While we associate the campaign’s silvery blue mood with the sea, let’s also remember that Hanukkah begins Sunday, December 18 this year and ends on December 26.
Whether she intended to make a subliminal statement or not in the Tory Burch Holiday 2022 Campaign, I appreciate blue in this moment. It’s refreshingly ecumenical, when brands are exploring exactly what traditions mean within the context of today’s world.
Hands down, Ralph Lauren has no peer in this realm of recasting the truth of the American experience. But Tory Burch is traveling on the same moonbeam — with an added emphasis on women’s lives and achievements. I love her for that long and sincere contribution to telling women’s stories.
Kanye West and his desire to rip America apart as a MAGA lover — and now Hitler, too — has gotten people up off the sidelines.
That would NOT be AOC, btw. We are never on the sidelines, when the focus is stopping hate.
Until today, November 1, 2022, the worst news I’ve heard recently about the young Jewish hero Anne Frank was a book about her being swept into the book-banning insanity underway in Texas and across America.
Today’s news is a constellation of Anne Frank, Kanye West and far-right Swedish politician Rebecka Fallenkvist.
The Swede posted on Instagram about Anne Frank’s journal, with Kanye West’s ‘Praise God’ Music to accompany Fallenkvist’s words.
“Fifty pages in and so far Anne Frank has only struck me as debauched, the horniness itself,” Sweden Democrat (SD) Rebecka Fallenkvist wrote on Instagram.
Adut’s five-year rise from a South Sudan, Australian Refugee to REAL supermodel status is well known by now. Being a Global Ambassador for Estee Lauder, announced in June 2021, goes a long way in wearing the real-deal supernodel crown.
Adut’s career was launched when she closed the Saint Laurent spring/summer 2018 show in Paris. Many young people in fashion — or outsiders with lots to say — think the industry only turned towards models of color post-George Floyd and the rise of BLM.
This is not true. Demands for change and the topic of racism in the fashion industry was much discussed and acted upon before the brutal murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
Writer Grace O’Neill says that “collaboration” is the word that comes up most often in her interview with Oscar-winning Tilda Swinton. The actor covers the November 2022 issue of Harper’s Bazaar Australia and New Zealand.
Jerry Stafford styles Swinton in Chanel Haute Couture in ‘Down the Garden Path’, lensed by Sølve Sundsbø [IG] ./ Hair by Ali Pirzaden; makeup by Chiao Li Hsu
Georgia Fowler speaks to her comfort level shooting with Nicole Bentley, and the creative synergy they experience because much trust exists between the two women. This is no surprise to Anne of Carversville because we’ve advocated for women photographers for over a decade.
There’s no guarantee about any trust-building relationship in the world of sexual identity and model/photographer. But few of us miss the days of highly-publicized, bad-boy photographer Terry Richardson running a digital diary in which young models — and older, too — dropped by his studio for sexy photos combined with snaps of Richardson’s sexual apparatus.
Fresh off her Oct. 9 appearance with Aimee Mann and Paris Jackson at producer/songwriter Linda Perry’s West Hollywood fundraiser for Equalize Her, Tinashe[IG] takes us inside her Narcisse Magazine F/W 2022 cover story.
Photographer Jason Kim [IG] captures Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe — known by her first name only — who is not new to the music world. Rafael Linares styles the music talent, with creative direction by Azadeh Zoraghi.
Tinashe has been performing since she was about 11 years old. The most frequent descriptor AOC has read about Tinashe is that she is underrated. The talent did make the Forbes ‘30 Under 30- Music’ [2022] list.
AOC shares ‘Born to Rewild’ with model Heather Kemesky, who channels the spirit of Fay Godwin, photographed by Josh Shinner [IG].
“This story was based on one of my favourite photographers, the often (and sadly) overlooked Fay Godwin. She was an incredible woman, stomping around the Scottish Highlands in her big coats and thick jumpers with her tripod and Hasselblad, taking landscape pictures that are every bit as brilliant as those of Ansel Adams and co. I urge you to take a trip down a discovery wormhole this weekend…”
ELLE US lines up major Hollywood female talent for its November 2022 issue. Sydney Sweeney Brings the Chill is our first focus, as writer Samuel Maude probes the private thoughts of Hollywood’s newest It Girl.
Next up? Marvel’s ‘Madame Web’. “I fought for the character,” Sweeney says of the role. “It’s been a really incredible journey that I’m very, very excited to be a part of.”
Sony has zipped lips on ‘Madame Web’s’ storyline. Dakota Johnson is in the lead role, with Celeste O'Connor, Emma Roberts and Isabela Merced also joining the cast with Sweeney..
During the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, [1972] Edward Lorenz posed a question: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”
Vogue Portugal is known for being more intellectual than other Vogues, but AOC doubts that Santos had a plan to wade into some of the most significant scientific and cultural questions of the 21st century. To give credit, however, the editor defines ‘The Butterfly Effect’ as a “mathematical construct behind Chaos Theory”. Impressive words in a Vogue!
Lucas’ own jumping off spot is a quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, from ‘The Little Prince’:
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
Each year model Ashley Radjarame returns to her hometown of Puducherry to spend a holiday with her family. Until this Vogue India15th anniversary cover story, the Parisian, born in Îlede-France in 1999, has never knowingly stepped into clothes made by Indian designers.
The model’s grandfather — father to Radjarame’s mother, Raji — was enrolled in the French military service and she inherited his citizenship, when the entire family migrated to the outskirts of Paris. Now I understand the French connection.
Ashley and her mother both burst into tears at the end of Nick Sethi’s fashion shoot. “In most shoots, you only care about what you look like and what the outfit looks like, but during this shoot it was also about being photographed in Puducherry —where I’m from, where my grandfather is from and where my family was born. It made me so proud,” she says of her emotional state post-shoot.
Actor Alisha Boe, star of Netflix’s ‘Do Revenge’, which premiered September 16, 2022 on Netflix’ reflects on her role as Jessica Davis in the smash teenage lives drama ‘13 Reasons Why’.
Photographer Boo George [IG] captures Boe in Vogue Singapore’s September 2022 issue,
A biracial woman — the daughter of an Oslo, Norway mother and Somali father — Boe was precocious at a young age, insisting that her parents act as her audience for 45 minutes at a time. Born in Norway, she moved with her mother to LA at age seven, attending El Camino Real Charter High School in San Fernando Valley.
In November, Michaela Coel will appear as Dora Milaje warrior Aneka in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, the second in Marvel’s blockbuster Afrofuturist series. Vogue editor Chioma Nnadi interviews the screenwriter and actor in the exciting Vogue US November 2022 cover story Michaela Coel on Creativity, Romance, and the Path to ‘Wakanda Forever’.
The star wears a Gucci Made To Measure Dress by Alessandro Michele on the cover, with Gucci jewelry, styled by Ib Kamara [IG] and lensed by Senegalese-Italian model/photographer Malick Bodian [IG].
Coel Addresses Gay Hate in Africa | AOC Blames the US Evangelical MAGA Crowd for Years
AOC looks beyond Vogue to confirm that it’s US right-wing MAGA evangelicals who are stirring up anti-LGBTQ-hatred in Ghana, as they have done for well over a decade in Uganda. Open Democracy estimates that more than 20 US Christian groups known for fighting against LGBT rights and access to safe abortion, contraceptives and comprehensive sexuality education have spent at least $54m in Africa since 2007.
To celebrate the 10th edition of Harper’s Bazaar’s UK’s November women in the artworld issue, artist Es Devlin and actor Cate Blanchett came together in creative unity. The result of their unique collaboration is a phantasmagoric fashion story ‘Flights of Fancy: Cate Blanchett Celebrates Our Natural World’.
Es Devlin at Tate Modern October 2022
In October Cartier commissioned ‘Come Home Again’, for the Tate Modern. The “choral sculpture” consisted of hundreds of creatures, each hand-drawn by Devlin. “I was working with the London Wildlife Trust and identified 243 species, which are most at-risk in London,” she explained. “And I decided I would try and draw all 243 of them, which sometimes came to 18 hours of drawing a day.” This painstaking process has culminated into a beautiful supersize structure fashioned in the shape of St Paul’s Cathedral. In the month of September at sunset each night, three choirs performed evensong within the artwork, inviting us to stop and pay attention to the nature – what Devlin calls the “non-human Londoners” – around us.
NYC and LA-based photographer David Urbanke [IG] photographed actor MaggieQ at her home in Los Angeles for L’Officiel Italia’s Fall 2022 cover.
The actor wears Italian label Loro Piana’s knit top and skirt on the cover, styled by Gaultier Desandre Navarre with fashion direction by Giulio Martinelli. The fashion brands are about 50/50 sustainable and ethical v those with few credentials.
One of MaggieQ’s favorite business projects is Qeep Up, her collection of sustainable and recycled activewear and swimwear. In her own words on the Qeep Up Nation website: “QEEP UP™ is the premier activewear line for the eco-warrior woman. Made entirely of recycled fibers, QEEP UP™ takes a stand for the planet without sacrificing style or performance.”
We aren’t yet qualified with sufficient knowledge to test the promises of brands claiming to be fully-sustainable. Workout clothes made of recycled plastics do still release microplastics, for example.
It’s only in recent years that the fashion industry from designers to media have moved beyond tokenism into real change on the body shapes and sizes celebrated on fashion show runways, branded ad campaigns, online and print fashion editorials and in the all-important world of social media.
There is a lot of debate on what body positivity stands for, but at its core, it seeks to create an inclusive environment where all kinds of bodies feel accepted, regardless of appearance. Lately, influences online have been vital in keeping the movement trending. With social media, celebrity is no longer confined to glossy magazine pages or TV screens; a star's online presence has made them more accessible and influential.
Rather than focusing on going down a dress size, modern weight loss plans focus on holistic health and wellness. The focus is now on cultivating healthy habits, using advanced nutrition and behavioral science insights so that weight loss is sustainable.
Top model Paloma Elsesser would love to be a poet, but there is the reality that she likes nice things. The next best lifestyle is to enjoy her life as a top model — which seems increasingly secure for the London-born daughter of an African-American mother and Chilean-Swiss father.
Elsesser grew up in Los Angeles, attending private school, before moving to New York and The New School to pursue psychology and literature. For money, Paloma waitressed at Jamaican restaurant Miss Lily’s.
Now a Brooklyn real-estate owner, Paloma, part of the IMG family, explains “. . . I’m not Malala. I’m just a [5.7” tall] model who’s a size 12” .
Top model Hana Jirickova wears her healthy sensuality in the October 2022 issue of Vogue Netherlands in a fashion story ‘J’aime la Plage’. Marian Nachmia styles Jirickova in images by Arran & Jules [IG] that remind us of the deceased Vogue Paris, now Vogue France.
With a right-wing battle for women’s bodies gaining steam across the world — not only America — it’s no time for fashion to go Miss Modesty, as Vogue France has done. Didn’t they tell us a few months ago that feminism is so over as an issue?
Given a right-wing win in Italy on Sunday — the first since Mussolini and a couple weeks ago also in Sweden, and with America’s midterms a tossup in our post-Roe world — “controlling women’s bodies” is a high-priority in Europe and America.
British photographer, New York-based Craig McDean [IG] has outdone himself with new images of actor Ana de Armas for AnOther Magazine [IG]. Katie Shillingford styled de Armas in Louis Vuitton for the cover and inside fashion story, adding sensual but casual luxury looks inside.
In an interview with Hannah Lack, How Ana de Armas Became the Most Famous Woman in the World, de Armas discusses playing Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik’s much anticipated adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Blonde’, arriving on Netflix Sept. 28.
The Jezebel review is more vulgar and ‘flip’ than most, but its train of thought is consistent with several others that I just read. I’ll go with the New Yorker review [next paragraph] , because it runs closest to Lack’s interview, which is well worth the read.
Fashion, business, social media mogul Kim Kardashian adds Stuart Weitzman brand ambassador to her portfolio. The campaign is photographed by Mario Sorrenti [IG], with styling by Alastair McKimm.
Kardashian fronts the brand's fall 2022 ‘Stand Strong’ campaign, celebrating women for stepping into their power.
The SKIMS founder is also launching a new collection of bra solutions for her billion-dollar shapewear and loungewear brand. In February 2022, Kardashian’s Skims doubled its valuation from US$ 1.6 billion in April 2021 to $3.2 billion after raising US$240 million in its latest round of funding in January.
All reports are that ‘The Woman King’ reigns supreme at the Toronto International Film Festival, which opened on September 8 and closes on Sunday, September 18.
Gina Prince-Bythewood directed the historical epic set in West Africa in 1823. Tony and Oscar award winner Viola Davis, featured here in four covers of the October 2022 issue of ELLE Brazil, stars as Nanisca, a force of nature in Dahomey, West Africa. Today Dahomey is located in what we know as southern Benin.
As the leader of the Agojie, the all-woman army of the African kingdom, Davis’s character led a fighting force so fierce that even enemies spoke of its “prodigious bravery”.
