Marlijn Hoek Channels 'O'Keeffe' by Francois Rotger for ELLE Italia October 9, 2021

Model Marlijn Hoek is styled by Laura Seganti in ‘O’Keeffe’, honoring American southwest-loving artist Georgia O’Keefe. Photographer Francois Rotger [IG] is behind the lens for ELLE Italia October 9, 2021./ Hair by Peter Butler; makeup by Sergio Corvacho

AOC referenced O’Keefe Wednesday in our Travis Scott post. Travis Scott by Joshua Woods Talks Dior Men's Cactus Jack x Dior, Cactus Jack Foundation

Gabriela Hearst Spring 2022 Takes Chloé to Bugatti Speed in Redefining Purpose

The goddesses were smiling on Gabriela Hearst with her Chloé spring 2022 show, with girls spreading love while walking along the Quai de la Tournelle in brilliant sunshine. What more could an increasingly influential Gabriela Hearst ask for to close out the performance? How about a packed riverboat sailing past her gorgeous spectacle with perhaps an American or two shouting “Vive la France!”

The designer was visibly ecstatic, according to press reports. “As cheesy as it sounds, this collection is about love,” she said in a preview. “It’s really about the love of so many things: the love of craft, the love of friendship, the love of fellow humans. I literally have to memorize the many different NGOs, because I am working with so many this season.”

Flipflops ruled the Chloé runway. Building on her eco-friendly Nama trainers launched earlier in the year, smile-generating, multicolored, deep-soled Chloé flip-flops brought joy and irrepressible smiles to the new collection. All those multi-color layers were once flip-flops in Africa.

“They’re from Ocean Sole, which I’ve been wanting to work with for a long time!” Hearst declared with glee. “It’s a Kenyan nonprofit that collects flip-flops from the ocean.” The group even has flip-flop art.

Ocean Sole flip-flop Art from Kenya.

Hearst brought serious business acumen to her spring 2022 Chloé show, reducing the number of looks to 31 from the brand’s typical 50 or more. Equally exciting for any brand, but in particular a luxury brand, Chloé’s Hearst is writing the playbook on sourcing, traceability in a product’s production cycle, environmental and social responsibility and — most exciting — a tight embrace of of women’s organizations and communities worldwide. Hearst worked with seven NGOs this season.

As Sarah Mower noted for Vogue: Gabriela Hearst is ostensibly redefining the entire purpose of a luxury brand’s existence. A few years ago, Gucci declared that it would carry this lamp of benevolent light forward into the future, and the brand has made great progress. But in a relay race with multiple runners handing off the baton to the next team mate, Gabriela Hearst is setting the luxury brand bar so high that her colleagues — and competitors — will have to pole vault into the future just to keep up with her.

Even Bernard Arnault’s LVMH teams including Stella McCartney, who shows her spring collection on Monday, have to be wondering what Gabriela Hearst eats for breakfast.

Chloé Luxury, the most exclusive level of the brand, has become Chloé Craft—a group of products with a spiral logo. In the words of the designer “only a human hand can make those pieces.”

The spring collection is peppered with the work of human hands — almost exclusively women’s — from the petal-pattern crocheted dresses and tops to streamers galore. The intricately knotted streamer-harnesses are made from deadstock Chloé materials, using techniques created by Akanjo, a social enterprise organization in Madagascar.

Chunks seashell jewelry and baskets carry the name of the person who wove them.

Fabrics that appear to be denim are really made of linen, a much less demanding on the environment earth fiber than cotton. Oversized women’s baskets came from Mifuko, also in Kenya. Mifuko describes themselves as “radically sustainable since 2009 as a community of strong, independent women.”

Speaking about the disarming simplicity of some of the white looks, Hearst explained that if you go up close, you see truly gorgeous silks and talismans. The charms are from dead-stock jewelry in old Parisian fashion houses. Upcycled fabrics from previous seasons are now shredded and macraméd into new garments.

Hearst says that the 58 percent of the spring collection is made from lower-impact materials, compared to 40 percent of the winter collection. For those who are taking notes, Gabriella Hearst is also sourcing fibers and other materials from farms committed to regenerative soil health. Arizona Muse will be ecstatic.

The New York Times shares a conversation with Gabriella Heart, first aired on Instagram Live.

Speaking of her current, very demanding life: Hearst has irrepressible confidence:

Well, I take genuine joy and satisfaction from the design process and am supported by amazing teams. Obviously this experience can be hard at times. It takes a physical toll and a lot of sacrifice to make sure you find some kind of balance, especially when it comes to family. But also, I wanted this. Badly. I am grateful for the opportunity. So I can’t complain for even one second because I wanted these things. It’s a dream to be doing what I’m doing.

Romain Duquesne Flashes Modern Retro Fashion Glamour for Wallpaper Magazine FW 2021

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Romain Duquesne Flashes Modern Retro Fashion Glamour for Wallpaper Magazine FW 2021 AOC Fashion

Models Bedzo Seth, Gabriella Michelazzo, and Romi Peled are styled by Jason Hughes in ‘Put Your Hands Up’, a fashion story for Wallpaper Magazine. Photographer Romain Duquesne [IG] captures the trio for the 25th anniversary issue./Makeup by Victoria Martin; set design by Samuel Pidgen

Ajok Daing's Gardening Project by Toby Coulson for Vogue Poland September 2021

Ajok Daing's Gardening Project by Toby Coulson for Vogue Poland September 2021 AOC Fashion

Rising model Ajok Daing is styled by Irene Barra in country woman beauty lensed by Toby Coulson [IG] for Vogue Poland’s September 2021 issue./ Hair by Maki Tanaka; makeup by Jessica Meija

The fashion shoot takes place at the Billets Hart Allotment Association in Hanwell, England. About 70 plots serving residents in the postal district of Hanwell W7 allow them to grow their own food in a sustainable manner. The project dates back to 1484 when it led to the establishment of the Charity of William Hobbayne. .

With three registered beekeepers on the site, and numerous chickens and eggs plots — plus larger livestock — the Billets Hart Allotment Association exists to ensure and promote a productive, coordinated and peaceful place for members to grow and cultivate their own crops and also to help their community. It also makes for an excellent rural landscape for a fashion shoot.

This link takes readers to similar bucolic sites throughout the United Kingdom that work for photographers and stylists as sustainability becomes a more important criteria in fashion consumption choices.

Charlie Nishimura Wears John Rogers in Perfect Magazine #1 by Ethan James Green

Charlie Nishimura Wears John Rogers in Perfect Magazine #1 by Ethan James Green AOC Fashion

Charlie Nishimura is a model, actor and sustainable fashion designer based in New York, wrote Vogue in their 2021 New York Pride fashion family feature by photographer Rafael Martinez.

Photographer Ethan James Green caught up with Nishimura for Issue 1 of The Perfect Magazine FW 2021, published in September. Dara Allen captures Charlie wearing Christopher John Rogers.

Paloma Elsesser Goes 'Up Country' by Dan Martensen in British Vogue October 2021

Paloma Elsesser Goes 'Up Country' by Dan Martensen in British Vogue October 2021

Rising model star Paloma Elsesser poses in ‘Up Country’, a sensual and bucolic country scene far away from the ordinary madness of fashion-industry life and pretension. Clare Richardson styles Paloma in fall luxury from top designers.

Photographer Dan Martensen [IG] photographs Elsesser and friends for British Vogue’s October 2021 issue. We zero in on the second image below, one of six blankets created by JW Anderson’s new collab with artists Dame Magdalene Odundo DBE and Mississippi-born, one-armed ceramicist Shawanda Corbett (only called-out because the artist promotes her gift).

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Anders Hayward Covers Sunday Telegraph UK Mens by Virginie Khateeb

Anders Hayward Covers Sunday Telegraph UK Mens by Virginie Khateeb AOC Fashion

Model Anders Hayward wears Louis Vuitton menswear on the cover of Sunday Telegraph UK’s September 2021 fall fashion story. Styled by Tona Stell, Hayward is lensed by Virginie Khateeb [IG] in ‘Cut a Caper’./ Hair by Asahi Sano

Yulia Gorbachenko Flashes 'Rebelles' in Numéro France October 2021

LEFT TO RIGHT: MAVARO, JAYCHELLE ‘CHINQPINK’ YAMANOHA, JANA JULIUS, HIRSCHY GRACE, ANSOLET ROSSOUW

LEFT TO RIGHT: MAVARO, JAYCHELLE ‘CHINQPINK’ YAMANOHA, JANA JULIUS, HIRSCHY GRACE, ANSOLET ROSSOUW

Yulia Gorbachenko Flashes 'Rebelles' in Numéro France October 2021 AOC Fashion

Models Ansolet Rossouw, Hirschy Grace, Jana Julius, Jaychelle 'Chinqpink' Yamanoha and Mavaro are styled by Charles Varenne in ‘Rebelles’, lensed by Yulia Gorbachenko for Numero France October 2021./ Hair by Panos Papandrianos; makeup by Georgi Sandev

Rawdah Mohamed Leads New Frontiers Style in Vogue Arabia by Julien Vallon

Rawdah Mohamed Leads New Frontiers Style in Vogue Arabia by Julien Vallon

Top model soaring into super status Rawdah Mohamed shares the pages of Vogue Arabia’s October issue with Aouatif Saadi and Nadia Khaya. Mohamed is styled by Ellen Mirck in two covers and ‘The New Frontiers’ fashion story lensed by Julien Vallon [IG]./ Hair by Ilham Mestour; makeup by Naima Bremer

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Oudey Egone in 'Underwater Love' by Camilla Armbrust for Vogue Portugal September

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Oudey Egone in 'Underwater Love' by Camilla Armbrust for Vogue Portugal September AOC Fashion

Sunday’s woman and horse feature focuses on Oudey Egone styled by Niki Pauls in ‘Underwater Love’, lensed by Camilla Armbrust [IG] in Mallorca for Vogue Portugal’s September 2021 issue./ Hair by Niki Pauls; makeup by Tess Alamillo

Molly Chiang Brings Her True Beauty to Harper's Bazaar Hong Kong by Johnny Lu

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Molly Chiang Brings Her True Beauty to Harper's Bazaar Hong Kong by Johnny Lu AOC Fashion

Molly Chiang has built great fame as a Taiwanese actor and influencer. Of unique note, Chiang was the presented of the TEDx talk “I Am Molly, This Is My Core Value”.. Bazz Huang styles Chiang for ‘The True Beauty’, lensed by Johnny Lu [IG] for Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong October 2021./ Makeup by Sting Hsieh; hair by Miley Shen

Note, AOC is not out looking for horses this season. There are EVERYWHERE as eroticism sticks its beautiful head out of a decade of sand.

Liza Ostanina Cracks the Whip by Paolo Musa for L’Officiel Italia September 2021

Liza Ostanina Cracks the Whip by Paolo Musa for L’Officiel Italia September 2021

Model Liza Ostanina poses in ‘Pastoral Fantasy’ a very different fashion examination of the mind of a horsewoman. Giulio Martinelli styles Ostanina in elegant luxury lensed by Paolo Musa [IG] for L’Officiel Italia September 2021./ Hair by Daniel Manzini; hair by Daniel Manzini

Brigitte Niedermair Captures Akron Changkou in Architectural Shapes for V Magazine

Brigitte Niedermair Captures Akron Changkou in Architectural Shapes for V Magazine AOC Fashion

Model Akon Changkou appears in ‘Monumental: The Season’s Sharpest Silhouettes’, shot at Paris’ Double Hélice in Noisy-le-Grand by Brigitte Niedermair [IG]. Gro Curtis styles Changkou in Alexander McQueen, Dior, Givenchy, Prada, Rick Owens and more for V Magazine.

In the words of V Magazine: “Lush enveloping fur coats, coffin-cut trenches, and vaporous swollen dresses, white as powdered sugar, are breathtaking against the grey frigid architecture. “My Inspiration was the merging of the [human] body with architecture. When looking into a pond there was a [striking] reflection of the architecture and this was where I found my [visual inspiration] for the story,” says Neidermair. “I wanted to demonstrate the hidden elegance of these structures.”

The backdrop of Neidermair’s images is a multi-story ‘double helix’ parking lot designed by Ludovic Maillard. TIME OUT shares images of “strangely beautiful brutalist buildings in Paris”.

Mélanie Thierry Rules the Boys Club for Madame Figaro Oct. 1 by Jean-Baptiste Mondino

Mélanie Thierry Rules the Boys Club for Madame Figaro Oct. 1 by Jean-Baptiste Mondino AOC Fashion

French actor Mélanie Thierry wears the pants, styled by Barbara Baumel in French brands Majestic Filatures (tank) and Charvet (shirt and suspenders) mixed with Miu Miu pants on the covers of Madame Figaro’s October 1, 2021 issue.

Thierry’s a natural member of the boys club, wearing more menswear-inspired luxury from Alexander McQueen, Alexandre Vauthier, AMI Alexandre Mattiussi, Celine by Hedi Slimane, Intimissimi, Kristina Fidelskaya, Valentino and more lensed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. / Hair by Nabil Harlow; makeup by Christophe Danchaud

Photographer Rafael Pavarotti Captures 'Full Speed Ahead' in W Magazine October 2021

Photographer Rafael Pavarotti Captures 'Full Speed Ahead' in W Magazine October 2021

Ib Kamara styles models Abdullah Amure, Adit Priscilla, Ariish Wol, Binta Diop, Destiny Adeyemi, Mensah Benjamin and Nyagua Ruea. Photographer Rafael Pavarotti captures the fashion crew in ‘Full Speed Ahead’ in W Magazine October 2021. / Hair by Jawara; makeup by Thom Walker

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Desiree Mattsson Captures Helena Balder Mendez in 'Midnight Noir' for Vogue Arabia

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Desiree Mattsson Captures Helena Balder Mendez in 'Midnight Noir' for Vogue Arabia AOC Fashion

Model Helena Balder Mendez is styled by Pablo Patane in ‘Midnight Noir’, uber-sophisticated beauty images lensed by Desiree Mattsson. for the September 2021 Vogue Arabia. / Hair by Ilham Mestour; makeup by Linda Wickmann

Elina Kechicheva Flashes Poetic Modern Maidens Seaside for Numéro France

Elina Kechicheva Flashes Poetic Modern Maidens Seaside for Numéro France AOC Fashion

Models Anna Pepper, Britt Van Den Herik and Pleun Keijsers drift into view in ‘Contre Vents Et Marées’, another of photographer Elina Kechicheva’s poetic, romantic young women fashion stories. Samuel Francois styles the modern life beauties for Numéro France September 2021./ Hair by Kazue Deki; makeup; by Eny Whitehead