Supermodel Liu Wen is styled by Zhao Haiyang in ‘Sonata at Sea’, a color-rich fashion story that retains its poetic undercurrent. Beijing-based photographer Trunk Xu [IG] is behind the lens for Wallpaper China January-February 2024./ Hair Liu Xuemeng; makeup by He Lei
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.
The opposite of stress is serenity, and the February 2024 issue of Numéro 244 does its very best to deliver a calming hope to a world in serious need of some. It is — in the words of the magazine — an offering of Love, Peace and Serenity to accompany the Hope, as the only possible response to these dark times we live in. Some more than others, but this is a truly dark and catastrophic time for large numbers of the world’s people.
One of the warmer, gentler, human lights on planet Earth is photographer Koto Bolofo [IG] and he creates a moment of collective peace to nourish our collective humanity and the poignant awareness of the suffering of others with his fashion story ‘Les Colombes’ [the doves].
Models Grace Gay and Mila Bergsma are styled by Rebecca Bleynie in modern goddess, fluid and ethereal fashion./ Hair by Anne Sofie Begtrup; makeup by Maria Olsson
Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon and Hennessy [LVMH] reported 2023 year-end sales of 86.15 billion euros [$93.46 billion], representing a 10% organic increase in fourth quarter and a 13% organic growth yearly increase against 2022.
Profit from recurring operations stood at €22.8 billion for 2023, up 8%. The current operating margin remained stable with respect to 2022. In addition, LVMH has advised the markets that it anticipates no further price increases across its business units in 2024.
Now that he is back to being the richest man in the world, thanks to a 12% rise in LVMH’s stock price on Friday, Arnault’s practice of engaging his children in collective conversations around every aspect of the entire LVMH business over Zoom lunches — early breakfast in New York — reminds us that the family is not a Rupert Murdoch-like clan of cannibals.
Actor Julianne Moore is styled by Miranda Almond in her cover story for the February 2024 issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK, lensed by David Roemer [IG].
In 2020, the New York Times named Julianne Moore one of the greatest actors of the 21st century. This Hollywood season Julianne Moore is playing opposite Natalie Portman in the controversial May December.
The film is the fifth time Moore has worked with director Todd Haynes.
Yesterday, we learned that Moore will star with Tilda Swinton in The Room Next Door, first English-language film from Oscar-winning Pedro Almodóvar.
In the world of fashion, Moore has been more devoted to Tom Ford than anyone else. Having just become an ambassador for Bottega Veneta, the actor says "I’ve known Matthieu [Blazy, the designer] since he was an assistant at Calvin Klein," she says. "He’s a tremendous talent."
Top model Lina Zhang is styled by Rae Boxer in ‘A même la peau’, a second-skin fashion story from top luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada. Photographer Joséphine Løchen [IG] is behind the lens for Harper’s Bazaar France February 2024./ Hair by Ramona Eschbach; makeup by Marie Duhart
Bottega Veneta launches the ‘Readymade’ Pre-Spring 2024 campaign, with A$AP Rocky and Kendall Jenner featured in ‘paparazzi style’ images.
The rapper is fresh off becoming PUMA x Formula 1’s new creative director. Note that the new father of son #2 knows the inside business strategies of PUMA, due to partner Rihanna’s longstanding FENTY X PUMA relationship.
The Bottega Veneta campaign was actually shot by paparazzi who license images through Getty Images and Backgrid. The stars are always pursued by street-style photographers, so Kendall Jenner and A$AP Rocky just dressed in the new Bottega Veneta Pre-Spring [Resort] collection and hit the streets — knowing that the images would go viral.
Russian model Liza Ostanina makes a dramatic impression in V Magazine China [IG] February 2024, styled by Evan Feng. Chinese creative director and fashion photographer Jumbo Tsui [IG] delivers the high-voltage, dramatic image mix in ‘Way Home’, with set design by Feifei Li.
Anne Vyalitsyna is known for casting a spell in a crowded room. Lucky for us, New York-based photographer Petros Kouiouris [IG] was in the studio for the latest issue of Numéro Netherlands [IG], with this digital cover of Anne V and her goddess-worship, fashion-story entourage.
Gucci Ancora is creative director Sabato De Sarno’s ad campaign for his debut Gucci collection. The director’s choice of the word Ancora is an Italian terms that translates “again” in English.
Gucci Ancora is creative director Sabato De Sarno’s ad campaign for his debut Gucci collection. The director’s choice of the word Ancora is an Italian terms that translates “again” in English.
Rising South Sudanese model Mammina Aker is styled by Giorgio Andrea Branduardi in ‘Rise From The Ashes’. Barcelona-born, French-Spanish photographer Alfonso Anton Cornelis [IG] is behind the lens for Harper’s Bazaar Mexico [IG] February 2024
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.
AOC has shared images of supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio since 2007. Photographer Ellen von Unwerth [IG] manages to cultivate the va-va-voom in every woman — including the former Victoria’s Secret Angel.
Alessandra walks on the wild side —being a blonde bombshell for a day — styled by Mike Adler for Schön! Magazine 04, 2023 [IG]./ Makeup by Vincent Oquendo; hair by Eduardo Bravo
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.
Historians estimate that in the latter half of the nineteenth century, one in four American cowboys was black. Anne of Carversville seriously doubts that this reality is taught in the history classes of American schools. Additionally, an estimated 12% of cowboys were Mexican.
Thanks to the January 18th Louis Vuitton Fall-Winter 2024 Men’s Collection show at the Jardin d’Acclimatation in Paris, this historical lens of exploration is opened wide. AOC is both incredulous and excited to tell this story. But first — a look at the highly-praised, Louis Vuitton Men Creative Director Pharrell Williams Fall-Winter 2024 show.
Black Cowboys and Slavery
The history of black cowboys in America is deeply intertwined with the legacy of slavery and the Civil War. Prior to Emancipation, many enslaved African Americans were forced into labor on plantations, including working with cattle. Other African Americans went west to California as slaves of gold miners and to Utah as slaves of Mormons.
Model Veronika Kunz enjoys a ‘Tuscan Retreat’ getaway in the pages of Vogue Poland January 2024. Lorna McGee styles Kunz on location in Val D’orcia, close to Florence, in images by Simon Elmalem [IG]./Hair and makeup by Emil Zed
German-Swedish photographer Per Appelgren [IG] shoots a Chanel fashion story for the cover story for L’Officiel Thailand [IG] January 2024. South Korean model J Moon is styled by Kai Atinan Nitisunthonkul. / Hair by Eduardo Bravo; makeup by Yin Liu
Photographer Catharina Pavitschitz [IG] adds poetic beauty to the pages of Vogue Portugal’s [IG] December 2023 ‘Love and Hope’ issue with ‘Amor e Cia’ [Love and Company].
Vogue Portugal has an exemplary history in dealing with deeply-challenging issues of skin color, as it impacts racial identity and global culture images.
As European powers began to expand their empires through colonization, the concept of race as a hierarchical system based on physical attributes — particularly skin color — gained traction. This intellectual position was driven by the need to justify the subjugation and exploitation of indigenous populations and the mass enslavement of Africans across the continent.
The Vatican occupies a position of great prominence at the historical heart of the global slave trade, dating back to the 15th century when Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas in 1452, granting the Portuguese the right to enslave non-Christian peoples.
Photographer Nadine Ijewere [IG] captures models Isla Gaskin and Rachael Carruthers in the second issue of System Beauty. Nathan Klein styles the story with makeup by Ammy Drammeh; hair by Ali Pirzadeh and manicure by Ama Quashie.
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.
