'Source' Says Kanye Is Headed to LV Men's; Ye Worked with Donald Trump to Overturn GA Election; Kanye Tells Kim K to 'Run Right Back to Me, Baby' Pt.1

'Source' Says Kanye Is Headed to LV Men's; Ye Worked with Donald Trump to Overturn GA Election; Kanye Tells Kim K to 'Run Right Back to Me, Baby' Pt.1 AOC Fashion

In 24 hrs. starting Thursday evening December 9, 2021 to Friday morning December 10, 2021

• Rumors are that Kanye West is headed to Louis Vuitton because he and creative mastermind Virgil Abloh made an agreement that West would take over after Abloh’s death.

• Kanye West joined Drake in a LA-benefit concert for Larry Hoover, currently serving a 150 - 200 years sentence at a high security prison in Colorado. At that concert, Kanye went off script and sang ‘Runaway’, dedicating the song to his estranged wife Kim Kardashian, asking her to 'Run Right Back to Me,Baby'.

• This morning Reuters broke the story that Kanye West’s publicist became very involved in trying to overturn the Georgia election results by giving total credence to Donald Trump’s accusations against Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter.

Anne of Carversville does not presume to know what makes Kanye West tick. For all we know, he’s headed towards another mental health episode, which we wouldn’t wish on anybody — even Kanye’s best buddy Donald Trump.

Since Kanye jumped on Donald Trump’s bandwagon and declared that God came to him in the shower, telling him to shut down Planned Parenthood, we have little time for Kanye West. A decade ago, we were big Kanye fans.

However, everywhere I’ve turned since 11pm last night, Kanye West is in my face.

Kanye fancies himself — like Trump — a great manipulator of simple minds like ours. After all, God speaks to him in the shower, so he’s a VIP on planet earth, knighted by God to do men’s work of keeping women subordinate to male rule.

To me he’s just another misogynist in the long-line of so-called men of God running roughshod over women’s bodies, but I’m sure Kanye knows best. After all, he has a direct line, and I have none — being a scarlet woman.

I’m about to do a brain dump on Kanye West and will divide it into two parts. We start with my Thursday night reading and pleas of “No, no, no . . . don’t do it.”

1) Kanye at Louis Vuitton Mens

AOC is still reeling from Virgil Abloh’s death, and last night Kanye West rumors broke that he’s headed to Louis Vuitton Men’s. In quotes from ‘The Sun’ that troubled me deeply, an unnamed source said: “Kanye is devastated about Virgil’s death because they had been friends for years and worked together a lot. They shared a similar vision and now Kanye feels he owes it to Virgil to continue his work at Louis Vuitton.”

Besides expected sources like Hypebeast, Highsnobiety, then the Daily Mail, Yahoo and scads of syndicated local publications by Friday morning, CR Fashionbook just picked up the Kanye West to Louis Vuitton Men’s story.

Kanye West Was Jealous of Virgil Abloh

AOC has a long memory and we recall distinctly Kanye West’s assertion that HE — and not Virgil Abloh — deserved the LV Men’s position. West expressed jealousy to DJ Zane Lowe during a 2015 interview for Beats 1 saying, "I felt like it was supposed to be me. I was the Louis Vuitton Don. People still called me the Louis Vuitton Don on the street."

None of us have forgotten this story, and it’s one that keeps getting resurrected.

In October, 2019 W Magazine wrote Kanye West Thinks He Should Have Virgil Abloh’s Job at Louis Vuitton.

When Kanye West sat down for an interview with DJ Zane Lowe in 2015, he proclaimed himself “the greatest living rock star on the planet.” In his latest interview with Zane, released today, West has upped himself to “unquestionably, undoubtedly the greatest human artist of all time.” His greatness, apparently, now transcends both mediums and eras. Leonardo Da Vinci, who?

“It’s just a fact,” he added for emphasis.

Let me say for the 27th time — Kanye West has a God complex, just like his good friend Donald Trump. If Kanye is unquestionably the greatest human artist of all time, Bernard Arnault would have hired him, because Bernard Arnault is one of the world’s most brilliant business executives.

Of course, there are many additional skills required to be a successful creative director and not seeing yourself as the center of the universe from sunrise to sundown is typically one of them. Temperment is an issue today, as we were recently reminded with the departure of the most talented designer Daniel Lee from Bottega Veneta.

Bernard Arnault doesn’t need Kanye West in his face now and probably ever.

Louis Vuitton is the biggest, most successful luxury brand in the world. Seriously, Kanye West called for a boycott of Louis Vuitton almost a decade ago. West is a loose cannon; and now he is tied to the Jan. 6 insurrection against the US government, as Trump’s man in Georgia.

Bernard Arnault Does NOT Need Kanye West

Arnault can have a trusting relationship with Rihanna and Jay-Z, and with Jay-Z comes his uber-talented wife Ms. Beyonce-Knowles — for advice on what to do in this matter.

They roll just fine with Mr. Arnault and his kids and are excellent sounding boards, who don’t belong to the “I am God” club. They are talented businesspeople-creatives, and they are genuine activists and philanthropists capable of looking at life from perspectives not their own.

This fine team of advisers is far from being alone on the LVMH roster.

Virgil Abloh was very tight with the new design director at Kenzo Nigo of A Bathing Ape fame. In reading about Nigo a few nights back, of course my man Pharrell Williams popped into the picture.

While Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rihanna and Pharrell Williams are running around town trying to create positive change in the Black communities of America and beyond — while they are giving of themselves for humanity and practicing some real Ubuntu Nelson Mandela style in their businesses and personal lives — Kanye West was trying to overturn the 2020 US presidential election.

Laurence Ellis Captures 'Celebrations' with London's Global Tribes for HTSI Magazine

Laurence Ellis Captures 'Celebrations' with London's Global Tribes for HTSI Magazine AOC Fashion

Photographer Laurence Ellis [IG], founder of Unity @ unityforest.land, divides his time between London and New York. Ellis’ passionate studies in Social Anthropology informs his interest in photography. His world view is expressed in countless exhibits and books; just one taste of Laurence Ellis is experienced through his contribution to Atmos.earth in December 2020 called ‘Humus to Human’.

Laurence Ellis brings to life his social anthropology skills in this How To Spend It Magazine November 2021 cover story for FT’s ‘Celebration’ issue. Ellis captures Britain’s multiculturalism “in his joyful fashion story, which focuses on groups of families, friends and different social tribes. Each unit, captured on their way out to a party, celebrates the brilliant idiosyncrasies and intimacies that help to shape our personal lives,” writes EIC Jo Ellison.

Players making up these London tribes, styled by Hanna Kelifa, include: Models, Brigett English, Donnika Anderson, Fern Gray and Rhys Claxton at Xdirectn; Ai Zheng Rui, Goi Manase and Simon Deu Thiong at PRM; Apollo Yom Alier at Milk Management; Caitlin Foden at The Hive; Keyla Harewood at Wilhelmina Models; Louis Simmonds at Tomorrow Is Another Day; Romi Peled at Established; Jade Monrose at Kult; Anya Pascaud at Anti Agency; Antara Naidoo at Elite; Arthur Griffiths, Bruce Anderson, Cole Quirke, Hardy Churchill, Joel Kerr, Leah Anderson, Lilith Newson and Saoirse Davis.

Read the countless product credits at How to Spend It Magazine.

Capturing the beauty and resilience of London’s Southall community Document Journal

Charlottesville, VA Will Donate Robert E Lee Statue for Meltdown into New Art

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is a cultural arts and history center whose mission is to honor and preserve the rich heritage and legacy of the African-American community of Charlottesville-Albemarle, Virginia. Additionally, the heritage center promotes a greater appreciation for and understanding of the contributions of African Americans and peoples of the Diaspora locally in Charlottesville, across America and globally as well.

In a modern-day Confederate statue cremation, the controversial statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee will be donated to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Plans are for the statue, which lived at the center of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, to be melted down into materials for a new piece of public art.

Support Indie-GoGo Fundraising Campaign

An Indiegogo campaign page for the project said that its leaders wanted to “transform a national symbol of white supremacy into a new work of art that will reflect racial justice and inclusion.”

Related: Charlottesville’s Statue of Robert E. Lee Will Be Melted Down New York Times

Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue will be melted down by city’s African American history museum Washington Post

NYC Sues L'Officiel USA for Not Paying Freelancers On Time or Ever

Note from Anne: As a result of this NYC lawsuit and learning about L’Officiel USA’s pattern of not paying freelancers, AOC will no longer promote any fashion stories or lifestyle posts associated with L’Officiel USA magazines until there is a resolution to this lawsuit. We will research this alleged pattern and practice in other L’Officiel magazines worldwide and not post any further materials associated with L’Officiel magazines until we understand both the scope and the organizational, corporate structure that governs L’Officiel media.

AOC shares a summary of key points in a press release from the Office of the Mayor of New York City, which filed suit against L’Officiel USA on December 1, 2021.

NYC Sues L'Officiel USA for Not Paying Freelancers On Time or Ever AOC Fashion for entire discussion

The Freelance Isn't Free Act is a local New York City law passed by the New York City Council in 2016 that protects the labor rights of freelance workers. The bill was enacted on May 15, 2017 and is now the basis for a new lawsuit filed by New York City ’s Law Department and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) against L’Officiel USA, the American subsidiary of the French-owned global media company.

The lawsuit was announced by outgoing New York City mayor Bill de Blasio on December 1, after its filing in New York County Supreme Court.

NYC ’s Freelance Isn ’t Free Act, the first law of its kind in the country, gives freelance workers the legal right to written contracts, timely payment, and freedom from retaliation. The Law also established a Court Navigation Program as one avenue to assist freelancers in getting paid and accessing other resources, but it also authorizes New York City to file cases against businesses with a systemic pattern and practice of violating the Law.

In this first court case derived from NYC ’s Freelance Isn ’t Free Act. The lawsuit, which was filed in New York County Supreme Court, alleges that L ’Officiel has “engaged in a pattern of failing to pay freelancers on time or at all, including writers, editors, photographers, videographers, graphic designers and illustrators.”

Kerrigan Clark Poses in a Fish Market Eco Story by Élio Nogueira for Vogue Portugal

Kerrigan Clark Poses in a Fish Market Eco Story by Élio Nogueira for Vogue Portugal AOC Fashion

Model Kerrigan Clark poses in one of Vogue Portugal’s November 2021 ‘no Comments’ issue cover stories. Sandra Benbaruk styles Clark in a fashion statement that does have environmental overtones, as humans and climate change seriously impact the world’s fish supplies. Élio Nogueira [IG] does create images that tell their own environmental story — not an easy feat — and are fashionable besides.

In this genre, nothing comes closest to Steven Meisel’s 2010 ‘Water & Oil’ fashion story for Vogue Italia under EIC Franca Sozzani. Such a controversy erupted with a clear fault line between the Americans and the Europeans in responding to Meisel’s disturbing images.

As is so often the case, AOC sided with the Europeans. Even CBS News covered the controversy.

EYE on TikTok Star Wisdom Kaye for Coach 'Hit the Slopes' and H&M Innovation @ British Fashion Awards

American model and Tik Tok personality Wisdom Kaye joins Brittany O’Grady, Mia Regan and Tiffany Guo in the new Coach ‘Hit the Slopes’ campaign. The vision behind the campaign ‘introduces nostalgic winter sportswear reimagined through the optimistic lens of now' along with a digital game, Snow City. The game allows players to ‘race through snowy New York City as a Coach Holiday animal, collecting “love”’.

After all the challenges in 2021 — and especially for our young people, whose lives are just turned upside down in today’s world — let’s play along with Snow City.

Anne of Carversville is all about love through the practice of ‘ubuntu’ — the Nguni Bantu term meaning "humanity". It is sometimes translated as "I am because we are" (also "I am because you are"), or "humanity towards others" (in Zulu, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu), according to Wiki.

New York City photographer Zackery Michael [IG] photograph’s the Coach ‘Hit the Slopes’ campaign. His images seem to appear out of another era.

Like so many New York City creatives, Michael — who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — migrated to the city from small town America. In his case Springfield, Oregon. Zackery Michael’s bags are always packed and ready for the next destination.

Wisdom Kaye is also on the move, appearing Monday night at the British Fashion Council awards, where he was dressed in clothes from H&M’s new circularity-focused collection, Innovation Circular Design Story.

Wisdom Kaye is represented by IMG models and hails from Houston, Texas. The energy-infused, rising creative star with major swagger joined Tik Tok in January 2020 and went viral for his offering to the ‘Vogue Challenge’.

By July 2020, the Kaye’s TikTok had 2 million followers, prompting Vogue to call him "TikTok's best-dressed guy".

Read more about H&M’s commitment to being a leader in rewriting fashion’s damning impact on our planet. The brand has created a heap of woes around our industry’s destruction of the environment in pursuit of style and see-me pleasures.

Now the global brand is committed to being a leader in cleaning up the mess. H&M is teaming up with fashion’s most talented people to help drive hope the urgency of a planet-protecting response.

Related: H&M Hugs the Brilliance of Ib Kamara and Rafael Pavarotti with Innovation Circular Design Story AOC Fashion

Stacey Abrams Launches 2022 Georgia Governor's Rematch

Prominent Democratic voting rights activist Stacey Abrams is stepping up for a rematch of her contentious 2018 race against Gov. Brian Kemp to hold Georgia’s highest office.

Ms. Abrams candidacy assures that voting rights will remain center stage in Georgia, where Republicans have further sought to restrict the vote. If she succeeds, Abrams would become the first Black governor of Georgia and the first Black woman to serve as governor of any state.

“Opportunity in our state shouldn’t be determined by ZIP code, background or access to power,” Ms. Abrams said on Twitter, posting an announcement video with the slogan “One Georgia.”

Stacey Abrams has broad-base appeal and not only among both moderate Democrats and the more progressive wing of the party. Abrams created a strong coalition of white women — including white Republican and independent voters.

Sign up to learn more about the Stacey Abrams campaign.

Media Reports on Stacey’s New Campaign

Stacey Abrams Says She’s Running for Georgia Governor New York Times

Breaking: Stacey Abrams is running for Georgia governor in 2022 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Stacey Abrams Announces 2022 Run for Governor of Georgia New York Magazine

Ina Lekiewicz Shoots Giedre Dukauskaite in Iceland for Vogue Poland December 2021

Ina Lekiewicz Shoots Giedre Dukauskaite in Iceland for Vogue Poland December 2021 AOC Fashion

Photographer, stylist, art director and EIC of Vogue Poland Ina Lekiewicz delivers Lithuanian model Giedre Dukauskaite in ‘The Sound of Silence’ for the December 2021 issue. Ali + Aniko style Dukauskaite for the cover story shot in Iceland.

Ina Lekiewicz was on a mission in Iceland, speaking with local people about living in harmony with nature and the idea of omnipresent silence. “Confrontation with nature is ruthless. It leaves a permanent mark on you,” says Hördur Ingason, a photographer born in the capital of Iceland. “It makes us more dark and melancholic. But we also owe her inner peace,” he adds.

n a translated paragraph from the editor’s letter, we stumble into one of those obvious questions for us fashionistas — a question that stands on its own with or without a conversation around sustainability: Why do we not respect clothes? Better still:

“What if we stopped treating clothes like rags?”

Michał Zaczyński is looking for an answer to the question why we do not respect clothes. In the essay "What if we stopped treating clothes like rags?" he writes that the contempt is primarily due to a lack of knowledge, experience and poor PR: "If we knew how much work it takes to create a dress, and had an idea of the complexity of the process, we would not treat it so condescendingly."

The fashion editor of "Vogue Polska" Kamila Wagner in a special report analyzes the situation in the fashion industry, which has finally begun to demand balance and suggests itself how to achieve balance in many of its fields: "In balance, we see the only chance to survive and, in fact, we seek it on the market of services and goods. The related discourse thus mastered all trade and the communication that is inseparable from it, 'she writes.

A Racy Penélope Cruz Puts Her Foot on the Gas,by Nico Bustos for Elle España December 2021

Actor Penélope Cruz covers the December 2021 issue of ELLE España styled by Sylvia Montoliù in black lace dressed woman driving red convertible. You get the drift. Nico Bustos captures Cruz, who is winning rave reviews for her role in ‘Parallel Mothers’, with her great collaborator Pedro Almodóvar.

“Parallel Mothers” debuted to rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival, where Cruz captured the best actress prize, and then resonated with audiences and critics again when it screened on the closing night of the New York Film Festival, writes Variety Magazine.

The BBC writes that the film received a nine-minute standing ovation in Venice.

Nico Bustos [IG] photographs Cruz for ELLE Espana and also for an excellent interview in Variety. We looked forever for an online ELLE Spain editorial for translation.

Candice Swanepoel Drops New Tropic of C Swimwear Style and Color Update

Candice Swanepoel Drops New Tropic of C Swimwear Style and Color Update AOC Fashion

Top of the list earth goddess Candice Swanepoel travels to fashion’s fav place Puglia, Italy to pose in new Tropic of C sustainable swimwear style and color updates. Eduardo Bravin [IG] photographs Tropic of C’s new metallic shade serpentine.

Harris Reed x Etro Collab Achieves Perfect Alignment Magic Carpet Fashion Ride

Designer Harris Reed of Harris Reed x Etro Collab via Etro IG.

All images courtesy of Etro.

A Star Is Born: Harris Reed

When the convo is focused on young, emerging, fashion designers, do not make an example of Harris Reed. Perhaps never in the future of fashion has a young designer woke on the day of his [her] first-ever runway show as the subject of a 5,000 word profile on said designer in The New Yorker.

On the morning of Harris Reed’s spring 2022 fashion show, the 25-year-old, 2020 graduate from Central Saint Martins, was living rent free in a perfectly-appointed studio suite at London’s Standard Hotel, a reward for his exceptional, creative status. Reed insists that the majority of this good fortune came in moments of serendipity, none more so than his chance meeting with celebrity stylist Harry Lambert. That encounter opened the perfectly-primed for Reed’s design-vision door to the world of Harry Styles. In the words of Vogue:

“The pop star’s 39 million followers kicked in, and just like that, a star was born. As his debut show demonstrated, Reed—who is the son of the Oscar-winning movie producer Nick Reed—thrives in the costume territory. He repurposed bridal and groom’s wear sourced from the British charity chain Oxfam into majestic hybrids of gowns and tuxedos, topping them off with enormous spherical headpieces that have become his trademark.”

Fast-forward now and who better for Harris Reed to collaborate with on a collection of genderless, sustainable, and colorful voluminous blouses than the house of Etro.

Harris Reed x Etro partnership

“When Harris Reed reached out to collaborate with us on this special project, I did not have doubts. Harris is a young and talented designer that conveys wonderful messages with his work and I was happy to have the chance to mix our textile research and archival fabrics with his innovative approach and taste. I also loved the idea of giving a new life to archival fabrics by transforming them into exclusive ‘one-of-a-kind’ creations,” said Veronica Etro, creative director at Etro Womenswear.

Veronica Etro and Harris Reed backstage at the spring 2022 Etro show in Milan Photo: Saskia Lawaks / Courtesy of Etro

House of Etro: Medici Mindset Meets Hippie Counter-Culture

Founded in 1968 by Gerolamo “Gimmo” Etro and his antiques dealer wife Roberta, the then textile company had amassed a collection of 300 antique shawls — a treasure that remains one of the largest private collections in the world today.

Etro was born in a global counter-culture moment, a configuration of now-aging minds capable of connecting well decades later with a human like Harris Reed. Gucci’s Alessandro Michele would easily have navigated the beards and long hair of the late ‘60s hippie movement.

The sexual revolution was in full bloom at the moment of Etro’s birth, and Yves Saint Laurent was hardly the only man to be found wearing a caftan. As some young people became global vagabonds, design inspo ran rampant in the streets and cafes. Young people were learning about different cultures — yes, defined by the colonial confinement of minds — but still with deep roots in ancient cultures like Mesopotamia, a region that includes parts of present-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, only men wore caftans and related flowing robes.

Young designers always fancy themselves inventing a new look, rather than circling back through history to reinvent, refresh, reintroduce in updated fashion styles for a new era. Harris Reed is no different in knowing when the moment is ‘right’ to plunge into what suddenly seems like a fresh and revolutionary new look and way of dressing.

Tianna St. Louis's Precious Pedigree Finds Treasure in British Vogue December 2021

Tianna St. Louis's Precious Pedigree Finds Treasure in British Vogue December 2021 AOC Fashion

Rising model Tianna St. Louis hails from Connecticut USA with family bloodlines that are a fantastic mix of Australian, German, Irish, Italian and Jamaican. The stellar visual results of St. Louis’ pedigree are obvious and visually arresting. And then there’s the name. Superb.

Poppy Kain styles Tianna St. Louis in ‘Treasure Seeking ‘, a collection of intricately-designed jewelry, lensed by Eddie Wrey [IG] for British Vogue December 2021./ Hair by Shiori Takahashi; makeup by Lynsey Alexander

We’re having visions of Tianna St. Louis meets Rafael Pavarotti and Ib Kamara and then Edward Enninful pops in to see how everyone is doing. Oh yes, put her in Erdem.

Oh wait — it’s coming into view. British Vogue can tell the famous story in which Queen Elizabeth & Ghana President Nkrumah danced a ‘Diplomatic Foxtrot’ in Ghana. It was a highest level mission that required the Queen to persuade Nkrumah to favor Britain and not make an alliance with Russia.

Her Majesty succeeded splendidly. Come ‘on. You guys love that idea and we can give the world a history lesson at the same time.

Perhaps you can borrow a royal tiara for Tianna St. Louis to wear as the Queen. This was a huge story for AOC when I investigated this segment from ‘The Crown’.

Queen Elizabeth II & Ghana President Nkrumah In A 1961 Diplomat Foxtrot Watched In Black & White

Lesley-Ann Brandt Will Star in New Series Set in South Africa District Six Ubuntu City

Brandt joins Morgan Freeman in Cape Town’s District Six

AnneofCarversville.com Women’s News.

Lesley-Ann Brandt Will Star in New Series Set in South Africa District Six Ubuntu City AOC Fashion

South African actor Lesley-Ann Brandt is lensed by Angelo D’Agostino [IG] with a digital cover, for Numéro Netherlands [IG] November 2021. The ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Spartacus’ actor is partnering with Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary’s Revelations Entertainment on the development of a new drama series that takes viewers to Cape Town, South Africa’s District Six.

Brandt, who will star and produce with Adrian Cunningham of D6 Entertainment, said: “We are thrilled to have partnered with Lori, Morgan and the team at Revelations to bring the beauty and tragedy of District Six to life. It’s such a personal story to me, my family and the people of the Cape Flats. While the barbarity of the apartheid regime has featured onscreen before, Hanover Street will lean into the joy and solidarity that the community shared in the face of repression.”

Deadline explains: “Home to 60K residents of all ethnicities and creeds, along with a thriving LGBTQIA+ community, District Six in South Africa’s second-largest city stood as a symbol of defiance against everything that apartheid stood for. In 1966, the regime designated it a whites-only area. By 1982 its entire population had been forcibly removed, and the neighborhood destroyed.”

Kim Kardashian Covers WSJ Magazine November 2021 Innovators Issue with Kim Jones

Images: Annemarieke van Drimmelen for WSJ. Magazine

Kim Kardashian Billionaire

In Spring 2021, Kim Kardashian officially achieved billionaire status on the Forbes list. Unlike her sister Kylie who was dropped by the Forbes list in 2020 over the Trumpian move of inflating her assets, Kim Kardashian’s wealth was estimated by Forbes at about $1 billion, up from $780 million. Forbes estimated values of her stakes in KKW Beauty at $500 million and Skims at $225 million.

Being older and wiser than her younger sister, Kim Kardashian’s sober approach to life and business is well-articulated in her WSJ Magazine November 2021 Brand Innovator 2021 cover story, on newsstands Saturday, November 13th.

KKW poses with her friend, Fendi creative director Kim Jones, celebrating the early November release of Fendi x Skims, the underwear and cozy loungewear label Kardashian launched in 2019.

KKW: WSJ Magazine’s Brand Innovator’s Award

Kardashian West will be honored, along with 7 other cultural groundbreakers at WSJ. Magazine’s Innovator Awards virtual presentation on November 1st at 8:00 PM EST. You can register to watch online at … WSJ. Magazine's 2021 Innovator Awards Virtual Presentation

WSJ Magazine cites Skims alone as being valued at over $1.6 billion, and Kardashian is a majority owner. Kim’s beauty brand KKW is being rebooted but for good reasons and not lack of big-brand potential. Skims Sleep will soon be moving into the inner-lives of American women.

“I want to really launch an entirely new beauty brand,” she says. “I learned so much that I’m excited [to put out] a brand that has all the new information that I know. I feel like it’s going to be my baby, I’ll have my beauty brand and Skims. I can really nourish it and flourish it more if it [were] all condensed into one.”

Frequent WSJ Magazine photographer Annemarieke Van Drimmelen captures KKW for the cover story, styled by Giovanni Dario Laudicina. written by Christina Binkley.

True Grit, Serious Hustle. Major Intelligence and a Micromanaged Life

Achieving a business status that puts Kim Kardashian in a prime spot in WSJ’s annual Innovators Issue takes some serious hustle and intelligence.

Kim Kardashian has both — even if the totally engaged mother of four and supportive soon-to-be ex-wife of Kanye West — has failed some of her recent bar-exam preparation tests. Simply stated, Kar Kardashian powers on with marketing savvy and human connections that are currently too valuable to put a price on them.

“My days are completely micromanaged to the minute,” she says. “In order to get away from the kids, I will go into my office at my house and study. And then working on beauty and rebranding and Skims, constantly, I’m always in fittings and fabric meetings. My days are pretty full…. And that’s it. I love to be home; I love my weekends at home.”

Speaking of home, KKW just paid Kanye West $20 million for their Hidden Hills, LA home and $3 million for the furniture, art and other contents. Kim now owns the house outright.

Images: Annemarieke van Drimmelen for WSJ. Magazine

Kim Kardashian Captains Her Ship with a Steady Hand

People can heap all the hate they want on Kim Kardashian. She is a superb businesswoman, and Kardashian knows it. There’s nothing wrong with self-confidence, sincerity and an earnest approach to living.

In contrast to how the public imagines the life of Kim Kardashian West, her closest humans describe her as a non-partier and a low-grade control freak. By her own admission, she is a workaholic who reads sales numbers in bed late at night.

“I have never liked drunk people,” Kardashian West says. “I never like to be out of control. I never like to not know what’s going on.” (“I didn’t go [away] to college because of [the partying],” she says.)

Images: Annemarieke van Drimmelen for WSJ. Magazine

Kim Kardashian: Someday Matriarch

She now weighs in on most of the family’s deals jointly with Kris Jenner. “If there’s a deal, it’s always my mom, me and our attorney talking it over,” Kardashian West says.

The expectation is that Kim Kardashian will take over the reins, when Kris, 66, one day retires. “We’ve talked about it. I would assemble a team of people to take over,” Kardashian West says. “I hope it doesn’t happen for a really long time, because I’m really busy.”

The possibility that KKW will lead a Kardashian-Jenner conglomerate empire built around the fashion, cosmetic, liquor and media enterprises that her family has launched over the past decade is a real one.

Images: Annemarieke van Drimmelen for WSJ. Magazine

WWJ Magazine references the fact that the rebound fortunes of Victoria’s Secret; the pulsating growth of Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie [with indirect backing from LVMH] and now Skims soaring puts a lot of pressure on the already-stressed VS. There’s no doubt that both Rihanna and Kim Kardashian know how to play hardball, even if they do it grace and a smile on their faces.

Kate Moss modeled in recent Skims campaign images. A special Skims pop-up opened in Paris in time for Paris Fashion Week this September at the famous Galeries Lafayette department store. Skims is sold by retailers such as Nordstrom, Ssense and Net-a-Porter. “The inclusive sizing, sharp price point and comfort are just a few reasons why the brand has been so successful,” says Lea Cranfield, Net-a-Porter’s chief buying and merchandising officer, by email.

Rihanna hasn’t weighed in on this trifecta undergarments competition, but KKW reminds us that her grandmother only retired in her early 80s. “I think I’ll always feel good when I’m working,” Kardashian predicts.

“I don’t see me floating on a yacht.”

In fact, Kim Kardashian’s life plan has her as a member of the California bar, and she currently studies about four hours a day to achieve this goal. “Hopefully one day I can start a law firm where we can help people pro bono and hire people who were formerly incarcerated,” she says of her longer-term goals.

Kim’s goal is no act, in spite of the heat she’s taken for working with former president Donald Trump on prison reform. KKW marches to her own drum with four kids and a big family in tow. One wonders what Kanye West actually thinks of his uber-talented wife. R-E-S-P-E-C-T would be appropriate.

Erdem Moralıoğlu Is Photographer of 'Vintage' for Vogue Poland November 2021

Erdem Moralıoğlu Is Photographer of 'Vintage' for Vogue Poland November 2021 AOC Fashion

“It’s gone by extraordinarily quickly,” Erdem Moralıoğlu says about the 15th anniversary of his brand Erdem. “If I close my eyes, I can still imagine being a student at the Royal College putting together my graduate collection,” reflects the designer who has embraced a poetic femininity with deep roots in the strong, often renegade, women of history.

In fact, Erdem’s depth of historical context underpinning the collections — combined with an overarching respect or craftsmanship and artistry — is unmatched in the world of luxury fashion brands. A key element in the recent evolution of the Erdem brand vision is the extraordinary synergy emanating from Ibrahim Kamara, who has styled all of Erdem’s collections and shows since 2019.

New Vogue Poland editor-in-chief, photographer Ina Lekiewicz invited Erdem Moralıoğlu, accompanied by Ib Kamara, to create this visual masterpiece in the November issue. In a new role, the designer is the photographer for the fashion shoot on location at the 17th-century Southside House in London.

Models in ‘Vintage’ include Florence Hutchings, Lily Nova, Ngozi Anene, Sienna King and Wang Han./ Hair by Teiji Utsumi; makeup by Thom Walker

Celestial Grade Synergy

Now the Dazed editor-in-chief, Ib Kamara is extraordinary adept at upending reticence or plain ignorance in how to weave the visual narrative of race, colonialism and fashion together in a modern way. Gender and sexuality are also key undercurrents in Kamara’s work, but the visionary stylist’s brilliance is his emotional and intellectual willingness to take historical realities and weave them in a web of revised history.

The result is an unabashed modern and progressive vision of a better truth, if you think like we do. Others may shatter a mirror or two over the audacity of Erdem Moralıoğlu and Ibrahim Kamara revising colonial history in a shared vision. In another ironic twist, both talents admire strong women and they seek out unique and unconventional personalities as their seasonal muses.

Kamara makes no attempt to shun the often painful facts of history, being a son of the African continent. Rather, he reweaves them into new visual narratives that travel far beyond their original reality. This revised visual statement says “it didn’t have to be this way.”

Erdem Moralıoğlu is the beneficiary of Kamara’s insights and visual interpretations, and one imagines that the synergy between the two super-talents is nothing less than blinding at times. Born in war-torn Sierra Leone, Ibrahim Kamara benefits from Erdem’s insights as the son of a Turkish father and an English mother. Erdem was born in Montreal, Canada and shuttled between Montreal and Birmingham, England.

Ibrahim Kamara says about his relationship with Erdem Moralıoğlu:

“It’s very valuable to meet someone with whom you can perform a creative dance. “

To those of us watching, the tango is breathtaking. ~ Anne