anne’s non-quoted words.]
Read MoreCasablanca Pre-Spring 2024 Campaign Goes for Monied, Athletic Elegance
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Charaf Tajer‘s pre-Spring 2024 Casablanca Campaign makes a sophisticated play for a monied, athletic elegance and varsity chic-inspired cafe-society crowd.
The romantic mood of the movie ‘Casablanca’ itself ebbs quietly through the campaign, signposts for a WWII cafe society crowd that embraced classic notions of honor, loyalty, friendship and duty in a 2024 global political climate that’s testing all those values — and turning them inside out.
Count Maggie Maurer in as a member of the Resistance, joined by Valentin Caron. Corentin Leroux [IG] photographs the campaign, with art direction by Rashid Barbiker and styling by Francesca Parise./ Hair by Ryan Mitchell; makeup by David Koppelaar
Read MoreGiorgio Armani Holiday 2023-4 Campaign by Elizaveta Porodina Revisions Restrained Glamour
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Photographer Elizaveta Porodina [IG] ignites the Giorgio Armani Holiday 2023/4 campaign with a 21st century, restrained, jazz-age glamour.
Porodina’s high-level skills in clinical psychology and humanism enhance her understanding of branding in a way other photographers do not intuit.
With one broad stroke of her Jungian-inspired, creative vision, Porodina now makes Armani model Beauise Ferwerda a multi-dimensional Armani woman with a shadow-self.
Read MoreBurberry Spring 2024 Campaign by Tyrone Lebon Enlists Unique, Inspiring Cast
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After spreading its British wings to international cities with its ‘Burberry Streets’ sightings, Burberry’s Daniel Lee again heads home, assembling a motley British-related and credentialed crew for the brand’s Spring 2024 campaign.
Tyrone Lebon again is the photographer for Burberry, rowing in total synchronocity with Daniel Lee.
One sports figure in the campaign is professional boxer Somali-British Ramla Ali, who is also a Dior ambassador. She’s rather dear to AOC’s heart.
The founder of Sisters Club, Ali scored a vindicating win over Julissa Guzman, in early November. The luxury brands boxer suffered a ‘shocking’ defeat to Guzman in June 2023, which is why we use the word ‘vindicating’.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton Spreads a Contagious, Human Joy for the 2023-24 Holidays
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Louis Vuitton delivers smile-worthy holiday cheer in its first episode of a multi-segmented campaign lensed by Oliver Hadlee Pearch [IG] with video by Lope Serrano.
The Maison’s Mascot Vivienne and her friend Teddy arrive to explore all the Maison’s creations. As regulars, they might become treasured ornaments as the years go by — and we are eager to keep track of them.
These darling little creatures pop up everywhere in a distinct statement that whimsy is part of the holiday season and we are quietly encouraged to get “out of ourselves” and into the world of humanity.
Read MoreKarlie Kloss Buys i-D Magazine as CEO. Alastair McKimm Now CCO, Global EIC
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Karlie Kloss is the proud owner of i-D Magazine, a decade after being featured on i-D’s Spring 2013 cover.
Fast forward to November 2023, where Karlie’s new media company Bedford Media is flying solo in acquiring i-D Magazine.
Karlie will lead the British magazine as CEO, with i-D top editor Alastair McKimm [IG] expanding his role to the title of chief creative officer and global editor-in-chief.
Read MoreA Stunning Loss for Moschino and Luxury Brands with Heart: Davide Renne Leaves Our Earth
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Moschino’s new creative director Davide Renne arrived at the Italian house on November 1, 2023. Renne’s candle had no time to burn brightly in his new assignment, as the designer passed into a another dimension today, November 10, 2023.
We do not know the cause of death, which has been described as a “sudden illness” that claimed his body and earthly existence just 10 days after his arrival at Moschino.
Renne’s resume was defined largely by two decades at Gucci, eventually as Head Designer of Womenswear, working with Alessandro Michele.
Read MoreCandice Swanepoel's Tropic of C Sustainable Lace Drop Holiday 2023
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Supermodel, businesswoman, mom Candice Swanepoel leads us into 2024 with a new Tropic of C Sustainable Lace collection of black and white, made-to-be seen innerwear that renders lace lovers as sensual creatures who are also kind to Mother Earth.
All of Candice’s fabrics are sustainable, with this lace fabric coming out of Portugal and making its way into existing C collection styles. Note the ‘movie poster’ image with the photoshoot credentials and specific information about the fabric. Tropic of C has never veered off course in leading with sustainability.
Read MoreVan Cleef & Arpels 'The Grand Tour' High Jewelry with Chiara Scelsi in Vogue Arabia
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