Toni Smith in 'Forces of Nature' by Deirdre Lewis for Harper's Bazaar US August 2021

Toni Smith in 'Forces of Nature' by Deirdre Lewis for Harper's Bazaar US August 2021 AOC Fashion

Rising American model Toni Smith returns to the August 2021 pages of Harper’s Bazaar US, styled by Haidee Findlay-Levin in Alberta Ferretti, Chanel, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and more. Photographer Deirdre Lewis [IG] captures Smith in ‘’Forces Of Nature’’, featuring earthy hues and fall’s easy-elegance tailoring.

Smith was previously photographed by Philip-Daniel Ducasse for Harper’s December 2020; and she joined the lineup of photographer John Edmonds’ The Custom of the Country’ in the September 2020 issue of American Vogue — which we adored

Conservation Architect Gurmeet Sangha Rai by Avani Rai in Vogue India August 2021

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Conservation Architect Gurmeet Sangha Rai by Avani Rai in Vogue India August 2021 AOC Fashion

Mother-daughter duo Gurmeet Sangha Rai and daughter Avani Rai invite us to Chinar Haveli, their family home near Delhi. Both women are connected to legendary lensman Raghu Rai, called India’s best-known photographer alive by Fortune India. His website is awesome.

The women are not mere appendages in the life of Raghu Tai. Gurmeet Sangha Rai is one of India’s most important conservation architects. Priyanka Kapadia styles ‘Lay of the Land’, with hair and makeup by Deepa Verma.

Located two hours from Delhi is Chinar Haveli, a lush and private farmhouse located in the kingdom of nature. The 15-year-old home is build by hand using natural materials. It melds Western concepts with Indian karigari, writes Vogue India.

It’s here that the esteemed conservation architect is captured by her daughter, photographer and artist Avani Rai [IG].

In this interview with TheDesignBridge, Rai talks about the history of architecture and how it has been an evidence to a more intelligent and sensible solution to the world's environmental problems. She also highlights upon the fact that the smallest of the decisions can lead to a larger repercussions.

Margaret Zhang's Vogue China Debut: Fan Jinghan by Ma Hallun Honors China's Women

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Margaret Zhang's Vogue China Debut: Fan Jinghan by Ma Hallun Honors China's Women AOC Fashion

Margaret Zhang’s debut cover appears on Vogue China Instagram — stripped of its past — as Zhang now takes the helm of creative leadership, with newly-named fashion director Audrey Hu. Zhang enlisted young Chinese photographer from Xinjiang Ma Hailun [IG] to shoot Fan Jinghan wearing Johannes Warnke at a particular sunrise moment in a mountain desert of western China. / Makeup by Valentina Li; hair by Zhou Xueming

Zhangye Danxia National Park’s sandstone formations in Gansu is a far cry from Shanghai or Hong Kong.

“It was Margaret’s idea she wanted to shoot it at sunrise and very particularly timed because she thinks sunrise means new beginnings, hope, all the positive vibes,” Ma said. “She also wanted to have something very different but very China–that still has cultural heritage.”

“Inside the issue features an array of new faces: Ruoyi Yi, Shermmaine Telan, and Sano Turdiev lead a feature introducing China’s new wave of new designers and Su Xiaocan and Zhang Mengjie appear in a shoot shot by Zhang Chao wearing upcoming Chinese knitwear designer, NUME,” said Conde Nast.

Natalia Vodianova In 'Mother Nurture' by Cedric Bihr for Harper's Bazaar UK September 2021

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Natalia Vodianova In 'Mother Nurture' by Cedric Bihr for Harper's Bazaar UK September 2021 AOC Fashion

Natalia Vodianova is styled by Tania Rat Patron in ‘Mother Nurture’, lensed by Cedric Bihr for Harper’s Bazaar UK September 2021. / Makeup by Violette; makeup by Violette

Vodianova wears LVMH brands Celine by Hedi Slimane, Dior, Fendi, Loewe, Louis Vuitton and more. Lydia Slater conducts the interview.

Natalia Vodianova Takes Up Tabu Around Menstruation

All of Natalia Vodianova’s projects and digital app investments interest AOC but her February 2021 appointment as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund is top of list. In particular, Vodianova will tackle the taboo and stigma of menstruation, an irrational mindset that “has undermined the most basic needs and rights of women.”

The reality of menstruation as bodily function for child-bearing women (forgive me if AOC has insulted men with artificial wombs or trans men capable of bearing children) serves as “evidence” of a need for female banishment to secluded and unsanitary living quarters in many parts of the world.

This is the last topic of sexual repression that a woman of privilege like Natalia V needs to take up in life. And yet she does — and for that we adore her many efforts.

Fernando Gomez Flashes India Tuersley in Vogue Ukraine August 2021

Fernando Gomez Flashes India Tuersley in Vogue Ukraine August 2021 AOC Fashion

Model India Tuersley is styled by Roma Lansky in images by Fernando Gomez for Vogue Ukraine August 2021./ Makeup by Rosa Matilla

Tory Burch Fall 2021 Campaign Touches New York's Symbolic Soul

Tory Burch Fall 2021 Campaign Touches New York's Symbolic Soul AOC Fashion

Designer Tory Burch delivers her Fall Winter 2021 campaign in a pitch-perfect mindset. Malaika Holmen, Sacha Quenby and He Cong front a campaign that emotes soft-sell luxury and glamour, nostalgia and tradition but also modernity. The cellist is a perfect touch in images by Mikael Jansson.

The American luxury brand states: “The Tory Burch Fall Winter 2021-2022 is inspired by New York City. It is both the dream and the reality of possibilities, opportunity, creativity and diversity. The collection reinterprets American luxury, channeled through the attitude of classic New York.

As someone who came to New York City for all that Tory Burch describes, this campaign really grabs my heart in a deeply personal way. I sincerely hope that young creatives feel the same way. ~ Anne

Dioramour FW2021 Capsule Collection Adores China's August V-Day by Sarah Blais

Dioramour FW2021 Capsule Collection Adores China's August V-Day by Sarah Blais AOC Fashion

In China, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on August 14, 2021. Dior’s artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri embraces the power of love with the Dioramour ready-to-wear and home gifts collection inclding DiorMaison Limoges porcelain mugs and dinnerware.

In a bold mix of black, white and red, the Dioramour capsule from the Dior AW 2021 collection hugs the fantasy of fairy tales and 'Alice in Wonderland' with 'D-Chess' checks giving graphic impact to a motorcycle jacket, bucket hat, sweater and silk scarf, and a 'D-Royaume d'Amour' motif scrawled across a white tee.

Sarah Blais [IG] captures the Dioramour collection with video by Fabien Baron. Models are Sofia Steinberg and Maryel Uchida.

Karen Elson Poses for InStyle September 2021, Talks New Pro-Karen Modeling Venture

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Karen Elson Poses for InStyle September 2021, Talks New Pro-Karen Modeling Venture AOC Fashion

Supermodel Karen Elson poses on the subscribers cover of InStyle Magazine’s September 2021 issue. Elson is styled by Daniela Paudice in images by Yelena Yemchuk [IG]./ Hair by Recine; makeup by Romy Soleimani

This entire fashion story is fabulous. Elson looks fantastic and Yemchuk’s images are rich and powerfully beautiful.

InStyle’s Karen Elson interview ‘Karen Elson Has the Power’ by Laura Brown delivers a power punch paragraph.

After 18 months of the universally painful and isolating COVID-19 experience, the modeling industry has been one of the first to revert to less than empathetic behavior. So Elson did something radical: She left her agents and now represents herself. The boldness of the move cannot be overstated. Agents not only groom a model's career, they manage finances and travel, often breeding less independence than codependence. And that, of course, can be less than healthy..

I just reread The Cut — which is where we first read that Karen Elson is on her own. And now I’ve read the InStyle article. There’s nothing new in this piece about Karen Elson, her work with Model Alliance and all the great role model work that Karen Elson does.

Elson at large raises issues about models getting respect — and money. We know about Elson and the Model Alliance’s campaigns for better treatment for models. Elson has asked previously, why do models not get compensated in ways similar to photographers, for example? Elson is raising some very big questions about the world of modeling beyond respect and being treated with a bit of empathy. Her questions include long-term compensation for creative work that rains money years later.

It’s clear that InStyle EIC Laura Brown has a low opinion of model agencies. But there’s no smoking gun in the InStyle story. I’m speed reading, but there’s not one example of the modeling industry being “one of the first to revert to less than empathetic behavior”, post-COVID. That’s a strong statement, Ms. Brown. Examples would be nice to support your assertion.

The issues — especially the financial issues that Elson raises — have always been at the center of AOC’s commentary about the 80’s supers. Elson observes:

I look at someone like Maye Musk, who I'm obsessed with, and I think, "All right. She's 73 years old. She's badass. She's still doing it." And the norms are being finally pushed up against. I look at Precious Lee. I look at Paloma [Elsesser]. Even Kaia [Gerber], who's now acting. These girls have got so much more to offer than just their beauty. Something has shifted. I remember [casting director] James Scully said to me that in the '80s the models had all the power. They were the ones who were calling the shots, like Linda Evangelista: "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000." I love Linda, by the way. She is the funniest person on the planet. But they were in charge, and then. Somewhere in the '90s it went to, "Oh, they've got too much power. We've got to smack them back down."

AOC — and Anne personally — have always maintained that the smackdown of models was real — that the industry did say that the supers had too much power (and money). The downsizing of size 4-6 models to size 0 was about far more than sample sizes and the growth of the Asian market where women are smaller.

When you strip supermodel bodies of healthy muscles for ‘heroin chic’ waifs, you are an industry smacking models down to size — literally. And you are stripping them of sexual power. It’s happened to every great goddess in history.

Karen Elson — like most of us — endured a period of intense reflection during COVID lockdown. Elson decided — and we APPLAUD her — that she wants to represent herself. I hope she creates a new paradigm of some kind for other models to follow.

Elson is a realist and given the personal goals she has created for herself, she believes she can do a better job of selling Karen Elson, than her old agency. And she wants some editorial control over her jobs. Saying no to one, doesn’t means she never gets another.

If Google and Apple have talented employees not wanting to work in an office five days a week and Morgan Stanley has MBAs saying ‘no’ to investment banking over no quality of life, it makes perfect sense that Karen Elson doesn’t want to leave her kids on her first getaway post-COVID and run to meet a photographer who decided that very morning that s(he) had to have HER. And could she hop a plain pronto. Elson said “no’. Her kids were more important.

It’s not as if a more empowered model industry never existed. Personally, I think feminism at large got derailed in the late 90s and women have been losing ground ever sense. As Elson points out, there’s some hopeful signs out there in fashion world right now.

It’s silly to make predictions. But many of us are watching very carefully to see how our post-COVID world defines itself. As one new variant hits after another, we may be living a new life for decades to come. Can fashion adjust? It will have to. ~ Anne

Read the entire Karen Elson InStyle interview.

Luc Braquet Captures Tosin and Zelda in 'Fashion Statements' for Tatler UK Sept 2021

Luc Braquet Captures Tosin and Zelda in 'Fashion Statements' for Tatler UK Sept 2021 AOC Fashion

Models Tosin Olajire and Zelda Attard are styled by Sophie Pera in ‘Fashion Statements’, lensed by Luc Braquet [IG] for Tatler UK September 2021./ Hair by Oskar Pera; makeup by Jose Bass

September 13 Met Gala Celebrates Plant-Based Menu by 10 Chefs and Food Voices

Guests at this year’s Anna Wintour hosted Met Gala, co-hosted by Amanda Gorman, Billie Ellish, Naomi Osaka and Timothée Chalamet on September 2013 will enjoy a plant-based menu. In another new approach to the evening the dinner will be a collective effort, including dishes from 10 notable New York-based chefs and Instagram influencers, selected by Marcus Samuelsson and Bon Appétit, writes WWD.

The lineup includes Junghyun Park of Atomix, Aquavit executive chef Emma Bengtsson, Le Bernardin pastry chef Thomas Raquel, Fabian von Hauske of Wildair and Sophia Roe, who boasts more than 300,000 Instagram followers. Fariyal Abdullahi, Nasim Alikhani, Lazarus Lynch, Erik Ramirez and Simone Tong were also selected.

The Met Gala team is working with Instagram, creating Instagram Reels with a summertime picnic angle promoted by Instagram in August. The plant-based menu decision follows Eleven Madison Park’s chef Daniel Humm’s June decision to reopen the restaurant post-COVID with a plant-based menu.

Anyelina Rosa in Artisan Luxury by Peter Ash Lee for Vogue Mexico July 2021

Anyelina Rosa in Artisan Luxury by Peter Ash Lee for Vogue Mexico July 2021 AOC Fashion

Valentina Collado styles Dominican model Anyelina Rosa in folkloric, artisan luxury from Dior, Gabriela Hearst, Michael Kors Collection and more. Photographer Peter Ash Lee [IG] is behind the lens for Vogue Mexico and Latin America July 2021./ Hair by Conrad Dornan; makeup by Anna G de V

Thierno Sy's 'The Art of Being Serious' Glittering Opulence for Harper's Kazakhstan

Thierno Sy's 'The Art of Being Serious' Glittering Opulence for Harper's Kazakhstan AOC Fashion

Models Cheickna Sissoko, Florian DesBiendras and Masha Novoselova take a new spin on fashion opulence in ‘The Art of Being Serious’. Photographer Thierno Sy [IG] captures the trio styled by Raphaël Nicolas de Castro in maximum luxe from Alexandre Vauthier, Azzaro Paris, Chanel, Elie Saab, Giambattista Valli, Giorgio Armani, Jean Paul Gaultier, Ronald van der Kemp, Shiaparelli, Valentino and more.

The uptown trio thrills in maximum decadence for Harper’s Bazaar Kazakhstan July 2021./ Hair by Simon Chossier; makeup by Marie Lanne

Luz Pavon by Daniella Midenge Delivers Pedigree Gem Glamour to Vogue Mexico

Luz Pavon by Daniella Midenge Delivers Pedigree Gem Glamour to Vogue Mexico AOC Fashion

Mexican fashion and beauty model Luz Pavon is drenched in luxury jewelry from Cartier, Dior Jewelry, Harry Winston and more, styled by Aryeh Lappin. Daniella Midenge is behind the lens, creating high-voltage, rich-in-attitude images of Pavon for Vogue Mexico August 2021. / Makeup by Nicolás Beretteaga; hair by Gonn Kinoshita

Saskia de Brauw Poses at LongHouse Reserve for Ulla Johnson Resort 2022

Saskia de Brauw Poses at LongHouse Reserve for Ulla Johnson Resort 2022 AOC Fashion

Top model Saskia de Brauw poses for Ulla Johnson’s resort 2022 collection at LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, a sculpture garden conceived by the American textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen. The nature oasis comes with a Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome and a giant chess set by Yoko Ono, perfect backdrops for Emma Summerton’s sophisticated lookbook images.