The ‘Prada Days of Summer 2025 Campaign’ Finds Wisdom in Calm Waters
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The Jacquemus x Timberland 'La Bateau' Is Perfect for Rowing to a Fight Oligarchy Rally
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The Jacquemus x Timberland 'La Bateau' Is Perfect for Rowing to a Fight Oligarchy Rally
Timberland calls it “a new shade of iconic”. Too bad that ‘iconic’ is now the most overused word in fashion, because this New Hampshire wilderness meets Jacquemus south of France ‘La Bateau’ 3-Eye boat shoe just might live up to the meaning of the word ‘iconic’.
Or as the AOC/Bernie Sanders ‘Fight Oligarchy’ tour around America would say “a Riviera-looking AOC joins forces with New England workwear Bernie Sanders” and the crowds are losing their damn minds.
Read MoreVersace La Vacanza 2025 Campaign by Zoë Ghertner Brings Medusa to Mind
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How Will Medusa Express Herself As Prada’s Versace Deal Moves Towards the Finish Line?
Luxury brand Versace has often taken its inspiration from Mediterranean mythology, particularly Greek mythology, as evidenced by its iconic Medusa logo.
Making Medusa the symbol of Versace was a daring act, deeply embedded in ancient history and the takedown of women by a rising patriarchy, who sought to control every aspect of women’s lives.
Like Lilith, Medusa was portrayed as demonic — and that was a purposeful act by the ancient-world men in charge.
Donatella Versace’s ongoing involvement with Versace as a brand ambassador, post Prada’s acquisition, is a living — not archived — critical resource. Medusa sits atop the Versace story, and we hope to hear from her soon.
Read MoreBrunello Cucinelli BC Duo Bag Campaign
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Brunello Cucinelli BC Duo Bag Campaign Shares a New Vision for a Feminine Ideal
The Brunello Cucinelli fashion business is built on the Italian values of humanism — a philosophy that AOC embraces fully now and always in my life. I am now clear in my own mind what other Italian-origin forces exist in opposition to humanism and are running wild across the US federal government.
I keep reading about alleged brilliance at work, but these beliefs run scarily close to the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who published the "Manifesto of Futurism" in 1909.
AOC first wrote about the Manifesto in the 2016 Democratic primary, and it’s now thriving in the Trump administration, where it unites the far left and far right far closer than we want to admit.
The house’s ‘BC Duo’ handbag represents a bit of a torch-passing moment, as the first bag to be designed by the Cucinelli daughters. The softly-structured tote might be the quintessential ‘ladies’ bag, especially the largest of the four sizes, which appeals to our own ‘throw in anything I might need today’ mentality.
Models Rim Tekle and Tara Halliwell together symbolize the purity of the feminine ideal in Brunello Cucinelli’s world. I will leave that statement hanging to give it oxygen, rather than death by asphyxiation. ~ Anne
Read MoreLe Monde d’Hermès 86 Magazine SS-2025 Lensed by Osma Harvilahti in Lisbon
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Le Monde d’Hermès 86 Magazine SS-2025 Lensed by Osma Harvilahti in Lisbon
AOC shares images shot in Lisbon by Osma Harvilahti [IG] for LeMonde d’Hermès 86 magazine, edited by Olivier Wicker [IG]. Models Io Sekine and Tass Sarr are styled by Rae Boxer in key pieces from the spring collection. /Hair by Pawel Solis;makeup by Karin Westerlund
Hermès’ creative director of women's ready-to-wear Nadège Vanhée expressed a not-often used phrase to describe her approach to the Spring 2025 season: “What I want to convey as the message is the idea of an assertive sensuality,” she said. “You know, it’s about the summer, a feel-good summer, and, really, this relationship you have with your skin.”
Read MoreTod's Emerging Talent 'Italian Diaries' Campaign for Gommino Driving Shoe
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Tod's Emerging Talent 'Italian Diaries' Campaign for Gommino Driving Shoe
Tod’s unveils Italian Diaries, a campaign that honors the brand’s legendary Gommino driving shoe, embraced by five emerging talents with rich artistic backgrounds: actress and singer Ella Bleu Travolta, musician Lennon Gallagher, writer and director Stella Banderas, model and artist Roberto Rossellini, and singer and actor Leo Gassmann.
Set at Villa Talamo amidst the stunning, ancient Tuscan scenery, photographer Oliver Hadlee Pearch [IG], shoots the campaign in black and white, while the Gomminos breakout in full-color images on social media and the Tod’s website.
As a symbol of Italian culture and craftsmanship, one that represents Tod’s expertise and attention to small details, the luxury brand is part of a larger renaissance of the Italian story, one that AOC is studying in great detail.
How do we create cultures that thrive for centuries — even with an egotistical madman at the wheel and democratic ideals thrown to the curb? We’re about to find out. It’s not as if Italy — and the rest of Europe also — haven’t been down this road before.
Read MoreThe Spring 2025 Ralph Lauren Campaign Is One Young Americans Can Trust
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The Spring 2025 Ralph Lauren Campaign Is One Young Americans Can Trust
Last September, New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 opened in a rather surprising location, casually called the East End by New Yorkers.
It was a quintessential Ralph Lauren experience — an ultimate, middle class guy makes good, American experience. They are in short supply these days, but Ralph Lauren should start a young mens academy for today’s young men so impacted by him.
In Virginia, Ralph Is the Man
After the disappointing 2024 presidential election in America, I cast my focus to work with young men in Virginia, who had voted for Trump. The group can be mixed, but it must have young male Trump voters.
For those young men — Latino, Black and White — Ralph Lauren is their hero. A mix of college men and young business owners, they stunned me with their breath of knowledge about marketing. They also know Louis Vuitton inside out, and Pharrell’s role there.
Read More‘Acqua Fiuggi: Loved by Vogue’ Reinvention Campaign Taps Elizaveta Porodina
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‘Acqua Fiuggi: Loved by Vogue’ Reinvention Campaign Taps Elizaveta Porodina
Acqua Fiuggi: Loved by Vogue’, lensed by Elizaveta Porodina [IG], is a high-profile reinvention campaign, with ancient DNA. The portfolio of top luxury brands like Prada or Louis Vuitton don’t really need Condé Nast, as much as Vogue’s parent needs them.
That’s not the case for Acqua Fiuggi, a brand of bottled water repositioning itself as part of the wellness business sector.
Gut health was probably not on the menu at the ‘Acqua Fiuggi Loved by Vogue’ dinner photocall at Biocca Hangar during Milan Fashion Week. Nor was the fact that six years ago, Acqua Fiuggi’s owners were in the Frosinone Bankruptcy Court.
Read MoreLVMH Orchestrates 3 Next Act Chairs for Bertrand, Arnault, Angeloglou March 2025
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LVMH Orchestrates 3 Next Act Chairs for Bertrand, Arnault, Angeloglou March 2025
LVMH has taken major steps to fortify management of its largest brands Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior with promotions from its own rich stable of executive talent.
Damien Bertrand, currently CEO of Loro Piana, will become deputy CEO of Louis Vuitton.
Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou, who joined Vuitton as strategic missions director for fashion and leather goods and was later named executive vice president, will become deputy CEO of Christian Dior Couture.
Frédéric Arnault, currently CEO of LVMH Watches, which comprises Tag Heuer, Hublot and Zenith, will become CEO of Loro Piana.
Read MoreLa Beauté Louis Vuitton Launches in Fall 2025, Dame Pat McGrath Creative Director
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Louis Vuitton is launching La Beauté Louis Vuitton with Dame Pat McGrath
The makeup collection will initially launch with 55 lipsticks, 10 lip balms and eight eye palettes. "Working backstage for over 20 years at Louis Vuitton fashion shows, I am thrilled to now play such a key role in the launch of La Beauté Louis Vuitton, which is the result of extraordinary craftmanship, creativity and innovation," says McGrath.
McGrath will continue to oversee her own make-up brand, Pat McGrath Labs, which she launched in 2015 with great success. The LVMH structure for La Beauté Louis Vuitton mirrors the one in place with Guerlain’s Violette Serrat.
Read MoreRIMOWA x GEWA Trumpet Case Collaboration 2025 Includes MÚSICAS Film
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RIMOWA x GEWA Trumpet Case Collab
RIMOWA delivers again in this cooly-beautiful collaboration with historic German brand GEWA — first founded in 1925 in Adorf, and today a leading designer and manufacturer of world-class musical instruments.
The limited-edition piece represents more than just functional luxury. The result is a masterfully-crafted case that protects not only the instruments it carries, but also the artistry of its musicians.
Humanist Brand Values
AOC has long complimented RIMOWA for its embrace of cultural creatives values. We’re changing our vocab going forward, to speak more simply.
Today, we compliment RIMOWA as a brand with humanist values. AOC speaks separately to the Oaxaca women horn players film timed with this collab.
Read MoreTory Burch SS 2025 Campaign Claims the Power of Destiny and the Sporting Life
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Tory Burch SS 2025 Campaign Claims the Power of Destiny and the Sporting Life
American brand Tory Burch releases her Spring Summer 2025 campaign, a collection of images infused with an elegant athleticism starring Ida Heiner, Irina Shayk and Mona Tougaard. Photographer Jamie Hawkesworth [IG] captures the trio in Paris posing in a track and field gymnastics facility.
Ida Heiner wears the new Tory Burch Destiny trainer, as further evidence of the growing influence of sport for the brand.
Tory Burch Destiny Trainer
Described as a “retro running sneaker inspired by the spirit of a good challenge”, Tory Burch’s Destiny Trainer is well-named in the spirit of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Led by Louis Vuitton — a key sponsor of the summer games — the symbolism of the Olympics, and the extraordinary journeys that athletes take to reach them, closely align with the values at the heart of the French luxury fashion house, its chairman Bernard Arnault and CEO Pietro Beccari.
Reality is that LVMH, including Louis Vuitton, and Tory Burch are sort of ‘kissing cousins’.
Read MoreExactly Why is Gucci Poised for a Rebound? Industry Minds Are Wondering
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Exactly Why is Gucci Poised for a Rebound? Industry Minds Are Wondering
Kering’s Gucci sales for the three months ending Dec. 31 decreased 24%. Of course Kering chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault assures financial industry professionals that Gucci is poised for a rebound.
AOC has a one-word response: Why?
Bernstein’s global luxury goods analyst Luca Solca believes he knows how to fix the problem, declaring recently that Gucci:
“needs a new, heavyweight creative director, and it needs it now. The task is to add an original and compelling fashion twist on the cleansed Gucci image Sabato De Sarno has contributed to create: more elegant, more qualitative, but dull.
A heavyweight designer [say Hedi Slimane — the most likely candidate in our view — or John Galliano or Maria Grazia Chiuri, for example] could restart the buzz around the brand, and help it to regain center stage.”
Read MoreL'Oreal Group Invests in Jacquemus Retail Expansion and Future Beauty Business
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L'Oreal Group Invests in Jacquemus Retail Expansion and Future Beauty Business
In spring 2024, the growing cult brand Jacquemus opened stores in Dubai, Capri, and Saint-Tropez, followed by New York and London last fall.
Jacquemus annual revenue estimates had climbed to $250 million, largely self-funded from the brand’s business operations.
Sharing the Jacquemus Holiday 2024 campaign, AOC reported that the brand had maxed out its growth opportunities until it obtained a minority investor.
On January 28, Jacquemus announced that it has tapped Celine North America president Sarah Benady as its next chief executive officer. There was no doubt that an announcement was coming soon in this perfectly-orchestrated business PR blitz based on business fundamentals and not marketing word salads.
The announcement came today, February 7, that L’Oréal Group has made a minority investment in Jacquemus to fund the house’s ongoing retail growth and expansion into the beauty sector.
Read MoreGucci Is Bleeding to Death & Sabato de Sarno Is Not the Doctor She Needed
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Gucci Is Bleeding to Death & Sabato de Sarno Is Not the Doctor She Needed
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.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton Taps Skateboarder Tyshawn Jones As Friend of the House
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Louis Vuitton Taps Skateboarder Tyshawn Jones As Friend of the House
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.
Read MoreHow Desert Surfing Captured AOC’s View of Zimmermann’s Spring 2025 Campaign
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How Desert Surfing Captured AOC’s View of Zimmermann’s Spring 2025 Campaign
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.
Read MoreRalph Lauren Vintage Collection in Family Style 004 Winter 2024/25 by Bob Jugger
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Ralph Lauren Vintage Collection in Family Style 004 Winter 2024/2025 by Bob Jugger
Family Style magazine’s approach to content is the cultivation of a quarterly dinner party involving voices and creative personalities in food, fashion and culture.
Designer Ralph Lauren has long been at the center of this still escalating trend of branded dinner parties. Polo Bar, Ralph Lauren’s first New York City restaurant, opened a few steps east of his company’s flagship store at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street a decade ago.
In late December 2024, AOC noted that Moncler’s Italian billionaire CEO Remo Ruffini expressed great admiration for all that Ralph Lauren has achieved with graciousness and style. Ruffini called out Ralph's Coffee, the café attached to the flagship on the corner of Old Bond Street and Burlington Gardens.
Polo Ralph Lauren’s FW 2024 Campaign celebrated ‘Ralph’s New York’ in an emotional and heartfelt way. The campaign featured items from the growing Ralph Lauren Vintage Collection.
Today, these Ralph Lauren Vintage Collection pieces have made their way to Family Style Magazine 004 Winter 2024/2025.
New York-born stylist and storyteller Edward Bowleg III collaborates with photographer Bob Jugger [IG] in ‘Always and Forever’, presenting the Ralph Lauren Vintage Collection
Read MoreKim Jones and Virgil Abloh: As Jones Exits Dior Men, We Discover Him as Mentor to Abloh
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As Jones Exits Dior Men, We Discover Him as Mentor to Abloh
The clues were few that British designer Kim Jones was about to leave Christian Dior Mens, especially after delivering one of the most ‘stupendous’ shows of his career in his Fall 2025 presentation in Paris last on Friday last week.
Praise for Jones has been lavish from his peers, with widespread consensus that Kim Jones’ seven-years tenure at Dior Mens “accelerated the convergence of men’s fashion, art, and celebrity to warp speed.”
Kim Jones and Virgil Abloh
In writing this post, AOC was not aware of the very close relationship of Kim Jones and Virgil Abloh. We share a major taste of the duo together.
The future for Kim Jones will include his work with Charleston Trust, where the designer became a vice president in fall 2024.
Read MoreRianne Van Rompaey Stars in Chloé SS 2025 Campaign Lensed by David Sims
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