An Elegant Ashley Graham for Vogue Czech July 2024 Runs at a Blistering Pace

An Elegant Ashley Graham for Vogue Czech July 2024 Runs at a Blistering Pace

Body activist, entrepreneur, TV host and mom to three young boys with husband Justin Ervin, supermodel Ashley Graham covers the July 2024 issue of Vogue Czechoslovakia [IG]. Rising photographer Luka Booth [IG] — whose IG is worth a serious look — captures the Nebraska-born and raised Graham, in fresh and poetic images.

Not mentioned in her introductory list of adjectives is Graham’s Roku reality series, ‘Side Hustlers’ with cohost Emma Grede and renewed for a second season.

A Beauty Primer for Kids

Ashley Graham also has a new children’s book ‘A Kids Book About Beauty’, published by a new division of Penguin enabling kids to explore big topics in a new and engaging way. It’s called A Kids Co.

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Hunter Schafer Covers Vogues Italia and Germany, Lensed by Ethan James Green

Hunter Schafer Covers Vogues Italia and Germany, Lensed by Ethan James Green

The June 2024 issues of Vogue Italia and Vogue Germany share a fashion story ‘At Home’ starring actor and activist Hunter Schafer.

The fashion shoot is styled by Dara Allen with creative direction by Raul Martinez./ Hair by Sonny Molina; makeup by Aaron de Mey

The fashion story attempts to reconcile the public and the private. Each image by photographer Ethan James Green [IG] reveals an aspect of performance while simultaneously concealing reality. Living under constant surveillance, being watched is internalized and self-imposed by the woman, role-played by Schafer. “To be a woman is to perform, even if only your reflection is watching.”

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Sophie Turner, Good Mother, for British Vogue June 2024 by Mikael Jansson

Sophie Turner, Good Mother, for British Vogue June 2024 by Mikael Jansson

British actor Sophie Turner covers the June 2024 issue of British Vogue [IG], meeting up with Chioma Nnadi at London Zoo’s Gorilla Kingdom for the cover story Sophie Turner Is Doing Just Fine.

Camilla Nickerson styled Turner in a Louis Vuitton yellow top and white jeans for the cover, in a fashion story lensed by Mikael Jansson [IG].

We return to the charming London Zoo gorilla Effie, not awarded high marks by the zookeeper.

“Do you see how she’s dangling her baby by one arm? That’s actually not the best way to handle their newborns.”

Effie has had four attempts to get it right, and good mothering escapes her. Sophie Turner, mother of two girls, can relate. According to Nnadi, “ . . . it is, in fact, Turner who has been subjected to mom-shaming—of the most egregious kind.”

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Vogue Greece June 2024 'Mediterranean Touch' Issue and 'Multicultural Aesthetics'

Vogue Greece June 2024 'Mediterranean Touch' Issue and 'Multicultural Aesthetics'

The June 2024 issue of Vogue Greece travels to Messenia for a cover story featuring rising Israeli model Sun Mizrahi. Nicholas Georgiou acts as creative director, styling the photo shoot lensed by Phil Poynter [IG]. Hair by Stelios Chondros; makeup by Athina Karakitsou

Vogue Greece Names ‘Multicultural Aesthetics’

The loudest voices in our culture would have you believe that the global landscape was originally a very pure and culturally-uncorrupted place, where humans lived idyllic lives in harmony with each other.

Reality is that traders of every hue have been on the high seas for thousands of years and especially in the Mediterranean world. And early humans cracked each other’s skulls.

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AOC Firebirds: Jodie Comer by Elizaveta Porodina in Modern Weekly China June 2024

AOC Firebirds: Jodie Comer by Elizaveta Porodina in Modern Weekly China June 2024

Photographer Elizaveta Porodina [IG] brings her creative combustion talents to a fashion story for Modern Weekly [China] Style [IG] June 2024, featuring ‘Killing Eve’ actor Jodie Comer.

Kingsley Tao styles the shoot, with set design by Louis Simonon./ Hair by Shon; makeup by Miranda Joyce

‘The Bikeriders’ Are Coming

Comer will hit June 21, 2024 movie screens in Jeff Nichols’ film ‘The Bikeriders’, also starring Austin Butler and Tom Hardy. There is such disorder in the movie house, that there is no way we can conflate Porodina’s images with a blood and guts Chicago biker gang — even one with Austin Butler.

The film is such a unique story about packs of Harley Davidson riders in 1960s midwestern America, that it requires its own post.

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Tokischa Covers ELLE Mexico June 2024, While Launching Own Music Label SOL

Tokischa Covers ELLE Mexico June 2024, While Launching Own Music Label SOL

Dominican artist Tokischa, [born Altagracia Peralta] covers the June 2024 issue of ELLE Mexico, wearing Ferragamo on her two covers.

Maha Haider serves as creative director on the fashion shoot, with more Tokischa luxury fashion from Chanel, Coperni, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu and Y/Project lensed by Riccardo Apostolico [IG]. / Makeup by Magdalena Major

Last week Billboard announced that Tokischa will launch her own label called SOL, with her manager [and SOL co-founder] Angelica Piche within Warner Music Latina and supported by Atlantic Records. 

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Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Takes Paris in Harper's Bazaar Australia June/July 2024 Issue

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Takes Paris in Harper's Bazaar Australia June/July 2024 Issue

Supermodel, businesswoman, mom to Jack and Isabella, and darling to Jason Statham — Rosie Huntington-Whiteley covers the June/July 2024 issue of Harper’s Bazaar Australia/New Zealand. In the spirit of the Olympics, Rosie is fronting ‘The Paris Issue’.

Teanne Vickers styles the former Victoria’s Secret Angel in images by Darren McDonald.

Rosie Joins The Equity Studio

AOC shared on May 15, the announcement that Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has joined The Equity Studio, as a full partner with Anna Sweeting.

This is a move similar to Kim Kardashian’s formation of SKKY Partners in summer 2022, joining forces with longtime Carlyle Group consumer head Jay Sammons. Fashion industry powerhouse Dame Angela Ahrendts of Burberry and Apple fame is now with SKKY Partners.

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Kim Kardashian, 2023 GQ Mogul of the Year on What She Learned from Her Father

Kim Kardashian, 2023 GQ Mogul of the Year on What She Learned from Her Father

AOC sharing Kim Kardashian’s December 2023 cover story for GQ’s Men of the Year Issue — just in time for Father’s Day.

KK wears the crown of Tycoon of the Year, and appropriately so.

Photographer Jack Bridgland [IG] captures the many sides of Kim Kardashian for this GQ mogul spread, with an interview by Sean Manning.

AOC shares the Kardashian expectation that she wil take the California Bar exam late in 2024 or early 2025. In every article written about Kim, the topic of her self-discipline and very organized mind is the headliner.

The woman is amazing.

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Charlize Theron: Scalding in 'Mad Beautiful', UN Hope-Generator in Congo, Ubuntu Values Woman for Dior

Charlize Theron: Scalding in 'Mad Beautiful', UN Hope-Generator in Congo, Ubuntu Values Woman for Dior

Actor Charlize Theron was scalding, an absolutely over-the-top fire goddess in W Magazine’s May 2015 cover story ‘Mad Beautiful’, styled by Edward Enninful in images by Mert & Marcus.

Whatever fashion empress Theron was playing in the 2015 W Magazine fashion story, photographers Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott rendered Anne breathless, inspired and ready to follow the activist actor anywhere.

Charlize Theron is AOC’s ideal woman: smart, sensual and born with great heart and commitment to activism. She is driven by South African ‘ubuntu ‘principles that place her as a member of the interconnected global community.

The actor’s UN work brought her to the Congo in 2010 to meet with 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder of Congo’s Panzi Hospital for Raped Women and a close advisor to nearby ‘City of Joy’. Since that time AOC has followed Charlize Theron far and wide — and now into a vastly expanded ambassadorship with Dior.

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'The Shrouds' Actor Diane Kruger Covers ELLE Spain June 2024 by Xavi Gordo

'The Shrouds' Actor Diane Kruger Covers ELLE Spain June 2024 by Xavi Gordo

Actor Diane Kruger is private poolside, covering the June 2024 Summer Style issue of ELLE Spain [IG]. Barbara Garralda styles Kruger in relaxed, polished black and white sporty pieces lensed by Xavi Gordo [IG]. Bulgari jewelry exclusively. / Makeup by Ivan Gomez; hair by Laura Carrillo

Kruger is in Cannes, where her new movie ‘The Shrouds’ is in competition and she shares the screen for a second time [back to back] with Vincent Cassel. The film debuts Monday night June 20.

The plot of ‘The Shrouds’ is fascinating and controversial. Karsh, played by Vincent Cassel in a storyline experienced by director Cronenberg with the death of his wife, is inconsolable in the same situation.

He invents a technology that enables the living to monitor their loved ones in their graves.

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Jourdan Dunn at Castle of Mey for Bazaar UK June 2024 Cover Story by Richard Phibbs

Jourdan Dunn at Castle of Mey for Bazaar UK June 2024 Cover Story by Richard Phibbs

Supermodel Jourdan Dunn made major fashion waves in February 2015, when she became the first woman of color since Naomi Campbell in August 2002 to cover British Vogue.

This week Jourdan Dunn owns a worldwide, fashion first; and it’s her own crown-worthy moment in the spotlight. Harper’s Bazaar UK [IG] travels to the ancient Castle of Mey in Caithness, Scotland for its June 2024 cover story.

Dunn reflected about her global-first photography shoot with Richard Phibbs [IG], when she met Lydia Slater in Bloomsbury for the followup Bazaar interview, which is part of today’s fashion story ‘Queen of the Castle’.

“All seals, and water, and sands – it was a wonderful escape. I understand the attraction, to be so far away from everybody. My gran loved the Queen Mother – they shared the same birthday – so this would probably have been her proudest thing.”

An Emotional Interview That Inspires . . .

AOC is deliberately underscoring this earnest statement from Dunn, about her gran’s likely response to the supermodel’s honor as muse of the fashion shoot.

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Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Joins The Equity Studio As Partner with Anna Sweeting

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Joins The Equity Studio As Partner with Anna Sweeting

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has closed the book on her involvement with Rosie Inc. and has now joined The Equity Studio, a new firm providing funding and strategic advice to beauty, wellness and lifestyle companies.

Led by investor Anna Sweeting, Huntington-Whiteley has partner status. The Equity Studio will invest in growth-stage consumer companies in the early to mid stages of development in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe.

Huntington-Whiteley launched Rose Inc. with biotech darling turned incubator Amyris, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023.

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Zendaya Unfurled in 'Her Own Way' by Josh Olins for Vogue Australia May 2024

Zendaya Unfurled in 'Her Own Way' by Josh Olins for Vogue Australia May 2024

Zendaya adds another Vogue cover fashion story to her May 2024, ‘Challengers’ movie tour, fashion story portfolio. Sydney, Australia was the first stop on the 27-year-old’s publicity tour and Hannah-Rose Yee sat down with the actor on behalf of Vogue Australia.

Photographer Josh Olins [IG] takes incredibly-poignant and deeply-personal images of the actor, styled by Law Roach. The one below is one of the most intimate, unrehearsed and unique images in my AOC memory.

It has intimacy, vulnerability, a bit of exhaustion or letting-go in the moment. There is no tension in her shoulders, signifying to me great trust and comfort with the photographer. The image has an old masters, British museum quality to it.

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Kendall Jenner Covers Vogue US June-July 2024, Talks Her True Feelings

Kendall Jenner Covers Vogue US June-July 2024, Talks Her True Feelings

The highest paid model in the world for the last six years is supermodel Kendall Jenner, and she is celebrating her 10-year anniversary in the fashion business on the cover of Vogue Magazine’s June/July 2024 issue. Jenner is interviewed by Rob Haskell in ‘Kendall Jenner Is in Her Feelings’ following her New Year’s trip to Barbados.

Kendall is styled by Tabitha Simmons with images by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott [IG], who shot the fashion story at the One&Only Mandarina on Mexico’s Pacific Coast./ Hair by Jimmy Paul; makeup by Mary Phillips

There is absolutely no joy expressed in Jenner’s decade of building a successful career that put her on top of the Forbes 2023 list, with estimated annual earnings related to fashion and style projects at $40 million.

The Power of Negative Thinking

Jenner’s biggest goal over these 10 years has been to prove people wrong about her — which AOC agrees doesn’t sound like much fun for such a successful person. We all know that haters online are not kind to women in the spotlight. But Kendall also agrees that she is not a positive person generally.

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'Rebel Rebel' Channels Tina Modotti for Vogue Greece May 2024, Lensed by Thanassis Krikis

'Rebel Rebel' Channels Tina Modotti for Vogue Greece May 2024, Lensed by Thanassis Krikis

Model Africa Garcia is styled by Nicholas Georgiou in ‘Rebel Rebel’, lensed by Thanassis Krikis [IG] for Vogue Greece [IG] May 2024. / Hair by Christos Kallaniotis; makeup by Athina Karakitsou

Garcia’s summer wardrobe is inspired by the Italian-American photographer, model, actor, and activist Tina Modotti, whose retrospective at Jeu de Paume in Paris is closing Sunday, May 12.

The photographer’s young life took a dramatic turn in 1920, when Tina Modotti met Edward Weston.

The couple moved to Mexico City in 1922 and opened a portrait studio. They lived in the energized intellectual life of Mexico City in the interwar years, surrounded by a circle of friends that included Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein and Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician Leon Trotsky, as well as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

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'Love Lies Bleeding' Actor Kristen Stewart by Zoey Grossman for Porter Edit May 6, 2024

'Love Lies Bleeding' Actor Kristen Stewart by Zoey Grossman for Porter Edit May 6, 2024

‘Twilight Saga’ franchise star Kristen Stewart is styled by Bojana Kozarevic in a fashion story ‘Laid Bare’, a collection of sultry separates from Acne Studios, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Dries Van Noten, JW Anderson, Saint Laurent, Tom Ford and more. Stewart covers Porter Edit’s May 6 issue, lensed by Zoey Grossman [IG]./ Hair by Adir Abergel; makeup by Jillian Dempsey

Billie JD Porter interviews Stewart, fresh off her press tour for ‘Love Lies Bleeding’, where she plays “Lou – a seemingly nihilistic gym manager, whose world is turned upside down when she falls hard and fast for a female bodybuilder.”

The actor has spoken multiple times about the challenges of bankrolling ‘The Chronology of Water’, the film she is about to direct and one she has struggled to finance until now.

Stewart jazzes up the descriptors, saying the movie "is about incest and periods and a woman violently repossessing her voice and body, and it is, at times, hard to watch ... but it’s gonna be a f---ing thrill ride."

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Laufey Covers Vogue China + May 2024 with 'Laufey On The Up and Up' by Arseny Jabiev

Laufey Covers Vogue China + May 2024 with 'Laufey On The Up and Up' by Arseny Jabiev

Vogue China +[IG] May 2024 issue features a fashion story ‘Laufey On The Up and Up’, focused on the young talent Laufey, born in Reykjavik to a Chinese mother violinist and a Icelandic economist father, who was a devotee of Chet Baker.

Alvin Yu styles the singer in images by Arseny Jabiev [IG]./ Hair by Gonn Kinoshita; makeup by Mélanie Inglessis

Rolling Stone headlines their recent story ‘Laufey: Cozy, Classic Pop’. Vanity Fair’s says ‘A Celebration of Modern Girlhood, Laufey Brings Jazz to a New Generation’.

On February 4, Laufey won her first Grammy for Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Life is good for Laufey.

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Vogue Portugal May 2024 Covers Announce an Exploration of Nature & Motherhood

Vogue Portugal May 2024 Covers Announce an Exploration of Nature & Motherhood

Mother-Nature, Gaia, Terra Mater, the “cult of the feminine” is center stage in the May 2024 issue of Vogue Portugal, writes Sofia Lucas.

The editorial issue overview opens with a quote from Aristotle:

“In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous” - Aristotle

As educated women, we do not bow down to Aristotle, for clear and concise reasons.

There’s no record that Aristotle, the great philosopher and foundational contributor to Western civilization, saw significant value in women. He argued quite the opposite, and AOC contends that Aristotle was a creator of the misogyny and not merely reflecting his time in history.

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Nicola Coughlan in 'Dear Reader' Lensed by Agata Pospieszynska for Harper's Bazaar UK May 2024

Nicola Coughlan in 'Dear Reader' Lensed by Agata Pospieszynska for Harper's Bazaar UK May 2024

Actor Nicola Coughlan is styled in ‘Dear Reader’, a manor-born fashion story for Harper’s Bazaar UK’s [IG] May 2024 issue. Coughlan is styled by Charlie Harrington in images by Agata Pospieszynska [IG].

The fashion shoot took place at Goodwood [IG], home of The Duke and Duchess of Richmond and Gordon. Goodwood roadway was featured in Ralph Lauren’s Polo Fall 2023 Campaign.

In this third season of ‘Bridgerton’, Nicola’s character Penelope Featherington moves from a supporting character role, stepping into the center-stage limelight. This is not an entirely comfortable space for Coughlan to occupy. The actor writes:

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Louis Vuitton Handbag Lovers Once Again Learn About Women on the High Seas

Louis Vuitton Handbag Lovers Once Again Learn About Women on the High Seas

The Louis Vuitton Leather Goods Campaign Spring-Summer 2024 returns to the high seas with an extension of their Louis Vuitton Nautical Summer Capsule that focuses on Vuitton’s best handbags.

Lensed by Ethan James Green [IG] against the ancient backdrop of Mediterranean world waters, the campaign steps into AOC’s earlier Louis Vuitton Nautical campaign discussion of women in the world of Olympic sailing.

Today models Chu Wong, Ida Heiner and Sacha Quenby inspires a deeper question by AOC.

Did Women Sail in Ancient Waters?

Based on our best AI, Phoenician women were known to be skilled sailors who played a crucial role in the maritime trade network of the ancient world. These women were involved in various aspects of seafaring, including navigation, trading, and ship maintenance. Their expertise in sailing and trading helped establish Phoenicia as a dominant maritime power in the Mediterranean.

The scarcity of direct historical records makes it difficult to paint a complete picture, yet through the analysis of artifacts, writings by ancient historians, and mythological tales, we begin to see indications of women's participation.

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