Catherine McNeil Is Back! Married, Sober and Ready To Rumble in Vogue Australia
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Vogue Celebrates the 'Year of the Rabbit' with Artist Cai Guo-Qiang and Plenty of Gunpowder
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Models He Cong, Sherri Shi, Sora Choi and Yumi Nu are styled by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson in a celebratory, fashion-extravagance happening that was ignited by gunpowder.
New York-Paris based artist Theo Liu [IG] packed up his photography studio essentials, as the creative entourage assembled at contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang's studio in a ‘Year of the Rabbit celebration running globally on multiple Vogues, including in the US.
Under Cai's guidance, the models became his interns, hand-carving stencils using a utility blade and extinguishing the flying sparks of the gunpowder explosions with cotton pompoms.
Read MoreAjok Daing at 'Alex Kata: Gathering' Guggenheim Show by Alex Webb for Vogue US
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The Winter 2022.23 Issue of American Vogue takes us to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on upper Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Model Ajok Daing is our guide to view “Alex Katz: Gathering,” curated by Katherine Brinson. The show opened in late October, and you can view the Katz exhibit through February 20, 2023.
The fashion story “Go Big!” trends both the paintings and our spring 2023 focus on very large bags. Max Ortega styles this delicious fashion story lensed by Alex Webb [IG].
American designer Claire McCardell, deeply celebrated on an ongoing basis by designer Tory Burch, caught Alex Katz’s eye decades ago. Her spirit is a major muse behind the current exhibition.
Katz, who is not a fan of the superfluous or fussy in any art form, tells the New York Times how “unaffected” her designs were: “They’re perfect now because everything is so pretentious,” he says. “The idea was, you can spend the day welding and go home and cook some hamburgers outdoors and wear the same clothes.”
Read MoreKaia Gerber Lights Up ELLE February 2022 in Malibu with Cass Bird
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Top model and ingenue actor Kaia Gerber, now 21, covers the February 2023 issue of ELLE US. Alex White styles the Celine ambassador in Celine, of course, with sprinkles of Ralph Lauren Collection and an American flag dress from Vaquera. Cass Bird [IG] is behind the lens at the beach in Malibu.
Kaia Gerber has never been “model light” in her interviews. Hyland asks her multiple times about her mental health — like don’t we ask every multi-million $$$$ model today about her mental health?
Kaia shrugs it off with a smile — the smile of plenty of loving, hard work on Kaia — not to fix herself or those around her. But to engage with and gain a young person’s understanding of life around her.
There’s really a lot to like about this young woman. REALLY a lot to like. ~ Anne
Read MoreLizzo Is On the Charts with All Systems on Go, Lensed by Campbell Addy for Vanity Fair
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We’re late to Lizzo’s November 2022 Vanity Fair US cover story event — and what a reading experience it is. Now that New York’s Governors Ball has announced Lizzo in its 2023 edition June 9-11 at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, it’s time we do some serious Lizzo duty.
The uber talent well on her way to becoming a super star is making waves across America, and we’re here for it. Vanity Fair November was a long-interview pit stop with Lisa Robinson and it came with a perfect title: ‘Everything’s coming up Lizzo, and it’s about damn time.’
Lizzo was styled by the one and only Patti Wilson, with photography by Campbell Addy [IG].
I’m writing and switching paragraphs around so that this next tough-talking paragraph from her Vanity Fair interview is followed by Lizzo’s 2021 TEDMonterey Talk.
If you are a white woman who thinks she sounds a little bit too hostile in her VF interview, consider her flute playing at the Library of Congress on September 26.
I am so disturbed over what happened, I probably would have gone to jail.
Read MoreWild Romance Denim Nicola and Brooklyn Style for Vogue US Winter 2023
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The Winter 2023 issue of American Vogue [IG] declares a love affair with wide-leg jeans. Glam couple Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham front the fashion story and the 1970s vibe that inspired so many changes in American society.
Remember, we are in the dawning of ‘The Age of Aquarius’, so it makes sense. Speaking of wild romance terrain and wide-leg jeans “worth falling for,” Vogue is mum about married couple Peltz and Beckham’s intense friendship with Selena Gomez, called a ‘throuple’ by Selena. Media is eager to define the lifestyle of ‘Gopeltzham’.
If Brooklyn and Nicola hadn’t sold their home recently, moving into Selena’s Encino estate before Christmas, the big news would be that Peltz and Gomez have matching tatoos.
Read MoreFlorence Pugh Covers Vogue US Winter 2022, Talks Her Radical Self-Acceptance
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Colin Dodgson [IG] is in the kitchen with Pugh as she talks ‘Florence Pugh’s Radical Self-Acceptance’ with Chloe Schama. / Hair by Akki Shirakawa; makeup by Fara Homidi.
Schama describes Florence Pugh as somebody who exudes “a let’s-go gameness.” It was on full-display in summer 2022, when Pugh wore a sheer Valentino dress that was transparent and showed — goddess forbid — her nipples.
“. . . we were always naked as kids,” Pugh says. “We are human, we are bodies.”
Read MoreChristy, Linda, Naomi, Cindy & Tatjana by Peter Lindbergh for Vogue Australia (2013) as 'Supernova' | AOC Archives
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Update 1/11/2023: AOC has written multiple times about Peter Lindbergh’s famous supermodel shoot for British Vogue and its hallmark relevance in inspiring the George Michael ‘Freedom 90’ video. Cindy Crawford shared the video on Instagram three years ago. Prior to that we moved it to the front of the fashion channel on December 25, 2016, with the passing of George Michael.
Regretfully, we again move the video to the front of our channel with the passing of Tatjana Patitz — the super who marched to her own melody. Losing acclaimed photographer Peter Lindbergh — Tatjana’s fashion godfather — on September 3, 2019 was such a gut punch. Today’s news is another ember on a fire of uber-talented people who have left planet Earth long before we were ready to leave them.
May your next act be glorious Tatjana Patitz. ~ Anne
Read MoreKindred Spirits Welcome 'Aquarius' Lensed by Kapturing for Vogue Czech January 2023
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Models Bente Oort, Enzo Kobayashi, Ismael Savane, and Teo Bates are styled by Jan Kralicek in Dior, a brand truly focused on a future world governed by ‘Aquarius’.
The Age of Aquarius predicts a time of major female empowerment. Is it an accident that in 2022 the definition of ‘woman’ was the most searched word in 2022 on dictionary.com?
Major progressive organizations in America are writing the word ‘woman’ out of their vocabularies. We blame anything anti-woman on Republicans in America.
AOC argues that writing women out of our laws, because a small number of trans men with intact ovaries and a uterus might be capable of bearing children in the future is a topic for national conversation.
If one even asks the question, we are called bigots. For years we’ve spoken of breast cancer not only being a women disease. It also claims men. What was wrong with that approach?
This is only a Dior fashion story for the January 2023 issue of Vogue Czech, lensed by Florian and Sebastian [IG]. Take a chill pill, Anne.
Read MoreCharlie Hebdo Drops the Gauntlet in Paris As Iran Resumes Brutal Hijab Crackdown
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Arab News Tehran reports that Iran’s judiciary has ordered police to “firmly punish” people who violate the country’s hijab law, a news agency reported Tuesday, January 10.
France’s Charlie Hebdo magazine, a French satirical weekly magazine, has again provoked the Iranians, publishing cartoons mocking Iran’s ruling clerics and their aggression against the protesters.
Two French-born al-Qaida extremists attacked the newspaper’s office in 2015, killing 12 people in Paris on January 7, 2015. Today the irreverent publication operates from a secret location with round-the-clock police protection, continuing its refusal to bow down to right-wing, religious zealots of any ideology, not only Islam.
Read MoreNatalia Vodianova on Sisterhood, Activism, Philanthropy in Vogue Beauty Paper
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Supermodel Natalia Vodianova covers Vogue Beauty Paper, January 2023, a media project of Vogue China. Natalia is styled by Michelle Cameron, with creative direction by Matt Mcdonald. Photographer Hugo Comte [IG] is in the studio.
Natalia Vodianova’s stratospheric rise has been breathtaking, as she increasingly turns her attention to her work as a philanthropist, impact investor and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador.
In Nepal and India, large numbers of women do not have the right to touch food or crops while they are menstruating, because they can cause bad luck to their families. A 2019 study found that 77% of west-central Nepali girls and young women actively practice menstrual exile, even though it is now illegal in India.
Girls in Bolivia are still told that their period blood causes illnesses like cancer in other people.
Read MoreCelebrity Stylist Christine Centenera Is Now Vogue Australia Editor-in-Chief
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Lost in some of the late December 2022 holiday news was the appointment of current fashion director Christine Centenera as editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia, replacing Edwina McCann.
Centenera’s most recent role in the limelight was styling Kanye West's controversial 'White Lives Matter' show in Paris, on October 3. She also worked closely with Virgil Abloh, styling Louis Vuitton Mens until Abloh’s passing.
Centenera runs her own label Wardrobe.NYC. In May 2021 she gave birth to twins, becoming parents with her long-time friend and partner since 2018, actor Joel Edgerton.
Read MoreDior Magazine Presents 7 Spanish Photograpbers Interpreting 'Andalusian Grace' Cruise 2022.23 Collection
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Women’s Status in 2023
There is no stronger voice for women’s rights in fashion culture than Dior’s Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri. Her leadership and creative vision increases in value at a time when women’s rights are under assault worldwide, including in America.
There’s a reason why the word ‘woman’ was the most-searched word on dictionary.com in 2022. Clearly, we don’t know who women are any more. Can you imagine a search for the word ‘men’?
Carrying on with its 21st century Medici mission, after the Cruise 2022.23 show in Seville, Dior invited seven Spanish photographers to engage in dialogue with the brand with their photographic interpretations of the cruise collection that truly celebrated Andulasian culture.
Dior Magazine’s ‘Andulasian Grace’ features these talented photographers: Berta Vicente Salas; Andrea Torres Balaguer; Silvia Conde; Raquel Chicheri; Eva Diez; Irene Cruz; Alba Yruela.
Read MoreTaiwan's Dancer Xu Fangyi Scales Excellence, Lensed by Zhong Lin in Vogue Taiwan January 2023
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Taiwanese dancer and choreographer Xu Fangyi covers the January 2023 issue of Vogue Taiwan. The internationally-renowned dancer wrote on Facebook: "If it is important to be seen by the world, I will not spend my energy waiting for the eyes of the world. I will try my best to polish myself so that it is difficult for people not to see."
AOC did not know until today that uber-talented Zhong Lin [IG] is a self-taught photographer — as if our respect for her intuitive talent could grow any larger.
Photographer Zhong Lin's lens has become her opponent today, both an enemy and a friend. Her eyes are firm, revealing her determination not to be outdone. "Have you captured the photo you want?" "Is this okay? I can kick my feet higher." "Maybe I can try another angle?"
It was when a pair of high heels appeared on set that the photographer/dancer synergy went full-throttle.
Read MoreRaquel Zimmermann by Ancestral Voices in Robin Galiegue Images for TTA21
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Top model and ceramic artist Raquel Zimmermann is a fashion and culture focus for The Travel Almanac FW2022 issue. Clare Byrne styles the restrained, modest fashion silhouettes with Bottega Veneta on the cover.
The organic sensuality of Raquel Zimmermann’s ceramics is almost visceral to AOC eyes. There are artists and talents who are very focused on outward visualization, while others channel the unconscious mind and ancestral voices, compelled to go deeper into the human experience in a universal way.
Read MoreAll Barbie's DreamHouses Constitute Barbitecture | Like a Paleolithic Goddess, Barbie Teases July 21, 2023 Opening
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To celebrate her influence on American design and architecture, Mattel collaborated with the design magazine PIN-UP on a limited-edition art book, “Barbie Dreamhouse: An Architectural Survey.”
“Barbie’s house is infinitely more exciting than Barbie herself,” writes Elvia Wilk, a cultural critic. “The structures we live within — fantasize about living within — say more about our lives and dreams than plastic bodies ever will.”
The New York Times breaks down the Barbitecture story with A Six-Decade Tour of Barbie’s Dreamhouses and AOC gifts readers the link.
Wilk is one of many critics who contribute to the book’s analysis of Barbie’s huge influence on American culture.
Read MoreJessica Chastain in 'The Good Fight' Lensed by Jessica Chou for Marie Claire Holiday
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With her own company behind the Showtime miniseries ‘George & Tammy’, out now, Chastain was determined to give her “Stand By Your Man’ country singer “main character energy.”
The actor takes issue with the idea that Tammy Wynette was a doormat, reminding us that Wynette was married five times.
The male character of George Jones is played by Michael Shannon, who has an excellent relationship with Chastain.
Read MoreAs scripted, the scene went something like:
DON (picture a pencil neck with an ego): You're going to fuck my wife, aren't you, George?
GEORGE (Michael Shannon): Yes, I'm going to fuck her.
"[Michael] changed the line from, 'Yes, I'm going to fuck her'—excuse the language—to, 'I sure would like to," Chastain remembers. "The second he said, 'I sure would like to,' it was like, 'Oh, yes, this is happening. Because he sees her as someone who gets to make the decision. And that's working with an actor who's very aware he doesn't own me." Another perk of being producer? You get to pick your scenemates. "We were so in tune with one another," says Shannon, who first met Chastain on the set of 2011's Take Shelter. "The notion of sitting in front of another man and looking at a woman and proclaiming that you're going to fuck her, seems a little neanderthal to me. I mean, if I was the woman in question, I wouldn't enjoy that so much."
Lily Collins Covers Porter Magazine's Dec. 12, 2022 Issue Lensed by Olivia Malone
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Actor Lily Collins is everywhere in December media, given the phenomenal success of ‘Emily in Paris’. Porter Magazine’s Dec. 12 issue steps up for the latest feature with Collins talking to Ellie Pithers about her alter ego’s unwavering positivity, new projects and the power of vulnerability.
Coco Cassiba styles “everyone’s favorite honorary Parisian” with season 3 on Netflix Dec. 21. Collins is so identified with Emily Cooper’s character that she responds to both names, and Paris tours devoted to the show drive by her apartment building. “People come up to me and say, ‘I packed my bag according to what Emily would wear.’If they saw me in character, it was very trippy.”
The actor is excited to share news of Case Study Films, the production company she launched in November with her husband Charlie McDowell and their partner, Alex Orlovsky.
Read MoreElizabeth Debicki Covers Vogue Australia December 2022, Lensed by Gregory Harris
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Australian actor Elizabeth Debicki joins Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ in the role of Princess Diana, succeeding Emma Corrin. Katrina Israel zooms Debicki in Mallorca, where the actor is filming season six, now filming in overdrive after a respectful pause after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
Debicki covers the December 2022 of Vogue Australia, lensed by Gregory Harris [IG] in ‘Crowning Glory’.
AOC always focuses on activism and philanthropy in our writing. Princess Diana was awesome and a true role model.
Okay, okay. Best known after dancing with John Travolta at the White House, but her efforts to destigmatize HIV and AIDS patients were critical in changing minds about the disease. Diana also won front-page covers in Angola in January 1997 and Bosnia in August 1997, advocating for the clearance of landmines and also for innocent, maimed victims of landmines years later.
Read MoreWelcome Home, Brittney Griner. Your Bravery, Courage and Poise Are Stunning!
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