Can LVMH Write the Book on Developing Human Potential in Brands and Businesses?
/
Zac Posen Tapped By GAP Inc. As EVP Creative Asset Across Gap Brands
/
American designer Zac Posen is starting his next chapter in San Francisco, accepting a dual role as Executive Vice President & Creative Director of Gap Inc and Chief Creative Officer of Old Navy.
In Posen, Dickson said he saw a combination of cultural savvy and technical skill that could jumpstart Gap Inc. getting it back on track.
Posen’s position is the first time Gap Inc. has hired a creative lead at the executive portfolio level which includes Athleta, Banana Republic, and Old Navy besides Gap.
Dickson is looking for an intellectual creative partner to cultivate and inspire his own vision at Gap. Part of Posen’s role will be to create sparkplug synergy in Dickson and other creatives across the organization.
Read MoreCora, Blanca and Georgina Chase a Lauren Ralph Lauren Jamaica Resort 2024 Breeze
/
Lauren Ralph Lauren is chasing a Palm Beach breeze or going further south to the Ralph Lauren home High Rock in Jamaica. Set on the highest point of the Round Hill resort which consists of a small hotel and 29 villas on a peninsula, it’s a place of total serenity for Ralph and Ricky and their expanding family.
Models Cora Emmanuel, Blanca Padilla and Georgina Burke are born to embrace the Ralph Lauren spirit. This collection and more treasures coming are revealed on the Lauren Ralph Lauren IG. And if you want to armchair travel to High Rock, Ralph is waiting your arrival.
Read MoreBottega Veneta Embraces Sumptuous, Modern Elegance in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
/
Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta opened its third store in Milan on Tuesday, with a design perfectly integrated into Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a landmark location between the city’s Duomo cathedral and the Teatro alla Scala.
Covering about 2,600 square feet over two levels, the store is AOC’s favorite to date. It’s modern without being cold and sumptuous without being overbearing. Even the huge gold planter works for AOC. Love the green leather.
“There are different experiences of space in the store,” Matthieu Blazy told WWD. “I wanted to express the idea of a domestic interior referring to Italian modernist architecture that contrasts with the aesthetic of a spaceship. And to capture the intimacy and the imagination of getting dressed.”
Read MoreTory Burch SS2024 Campaign Starts a Ruckus in Marfa, Texas with Grace, Ida and Selena
/
Tory Burch [IG] strikes up the band, taking her Spring-Summer 2024 Campaign to Marfa, Texas, a small desert town in west Texas. population 1,748. Marfa has a very big reach both east and west as an arts center. Those damn liberals keep showing up in Marfa, trying to wreck the whole state of Texas, from the point of view of Governor Greg Abbott.
In fact, the arrival of this great campaign starring Grace Elizabeth, Ida Heiner and Selena Forrest is deeply political — perfectly timed as a clapback to the freakin’ absurd MAGA meltdown over Taylor Swift this week.
Only Taylor Swift appearing on horseback, disguised as a member of the Texas Rangers, but then jumping off her stallion and into the street guns blazing [in the air] to save Grace, Ida and Selena from an impending arrest would make this advert any better. What is their crime? Disturbing the peace.
Photographer Jamie Hawkesworth [IG] would be stupified over the entire scene but covering all the action from every angle. Meanwhile Brian Molloy does an excellent job styling this production, with hair by Jimmy Paul and makeup by Dick Page.
Read MoreLana Del Ray Fronts SKIMS 2024 Valentine's Day Collection by Nadia Lee Cohen
/
SKIMS is now fearless about firing one volley after another into the prized territory of the once-great Victoria’s Secret lingerie brand.
SKIMS co-ounder Kim Kardashian has broken the Internet more than once, and it happened again this week. SKIMS said in a statement on Tuesday morning, January 23:
"Due to record breaking traffic and unprecedented demand for our Valentine’s Day launch, our Skims site has crashed. Shopify is working to resolve the issue asap.”
Kim Kardashian may be considering the outrageous possibility of suiting up for battle with Victoria’s Secret — as in an aggressive move to buy Victoria’s Secret with backing of the largest VS stockholders.
Read MoreThis Is Sotheby's? The Stories Kristina O'Neill Can Tell As Head of Sotheby's Media
/
Kristina O’Neill, former EIC of WSJ Magazine is now installed at Sotheby’s as Head of Sotheby’s Media and editor-in-chief of a revamped Sotheby’s Magazine.
What an exciting creative road lies ahead of her. AOC raises this topic because O’Neill seems perfectly primed to tap into the creative and business evolution going on at the world’s largest auction house. Visually, it’s one that expands the customer base and also acquires “heart” along the way.
O’Neill can catch the modernized Sotheby’s football and run with it. Her decade of work at WSJ Magazine reveals her status as a change agent. Only someone like AOC who can easily call up a decade of her work for review is aware that O’Neill was featuring Black talent long before the summer of 2020.
British-Ghanaian photographer Campbell Addy comes to mind. Outside of a small feature in British Vogue in 2018, Addy shot for WSJ Magazine before any of the other major magazines.
Read MoreLVMH Reports Record 2023 Financial Results Adding $30 Billion to Market Value
/
Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon and Hennessy [LVMH] reported 2023 year-end sales of 86.15 billion euros [$93.46 billion], representing a 10% organic increase in fourth quarter and a 13% organic growth yearly increase against 2022.
Profit from recurring operations stood at €22.8 billion for 2023, up 8%. The current operating margin remained stable with respect to 2022. In addition, LVMH has advised the markets that it anticipates no further price increases across its business units in 2024.
Now that he is back to being the richest man in the world, thanks to a 12% rise in LVMH’s stock price on Friday, Arnault’s practice of engaging his children in collective conversations around every aspect of the entire LVMH business over Zoom lunches — early breakfast in New York — reminds us that the family is not a Rupert Murdoch-like clan of cannibals.
Read MoreBirgit Kos Wears Mermaids in Sergio Rossi's SS 2024 Campaign by Claire Rothstein
/
Top model Birgit Kos fronts Italian shoemaker Sergio Rossi’s [IG] Spring-Summer 2024 campaign, where all-white leather Mermaid sandals deliver a seductive twist.
Photographer Claire Rothstein [IG] shot the campaign in Sorrento, a coastal town in southwestern Italy. CRothstein also has a long commitment to imagery of strong, sensual, confident women and is the genesis of Girls, Girls, Girls Magazine [IG].
Mermaids have captivated human imagination for centuries, touching ancient civilizations from Mesopotamia to Africa to China.
In ancient civilizations, tales of mermaids emerged as a way to explain the mysteries that lay beneath the vast expanses of water. They should not be confused with sirens, who are half human and half-birds.
Read MoreCandice Swanepoel Promotes Hailey Bieber's Rhode Skin Pineapple Refresh Cleanser
/
Candice Swanepoel and Hailey Bieber are two of the smartest women in the fashion and beauty sectors. Now they are teaming up in the launch of Bieber’s Rhode Skin calendar girls, with Swanepoel owning January and July.
Low-Key Cross Promotion
As of this moment, Candice has her @Rhode images on her personal IG, not Tropic of C. That may change in a few days, but Monday, this is Swanepoel’s only action. The sequence of three images and one video has 255,000 likes in 3-4 days.
No fanfare, no endorsements. Just the two women together as the friends they are in real life. Moving over to Rhode [IG], Candice appears again as Miss July and this time she’s carrying a big tube of the new Rhode Pineapple Refresh Cleanser.
Read MoreDolce & Gabbana Spring-Summer 2024 Campaign by Steven Meisel
/
Designers Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana work with art director Fabien Baron and stylist Karl Templer to create a Spring-Summer 2024 campaign rich with high-class swagger, penetrating eye confidence, and an attitude that says “judge me at your own risk — because I will take you down.”
With Steven Meisel [IG] on photography, the images will have these ingredients because Meisel often plays high-low with his human subjects. As a result, there are layers of meaning and interpretation that seep out of the images and into our own minds. They are created to be mildly disruptive, another characteristic that makes them interesting and one that Meisel understands deeply.
What AOC loves about Dolce & Gabbana is that their garden is an Italian garden in the same way Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli are Italian gardens. But they are planting different crops growing in different parts of Italy and Sicily and Sardinia — from Rome to Milan to Florence and Venice.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton Men SS 2024 by Pharrell Williams Hong Kong Pop-Up Joins Upcoming 50 Locations
/
Chinese New Year arrives mid-February, resulting in the Louis Vuitton Men Pop-Up in Hong Kong being open only until February 15. Might we see an extension later in spring?
Read MoreCandice Swanepoel's Business Savvy Takes Tropic of C Henna into Art Basel Miami
/
Candice Swanepoel’s Tropic of C swimwear shares a new henna pattern, giving us a light touch different from typical swimwear prints and patterns. The henna pattern also sits well against the weathered surfaces of Villa Parodi Delfino [IG], available for rental on the Amalfi coast, a 50-kilometer stretch of coastline along the southern edge of Italy’s Sorrentine Peninsula, in the Campania region.
Swanepoel also lives in Miami, and she launched the Tropic of C henna collection with curator Kimberly Drew, and Vogue's Elise Taylor.
The trio gathered an intimate group of friends for a luncheon with Vogue100, hosted at Jason Wright’s private residence.
Kimberly Drew is best known as the former social media manager for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and her use of the social media handle MuseumMammy [IG].
Read MoreDior Magazine Delivers Niki de Saint Phalle Capsule, Lensed by Charlotte Hadden
/
Models Gonzalez Corona, Majesty Mare and Sophie Dominique invite us to a resort-capsule, art-inspired getaway, deeply grounded in nature and whimsy for Dior [IG]. Artist Niki de Saint Phalle is in the house and also the new issue of Dior Magazine.
Niki de Saint Phalle and the House of Dior
Initially working as a fashion model for the esteemed fashion house during the 1950s, Saint Phalle became acquainted with influential figures in the art world. This exposure provided her with invaluable insights into the realm of aesthetics and design, as she garnered the support of several Dior clients who recognized her potential as a creator.
In 1967, the artist with a rapidly growing international reputation was invited by Marc Bohan, then creative director of Dior, to collaborate on a collection that would challenge conventional notions of beauty and femininity.
At age 37, Saint Phalle's bold and vibrant Nana sculptures became the centerpiece of this collaboration.
Read MoreLila Moss in 'My Roman Empire' Gucci Story by Theo Liu for British Vogue February 2024
/
Model Lila Moss is styled by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson in a Gucci advertorial ‘My Roman Empire’. Photographer Theo Liu [IG] is behind the lens for British Vogue February 2024.
WSJ reflected on Gucci and the brand’s new CEO Jean-Francois Palus, writing that Palus “embodies the severity of the changes: A Frenchman at the head of a company that is as Italian as Chianti, he isn’t yet fluent in the native language, nor does he have a creative background.”
Palus began his career as an auditor and financial adviser with Arthur Andersen. He then ran the books for the timber division of the conglomerate that would go on to become Kering.
Read MorePrada 2024 Chinese New Year Campaign by Leslie Zhang at Prada Rong Zhai
/
Prada’s new advertising campaign for the 2024 Chinese New Year celebrates the Year of the Dragon. Photographer Leslie Zhang [IG] captures the images at the Prada-restored Rong Zhai cultural center in Shanghai.
The 2024 Lunar New Year campaign stars supermodel and actor Du Juan and Zhao Lei, the face of Yang Fudong’s film ‘First Spring’, currently on show at the Pradasphere II exhibition in Shanghai.
Power of the Dragon
According to ancient Chinese mythology the dragon is closely linked to the creation and origin of the Chinese nation.
One prominent myth tells the story of the Dragon Kings, who were powerful and influential deities in Chinese mythology. According to this myth, the Dragon Kings were responsible for controlling the waters, including rivers, seas, and rainfall, and were revered as protectors of the land.
Read MoreVivienne Rohner Polished Modern Tailoring for Zara January 2024
/
Top Zara model Vivienne Rohner poses in sleek, neutral-colors separates for the brand’s January 2024 drop, lensed by Hanna Tveite [IG].
Minor Anti-Zara, Atelier The Jacket Blowback
Stopping by Zara’s [IG], AOC notes that the FREE PALESTINE forces continue to punish the brand for allegations that it capitalized on Palestinian suffering with its recent Atelier campaign.
Reuters reports that Inditex posted a 32.5% increase in net profit to $4.42 billion, for the nine-months to end-October, 2023. In the six weeks ending Dec. 11, Inditex posted a 14% increase in holiday sales.
Read MoreK-Pop Louis Vuitton Ambassadors LE SSERAFIM in Seoul-Exclusive Bag Campaign
/
The South Korean girl band LE SSERAFIM were the stars at the after party following the Pre-Fall Louis Vuitton show in April, 2023. Today they are ambassadors for Louis Vuitton, the largest, most dynamic and culturally-engaged luxury brand in the world.
Their debut act places LE SSERAFIM in a campaign for a bag capsule exclusive to the South Korean market, against a visual backdrop of Jamsugyo Bridge.
Vuitton enlisted "Squid Game" director Hwang Dong-hyuk to help build the scenography for the April 2023 show, the first-ever fashion production on the landmark Jamsugyo Bridge in Seoul.
Knowing Seoul as well as Anne does, the Louis Vuitton fashion show on the iconic bridge was surely was a landmark event and source of enormous cultural pride and good will for Louis Vuitton in South Korea.
Read MoreBurberry Lunar New Year 2024 Campaign Shot by Ryan McGinley in Chendu, China
/
Burberry brand ambassadors Chinese actor Tang Wei and actor, singer, producer Chen Kun, along with models He Cong, Wang Xiangguo and Alex Schlab, front the Burberry Lunar New Year 2024 campaign.
The Burberry Prorsum knight rides on every piece, and has not been replaced in this Year of the Dragon. The Chinese celebration images were lensed by Ryan McGinley [IG] in the city of Chengdu, one of China’s fastest growing cities.
Read MoreLes Gastons Vuitton Fine Jewelry by Francesca Amfitheatrof Is Not Only for Men
/
