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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 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
MacKenzie Scott's HBCU Giving Contrasts Starkly With Historical White Funders AOC Living
Novelist and billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has so far given at least US$560 million to 23 historically Black colleges and universities. These donations are part of a bid she announced in 2019 to quickly dedicate most of her fortune to charity.
Scott’s gifts, including the $6 million she donated to Tougaloo College in Mississippi and the $45 million she gave North Carolina A&T University, vary in size but nearly all of the colleges and universities describe this funding as “historic.” For many, it was the largest single donation they had ever received from an individual donor.
Scott, previously married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is not making a splash just because of the size of her donations. She has an unusually unrestrictive get-out-of-the-way approach.
“I gave each a contribution and encouraged them to spend it on whatever they believe best serves their efforts,” Scott wrote in a July 2020 blog post.
She sees the standard requirements that universities and other organizations report to funders on their progress as burdensome distractions. Instead of negotiating detailed agreements before making a gift, she works with a team of advisers to stealthily vet a wide array of nonprofits, colleges and universities from afar before surprising them with her unprecedented multimillion-dollar gifts that come without any strings attached.
Scott is also supporting students of color through donations to the United Negro College Fund and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which give HBCU students scholarships, and by supporting many other colleges and universities that enroll large numbers of minority students.
Her approach sharply contrasts with how many wealthy white donors have interacted with Black-serving nonprofits, including HBCUs, in the past. As a historian of philanthropy, I have studied the paternalism of white funders, including those who helped many of these schools open their doors.
The first HBCUs were founded in Northern states before the Civil War, including Cheyney and Lincoln universities in Pennsylvania and Wilberforce University in Ohio. After the war, most HBCUs were established in Southern states. These institutions were lifelines for Black Americans seeking higher education during decades of Jim Crow segregation that locked them out of other colleges and universities. (Disclosure: I earned my bachelor’s degree at Lincoln University.)
Although many white philanthropists made large gifts to these schools, their support was fraught with prejudice. Initially, white funders pushed for HBCUs to emphasize vocational training, then called “industrial education,” such as blacksmithing, printing and shoemaking, over more intellectual pursuits.
White philanthropists including Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller had poured millions from their fortunes into the proliferation of Black industrial schools by the early 20th century. The HBCUs Hampton University in Virginia and Tuskegee University in Alabama, which received donations from Scott, were leading models of industrial education for decades.
Black students during a class on the assembly and repair of telephones at Hampton Institute (1899). US Library of Congress.
The vocational curriculum at these schools was promoted as preparing Black students to be skilled laborers and academic teachers. During this era, however, most graduates worked as unskilled laborers or vocational teachers.
White Southerners overwhelmingly approved of this arrangement, which left many HBCU grads on the bottom rung of society rather than making them educated citizens. Emphasizing industrial education at HBCUs preserved the superior economic status of white Americans and the racist system of segregation. But African Americans’ educational aspirations required much more.
W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent Black intellectual, was a leading critic of the funding HBCUs got from wealthy whites. He said: “Education is not and should not be a private philanthropy; it is a public service and whenever it merely becomes a gift of the rich it is in danger.”
Read on: MacKenzie Scott's HBCU Giving Contrasts Starkly With Historical White Funders AOC Blackness
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Louis Vuitton Men's FW 2021 by Tim Walker Busts Power People Archetypes AOC Fashion
Whatever your opinion of Louis Vuitton Men’s artistic director Virgil Abloh, he is moving into his own zone of excellence — at least in the eyes of Bernard Arnault and the LVMH family.
Given the realities of business life, AOC reminds the naysayers of this simple reality check: “That’s all that counts.” Not only is LVMH thrilled with Virgil Abloh’s artistic and financial performance at Louis Vuitton Mens, but they are dramatically expanding his role and influence within the entire LVMH family of brands.
The month of July was intense for the Rockford, Illinois-born Abloh who is an artist, architect, entrepreneur, designer and DJ who — in the words of NYTimes woman-in-the-know Vanessa Friedman — is on track to “become the most powerful Black executive at the most powerful luxury goods group in the world.”
It’s true that Virgil Abloh is about “rewriting the rules”, and we love that this reality permeates most of what the hyper-creative visionary does with his time each day.
For the Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall 2021 Campaign, Abloh enlists his trusted creative partner, fashion photographer Tim Walker to play a fashion game of chess.
“By taking archetypes such as the writer, the artist, the drifter, the salesman, the hotelier, the gallery owner, the architect, or the student, the collection explores the dress codes that inform our predetermined perceptions of these familiar characters. Virgil Abloh imbues the grammar of these codes with different values and employs fashion as a tool to change those assumptions. Throughout the collection, garments, accessories, motifs and techniques play on themes of illusion, replicating the familiar through the deceptive lenses of trompe l’oeil and filtrage. Leather goods are interpreted through the classic shapes of Louis Vuitton and enriched with added wording, shiny silver, or tuffetage embroidery.” – from Louis Vuitton
Related: LVMH Buys 50% of Jay-Z's Champagne Brand As Bernard Arnault Nods To Black Culture's Financial Influence AOC Living
Savage X Fenty, Valued at $1 Billion, Is Poised To Rival Victoria's Secret and Win AOC Living (Note that while LVMH’s Fenty collab with Rihanna is on hold, the Arnaud family is a major backer in Savage X Fenty through L Catterton.)
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 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.
Declining Male Fertility and Growing Concern Over Impact of Environmental Toxins AOC Fashion
Male Fertility Decline
Infertility is defined as a couple’s inability to get pregnant for one year despite regular intercourse. When this is the case, doctors evaluate both partners to determine why.
For men, the cornerstone of the fertility evaluation is semen analysis, and there are a number of ways to assess sperm. Sperm count – the total number of sperm a man produces – and sperm concentration – number of sperm per milliliter of semen – are common measures, but they aren’t the best predictors of fertility. A more accurate measure looks at the total motile sperm count, which evaluates the fraction of sperm that are able to swim and move.
A wide range of factors – from obesity to hormonal imbalances to genetic diseases – can affect fertility. For many men, there are treatments that can help. But starting in the 1990s, researchers noticed a concerning trend. Even when controlling for many of the known risk factors, male fertility appeared to have been declining for decades.
In 1992, a study found a global 50% decline in sperm counts in men over the previous 60 years. Multiple studies over subsequent years confirmed that initial finding, including a 2017 paper showing a 50% to 60% decline in sperm concentration between 1973 and 2011 in men from around the world.
These studies, though important, focused on sperm concentration or total sperm count. So in 2019, a team of researchers decided to focus on the more powerful total motile sperm count. They found that the proportion of men with a normal total motile sperm count had declined by approximately 10% over the previous 16 years.
The science is consistent: Men today produce fewer sperm than in the past, and the sperm are less healthy. The question, then, is what could be causing this decline in fertility.
Alessandra Ambrosio in Black Sensuality by Emma Summerton for Vogue Mexico and Latin America AOC Fashion
Supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio is styled by Valentina Collado in black beauty sensuality from Alaïa, Alberta Ferretti, Bottega Veneta, Cartier, Etro, Isabel Marant, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello and more. Photographer Emma Summerton [IG] captures ‘En Negro’ for Vogue Mexico and Latin America August 2021./ Hair by Luke Chamberlain; makeup by Benjamin Puckey
Zimmermann's Cannes Store | Nicky and Simone Interview in CR Fashion Book China AOC Fashion
Models Mao Xiaoxing and Shayna McNeill are styled by Carine Roitfeld in a glossy, easy-on-the-eyes visual Zimmermann fashion feast lensed by Sebastian Faena for CR Fashion Book China #3 2021./ Hair by Damien Lacoussade; makeup by Fay Bio-Toura
Writing for CR Fashion Book, Vienna Vernose profiles “Nicky and Simone Zimmermann are Bringing a Taste of Australia to Cannes.”
Giampaolo Sgura Captures 'Nomad' Cold-Weather Protection for Vogue Japan AOC Fashion
Models Kayako Higuchi and Yura Nakano are styled by Anna Dello Russo in ‘Nomad’, lensed by Giampaolo Sgura for Vogue Japan September 2021./ Hair by Andrew Guida; makeup by Luca Cianciolo
Caleb and Gladys Capture Elaine Thi in Luxe Jewelry for Vogue Mexico July 2021 AOC Jewelry News
Model and talent Elaine Thi is styled by Virginia Ray in Vogue Mexico’s luxury jewelry [‘Alta Joyeria’ July 2021 magazine, lensed by Caleb and Gladys [IG]. / Hair by Ty Shearn; makeup by Michael Anthony
Cindy Crawford Covers Tatler UK August in 'Riding High' by Victor Demarchelier AOC Fashion
Supermodel Cindy Crawford covers the August 2021 issue of Britain’s Tatler, styled by Tracy Taylor in Chanel on the cover, with Dior, Michael Kors and more in the ‘Riding High’ fashion story. Photographer Victor Demarchelier is on location on a ranch in Malibu, where Crawford — an accomplished horsewoman herself — held the reins of the shoot in her original supermodel powers hands.
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'Secular Girl' by Victoire Simonney and Anna de Rijk Makes Real-Life Fashion Point AOC Fashion
Model Anna de Rijk appears as a ‘Secular Girl’, reminding AOC of fashion stories from a decade ago — stories with an undercurrent and something to say beyond “buy me”.
If AOC could have one wish around fashion media, it would be for more ideas to be expressed in fashion pages, moving them beyond selling stuff, with no other purpose. I frankly don’t care if a high-end flower delivery services sponsors fashion stories. There’s no need to dumb everything down to a box of Fruit Loops.
The 2010 forward fall-off of “statement” fashion stories was dramatic to watch. Granted, AOC scans published work with a very critical eyes. Yet images as simple as these — photographer and stylist Victoire Simonney’s ‘Secular Girl’ is — caught our eye, prompting a visit to Sixteen Journal, where we read: “Victoire Simonney studies womanhood and identity in ‘Secular Girl’ story. Then on to Simonney’s IG.
As a deeply-political women’s rights and racial justice activist, I worry that the right-wing is winning — based on new laws in red states. As we speak, the Georgia state government is moving to take over voting in Fulton County in Atlanta — home to the largest Black population in the state.
America’s right-wing is trying to destroy confidence in voting in the US, while it pursue its authoritarian agenda. With its commitment to storytelling generally, Sixteen Journal [IG] becomes a relevant chef in the creative discussion.
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