Graydon Carter's Air Mail News Wows with Tom Ford Interview by Briget Foley

Graydon Carter's Air Mail News Wows with Tom Ford Interview by Briget Foley

AOC just read Air Mail, the subscription-based digital magazine company launched by former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

Reading the first article, Briget Foley’s new interview of Tom Ford stopped us cold.

In a media landscape where talk and promises are so cheap that we are in a state of mental rebellion before reading the first word, the Tom Ford interview is stellar, capturing our minds like a really good TED Talk.

No BS promises and definitely not clickbait. It’s personal and humanizing, filled with haunting quotes from Ford.

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LVMH Concedes Likely Defeat in Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Vote to Override City Approval

LVMH Concedes Likely Defeat in Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills Vote to Override City Approval

When we first wrote in 2020 about the LVMH plans for a Cheval Blanc Hotel in Beverly Hills, it seemed to be on cruise control, a fait accompli. Now the fight is all but over and LVMH conceded probable defeat on Friday.

Labor union Unite Here Local 11 and a local residents group garnered enough signatures to put two referenda on the ballot in Beverly Hills that would ask voters to overturn the City Council’s approval of the Cheval Blanc hotel and the development agreement for the project in September 2022. They got signatures from 10% of Beverly Hills voters which triggered a vote to override the City Council’s approval.

"Although some votes remain to be counted, it now appears that Measures B and C have fallen short by a narrow margin, overturning the results of a comprehensive, years-long review and approval process," said Jessica Miller, a LVMH spokesperson. "We are proud to have worked with so many residents, civic leaders and business owners who supported this once-in-a-generation investment that would have delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in city funding and a beautiful gateway project for the Golden Triangle. If the final vote count confirms the voters' rejection of our project, we will respect the outcome, and will not bring the hotel project back in any form."

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Serena Williams 'Will Perform' Sports Wellness Brand Lands 3000 Walmart Stores

Serena Williams 'Will Perform' Sports Wellness Brand Lands 3000 Walmart Stores

Late in 2022, Serena Williams launched her wellness brand ‘Will Perform’, with an initial focus on recovery essentials for pain relief and sore muscles. The clean, cruelty-free, topical pain relief and daily muscle-care solutions are designed to reimagine recovery from demanding exercise routines.

Today Serena and her tribe are headed to 3000 individually-selected Walmart stores with an offering of three key products also available at Walmart’s online platform. These products include the “Will Relieve Lidocaine Pain Relief Roll-On“, and the “Will Relieve Lidocaine Pain Relief Spray“, both priced at $13, along with the “Will Rest Nightly Muscle Recovery Lotion“, which is also priced at $13.

“Recovery has played an integral role in my performance and professional success. It’s a practice that can benefit anyone with an active lifestyle. That belief is what inspired us to develop a line of products that targets your muscles and can be incorporated into your daily self-care routine,” Williams said in a written statement.

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Louis Vuitton's 'Pacific Chill', the New 'Detox Scent' Taps Miranda Kerr for Launch

Louis Vuitton's 'Pacific Chill', the New 'Detox Scent' Taps Miranda Kerr for Launch

Louis Vuitton chose a wellness event in Malibu, California to launch its newest fragrance Pacific Chill. Friend of the house model, mother and businesswoman Miranda Kerr is the face of Pacific Chill.

Kerr’s own company Kora Organics is a leading global certified organic skincare brand, a perfect alignment for ‘Pacific Chill’, described by Vuitton’s maître parfumeur Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud as a ‘detox’ fragrance.

Credit the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge as the source of inspiration behind the new fragrance. About a year ago Cavallier-Belletrud was in LA for several days and enjoyed the hotel’s 14 Carrot Gold juice, made of carrot, orange and ginger every morning.

During a creative meeting with Alex Israel on that trip, Pacific Chill was born. Enveloped in a blue-green hued vessel, a 100-ml. bottle of Pacific Chill retails for $300.

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"If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys & Queen Charlotte's Women of Color Orchestra

"If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys & Queen Charlotte's Women of Color Orchestra

Last Monday, May 8th, Alicia Keys celebrated the 20th anniversary of “If I Ain’t Got You”, and she did it in the style of “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story”, debuting on Netflix.

The track was produced with the Queen Charlotte's Global Orchestra, a 74-piece ensemble made up entirely of women of colour.

The orchestra features renowned musicians from all over the world, including Ofentse Pitse, who’s the first Black female conductor of South Africa. Among the musicians are Rimon from Netherlands, Amel Bent from France, Alicia Away from Germany, Cherrie from Sweden, and Delara from Norway. The musical arrangement was made by Bobbie-Jane Gardner.

Alicia Keyes was dressed by Dior, wearing a SS23 ensemble pairing a crinoline skirt in plumetis tulle with delicate lace encrustations with a matching bra top. via Dior IG.

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Prada Reopens in East Hampton, NY As Summer Luxury Rentals Market Cools

Prada Reopens in East Hampton, NY As Summer Luxury Rentals Market Cools

With the opening of Prada’s East Hampton newly-redesigned store at 2 Newtown Lane, the summer 2023 luxury brands offering is nearly set.

Prada opened the 1600 square foot store in July 2022 with green and white cabana stripes and not today’s blue and white. The Italian luxury brand will drop product exclusive to the Hamptons, where this is their only store.

In the world of post-COVID summer rentals, the overheated market appears to have cooled. The number of rentals has expanded as demand has fallen.

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Modern Nazi Fighter Amy Spitalnick Is New CEO of Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Modern Nazi Fighter Amy Spitalnick Is New CEO of Jewish Council for Public Affairs

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs [JCPA] has named Amy Spitalnick as its new CEO. The appointment could not come soon enough, after the organization’s decision to pursue a more liberal approach to break away from the consensus-driven Jewish Federations of America.

In addition to being called a “modern-day Nazi fighter”, Spitalnick has earned the title of “democracy defender.”

Spitalnick sued the Charlottesville 2017 neo-Nazis “Unite the Right” rally organizers and won a successful multimillion-dollar lawsuit, as the executive director of Integrity First for America [IFA].

“There needs to be an organization that wholeheartedly recognizes how deeply intertwined Jewish safety is with other communities’ safety and how bound up that all is in a broader fight for democracy at this moment, and builds the sorts of coalitions within and across communities that are essential to moving the needle,” she said.

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ROXY x Kate Bosworth Swim 2023 Collection | "Blue Crush" Is Finally Reality for Women Surfers

ROXY x Kate Bosworth Swim 2023 Collection |  "Blue Crush" Is Finally Reality for Women Surfers

In 2002, the movie “Blue Crush” depicted women competing at Hawaii’s Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu. In reality, very few women surfed the seven-mile mecca. Surfer Keala Kennelly was one for-real woman surfer, who joined the “Blue Crush” movie with an understanding that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.

Actor Kate Bosworth was also in “Blue Crush” played Annemarie Chadwick, a native of Oahu’s North Shore, training to compete in Hawaii’s Pipe Masters, a surfing competition where “you don’t just get worked—you die.”

That descriptor comes from Vogue, who also got clever in writing about Bosworth’s new “Blue Crush” style collab with ROXIE, the women’s surf brand that is credited for designing the first women’s board shorts in 1990.

“Blue Crush” was a movie about the future — 20 years into the future — and that future is now.

An Equity Drive for Women Surfers That Took Half a Century

Surfing has long been associated with hyper-masculinity; now changes are finally underway decades later in gender equity policies within its ranks.

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Moët & Chandon and Don C Fuse Sports and Luxury with 'Just Don' NBA Drop

Moët & Chandon and Don C Fuse Sports and Luxury with 'Just Don' NBA  Drop

The LVMH brands collaboration with the NBA takes another bow this morning as Moët & Chandon taps streetwear designer Don C for a capsule dropping today, May 8, 2023.

Moët & Chandon is the official Champagne of the NBA and the brand has a rich modern history working with the sports francise and the culture that surrounds it.

Chicago’s own Don C [IG] understands that “the fusion of sports and luxury is here now, and it's here to stay." The drop consists of a custom-designed Moët & Chandon champagne bottle and a hoodie.

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Humanrace Samba Colors by Pharrell Debuts at VB 'Something in the Water' Festival

Humanrace Samba Colors by Pharrell Debuts at VB 'Something in the Water' Festival

AOC shares exciting news about the ongoing collaboration between Pharrell Williams and adidas — Humanrace Samba Colors by Pharrell, a collection of luxury footwear in a depth of colorways that embody the diversity and energy of Humanrace’s DNA.

Last weekend at Pharrell’s ‘Something in the Water’ Festival in Virginia Beach, music lovers with an Atlantic Ocean view got their first look at five new Humanrace Samba colorways: Yellow, Orange, Pink, Lilac, and Red. A Humanrace green colorway is also available exclusively to friends and family of the brand.

Pharrell elevates the Samba with all-around high-end leather upper and leather shoelaces sourced from ECCO Leather, a world leader in innovative and premium leather.

ECCO Leather’s water-saving tanning technology saves 20 liters of water per hide. The result is environmentally more sustainable production but higher color saturation. Humanrace always uses non-toxic vegetable dyes, and AOC assumes that is the case here. Read the Humanrace sustainability pledges.

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