Naomi Osaka Says She's Not God, Could Drop to 84 in Rankings After Australian Open

Naomi Osaka was overflowing with sass this week, heading into the Australian Open, after her early withdrawal from the warmup tournament Melbourne Summer Set 1. Osaka has said that her primary goal in 2022 is to have fun and never cry again in front of the press.

Losing her third round match Friday night to the promising 20-year-old, 60th-ranked American Amanda Anisimova, Osaka was disappointed but also looking on the bright side of things.

Osaka: “I’m Not God. I can’t win every match, you know.”

“I fought for every point; I can’t be sad about that,” Osaka said. “You know, like, I’m not God. I can’t win every match, you know. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s, like, really special.”

Having fun was also important to Anisimova, who said that by the third set against Osaka, she was no loner nervous.

“I love playing in these high-pressure moments, and I think it’s really fun to play in Melbourne in front of a crowd like that. So I was just trying to enjoy every moment really. I kept reminding myself, ‘I’m at a Grand Slam playing against Naomi Osaka, just try to enjoy it, because it’ll be over soon.’”

Naomi Osaka, the defending champion of the Australian Open lit up digital space earlier in the week, saying that she has proved herself enough and that she doesn't give a f--- anymore about those who have something negative to say about her.

Osaka responded directly to a fan who wrote on Instagram: "Enter every match in this tournament like you have something to prove.” It’s not clear that the remark was so snarky or disrespectful, but Osaka fired back:

"Respectfully I don't have anything to prove," Osaka said. "Before my first slam I was told I had potential but probably not gonna capitalize on it. After my first slam I was told I got lucky and I was a one-hit wonder.

After my second Slam I was told I could be great but I was unsure. After my third and fourth slams I was told I will only be good on hard courts. Moral of the story - people are always gonna have something to say and idgaf [I don't give a f***] anymore."

Lara Jade Flashes Roos Abels and Cartier's Sixieme Sens Collection for Modern Luxury

Lara Jade Flashes Roos Abels and Cartier's Sixieme Sens Collection for Modern Luxury AOC Modern

Model Roos Abels travels to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to showcase Cartier’s Sixieme Sens jewelry collection against the Western sky. Sixieme Sens reimagines Cartier’s iconic house designs by combining precious 1,000-year-old stones. The collection in total embraces unusual geometric ornamentations, contrasting textures, and other visual patterns that exhibit optical illusions.

Stylist Faye Vande Vrede chooses Jackson Hole-ready outerwear, knits, and dresses from Erdem, Etro, Ralph Lauren and more as a fashion backdrop for a Cartier collection that is sublime beauty. Photographer Lara Jade [IG] captures the style majesty for Modern Luxury Magazine./ Hair by Walton Nunez; makeup by Georgina Billington

Gabriel Moses Captures Cultural Identity Fashion for Dazed Magazine

Gabriel Moses Captures Cultural Identity Fashion for Dazed Magazine AOC Magazine

Dazed Magazine posted online in December 2021 ‘Under the Skin’, styled by Marika-Ella Ames. Models Baba Chogwu, Goy Manase, Mayor Dutie and Nyaueth Riam are lensed by Gabriel Moses [IG]./ Hair by Ali Pirzadeh; hair by Ali Pirzadeh

The Dazed text by Liam Hess introducers readers to five rising creatives — a “new guard of young designers interrogating cultural identity.”

Across the UK, a new guard of designers is drawing on global influences to ask how we can use our pasts – whether cultural heritage, personal histories, or intergenerational trauma and healing – to forge a new path to the future that ricochets between the boundaries of sexuality, gender, race, and nationality.

The young designers featured at Dazed are Cameron Williams, Chloe Nardin, Fidan Novruzova, Gui Rosa, and Roisin Pierce.

Luc Braquet Captures Selma Hadziosmanovic in 'Sensuals Bijoux' for PalaceScope

Luc Braquet Captures Selma Hadziosmanovic in 'Sensuals Bijoux' for PalaceScope AOC Fashion

PalaceScope was launched in 2019 as a bimonthly, free magazine for luxury-loving appetites. The magazine and website are dedicated to Paris, highlighting “creators and innovations, those who make fashions and create trends. Anything that electrifies the city.”

Photographer Luc Braquet [IG] creates a high jewelry fashion story ‘Sensuals Bijoux’, with the captivating model Selma Hadziosmanovic. “She has this timeless beauty, this strength that touches me. I try to put the model's personality first and foremost through my images,” explains the photographer, who began his career as a portrait painter.

Is Kanye West Headed to Russia, Inviting Putin to His Church Service? For Real?

Is Kanye West Headed to Russia, Inviting Putin to His Church Service? For Real? AOC The Wokes

Ye [formerly Kanye West] made headlines every day this week. Nothing new about that fact, but Billboard’s January 11, 2022 story that the entertainer intends to grow his business in Russia with billionaire developer Aras Agalarov and Agalarov's musician son, EMIN was picked up by Forbes and Business Insider giving it credibility.

AOC found the story totally plausible, given Ye’s relationship with the Trump family and Trump’s relationship with the Agalarovs. Kanye dined with Jared Kushner one-on-one in Miami Beach on January 7, with both parties denying that any business was discussed. The story broke four days later.

Trump and the Agalarovs

In 2013, the Russian oligarch and his son EMIN arranged the kind of spectacle in Moscow that Trump adores. Trump arrived as a surprise guest, with an armored Mercedes stretch limo driving off a freight elevator fight into a ballroom where 3000 Russian guests couldn’t believe their eye as Trump emerged to greet them.

Politico refreshed our memories about Trump and Agalarov in 2016. As Trump sought the nomination for the US presidency, the political website published When Donald Trump brought Miss Universe to Moscow. The article fills in much more background about the 2013 event.

It was West’s confidant and strategic advisor Ameer Sudan who told Billboard that they were working on the arrangements. Russia is going to be “a second home” for Ye, Sudan said: “He will be spending a lot of time out there.”

There’s no disagreement that Sudan is tied closely to West.

Sotheby's Will Auction 200 Pairs of Louis Vuitton and Nike ‘Air Force 1’ by Virgil Abloh

For more info about the scholarship fund and some of Virgil’s students, read The Cut’s article published after his passing, in December 2021.

Sotheby's Will Auction 200 Pairs of Louis Vuitton and Nike ‘Air Force 1’ by Virgil Abloh, to Support The Virgil Abloh™ “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund AOC Art of Living

Sotheby's is proud to present The Louis Vuitton and Nike “Air Force 1” by Virgil Abloh, a special global online auction of the highly coveted Nike x Louis Vuitton “Air Force 1" sold to benefit The Virgil Abloh™ “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund, an organization that aims to foster equity and inclusion within the fashion industry by providing scholarships to academically promising students of Black, African American, or African descent.

The auction marks the first-ever release of the Louis Vuitton and Nike “Air Force 1” by Virgil Abloh created for the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2022 Collection. Prior to his passing on 28 November 2021, the Louis Vuitton Men’s Artistic Director was involved in the early organization of the auction and its surrounding events. The auction will take place in association with his family.

Each pair will be sold with a Louis Vuitton pilot case in orange Taurillon Monogram Leather (exclusive to this auction), which was likewise featured in the collection.

Starting from the launch of the auction, the shoes and the pilot case will be exhibited at Sotheby’s New York. Visitors are welcome to view the exhibit free of charge, and can make an appointment to do so through our reservation page.

A total of 200 pairs of the Nike “Air Force 1” – originally created for the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2022 Men’s Collection – is being made available in an exclusive colorway and a range of sizes.

Grande-Dame Jewelry for WSJ Magazine December 2021 by Felicity Ingram

Grande-Dame Jewelry for WSJ Magazine December 2021 by Felicity Ingram AOC Fashion

WSJ Magazine puts the S in statement jewelry, with Colorful Gemstones: The New Way to Wear Grande-Dame Jewelry (follow our complimentary link to WSJ paywall.) More is better, writes WSJ, about wildly imaginative high and fine jewelry in rainbow hues that beg to be paired.

Shapes inspired by the natural world and adventurous settings get center stage in this shoot by Felicity Ingram [IG] with styling by Virginie Benarroch. A buckle-inspired, multicolor necklace from Louis Vuitton that hugs the nape, bunches of vibrantly green seaweed-like earrings from David Yurman or a magically massive teal butterfly ring from Chopard? Now is the time to go for it.

Models include Licett Morillo at IMG; Mamadou Lo at Elite, and Topsy at Ford./ Hair by Laurent Philippon; makeup, Karim Rahman.

'Cruise Control' Resort 22 Is Eye-popping in V Magazine by David Roemer

'Cruise Control' Resort 22 Is Eye-popping in V Magazine by David Roemer AOC Fashion

Resort ‘21/22 collections have no room for wallflowers, writes V Magazine. We are ready to play and be flirtatious. If this prediction sounds premature in Covid world, hope springs eternal.

Resort style is infused with youthquake spirit. — mini skirts, bandeaus, oversized outerwear — with psychedelic prints and painterly pizzzaz nods to the ‘60s flourishing of Pop Art. Is this sounding familiar? It depends on your age.

Models Diya Prabhakar, Emily Kasten, Izzy Wild, Marlee Bell and Theresa Hayes are styled by Aryeh Lappin in ‘Cruise Control’. Bringing sass to New York streets is a welcome fashion daydream, lensed by David Roemer [IG]. / Hair by Takuya Yamaguchi; makeup by Yui Ishibashi

Kendall Jenner Fronts 2022 Messika Jewelry Campaign Lensed by Chris Colls

Kendall Jenner Fronts Spring 2022 Messika Jewelry Campaign AOC Jewelry News

Valerié Messika, founder of Messika, picked Kendall Jenner as the face of its new 2022 campaign. Photographer Chris Colls [IG] joins Messika and Jenner in St. Tropez the south of France.

“I wanted to illustrate a subtle alliance between grace and strength and capture an image of an alpha woman with a mysterious and hypnotic aura ; Kendall perfectly embodied that for me,” Valérie Messika explains.

Nyaueth Riam Covers Love Want Magazine in 'The Body Memory' by Nagi Sakai

Nyaueth Riam Covers Love Want Magazine in 'The Body Memory' by Nagi Sakai AOC Fashion

Model Nyaueth Riam is styled by Natasha Royt in ‘The Body Memory’, lensed by Nagi Sakai [IG] for Love Want Magazine Here & Now Fall 2021 issue./ Hair by Marco Braca; makeup by Courtney Perkins

Ling Chen Shows Her 'Better Nature' Beauty by Felicity Ingram in Vogue UK January 2022

Ling Chen Shows Her 'Better Nature' Beauty by Felicity Ingram in Vogue UK January 2022 AOC Fashion

Model Ling Chen expresses her beautiful ‘Better Nature’, styled by Eniola Dare in images by Felicity Ingram {IG] for British Vogue January 2022./ Hair by Naoki Komiya; makeup by Niamh Quinn

AOC is all about making connections. These images of Ling Chen appeared as we were posting news of research bias among botanists who reflect a strong preference to study ‘showy’ plants and flowers.

Scientists More Often Study Showy Plants, But Ugly Flowers Are Vital to Ecosystem AOC Eye

Yes, we can cite the modern view that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. But these ‘plain Jane’ or even ‘half-dead’ looking plants and flowers often serve as safe camouflage havens for precious species.

2021 data in America only says that the gender breakdown of botanists is 57% male, 37% female and 5% unknown. Question: does the research preference for colorful, sensual plants hold equally among gender identification?

Delfina Morbelli Chills at Wynn's Las Vegas by Yossi Michaeli for Modern Luxury

Delfina Morbelli Chills at Wynn's Las Vegas by Yossi Michaeli for Modern Luxury AOC Fashion

Rising model Delfina Morbelli is styled by Faye Vande Vrede, in images by Yossi Michaeli [IG] at Wynn Las Vegas for Modern Luxury Magazine January 2021.

Heidi Klum Sizzles with Snoop Dogg in Dance Video 'Chai Tea with Heidi'

Top model, businesswoman and wife of Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz, Heidi Klum Sizzles with Snoop Dogg in Dance Video 'Chai Tea with Heidi', which also features Los Angeles-based DJ-Producer duo WeddingCake.

The ‘America’s Got Talent’ judge, cohost on Amazon’s version of Project Runway called ‘Making the Cut’ and former Victoria’s Secret mega star, Heidi Klum hasn’t done anything musical since her 2006 track ‘Winter Wonderland’. Pushing 50 and madly in love with her 17 years younger husband, Klum delivers an impressive performance. And she owns the camera.

Heidi explained to People Magazine that it all began innocently enough. In planning the next season of Germany’s ‘Next Top Model’, someone suggested “to do something fun”, like perhaps Heidi could “record the theme song for the show.”

The supermodel’s idea of fun was to do a duet with Snoop Dogg, because she "loves him" and is his "biggest fan." Martha Stewart might take issue with the “biggest fan” part, but let them fight it out over Snoop.

The song pays homage to Rod Stewart’s Rod Stewart’s ‘Baby Jane’. Heidi and Snoop were finished with the entire production when she finally was able to make contact with Stewart who was delighted with 'Chai Tea with Heidi'.

The musical result has caused a wave of head-nodding, and the video is WOW! There are so many things AOC wants to say, but we are zip-lipped and very WOKE! LOL. ~ Anne

As for Snoop Dogg’s tight friendship with Martha Stewart, well she told Andy Cohen on a Thursday night interview on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ that she has a new boyfriend, and the details are none of our business.

Snoop and Martha go way back as good friends off screen and working together on many food-related projects. Snoop’s long-time wife since 1997 Shante Broadus became his manager in June 2021.

Martha and Snoop made it into our June 2021 article on biophilic design. Fake Poser Plants vs the Health and Wellness Benefits of Real Plants AOC Eye.

Returning to the long and joyous friendship between Martha and Snoop, I wondered if they ever get out of the kitchen. Googling “Martha+Snoop+green plants”, I said “silly me” over Google’s top returns. They include: Martha Stewart is teaching Snoop Dogg to grow plant-based food and more recently in Jan 2021 Martha Stewart’s New CBD Line Was Inspired by Snoop Dogg. Ah yes, Martha’s latest venture.

Hick Duarte Captures 'Back to the Origins' with Dandara Queiroz for Vogue Brazil

Hick Duarte Captures 'Back to the Origins' with Dandara Queiroz for Vogue Brazil AOC Fashion

Brazilian model Dandara Queiroz covers the January 2022 issue of Vogue Brazil, posing in Volta às Origens [Back to the Origins]. Pedro Sales styles Queiroz in earth-inspired fashion lensed by Hick Duarte [IG]./ Beauty by Henrique Martins

Alana Felisberto Fronts For Love & Lemons x Victoria’s Secret V-Day 2022 Lingerie Collection

Alana Felisberto Fronts For Love & Lemons x Victoria’s Secret V-Day 2022 Lingerie Collection AOC Body

Brazilian model Alana Felisberto stars in Valentine’s Day 2022’s For Love & Lemons collaboration with Victoria’s Secret lingerie. For Love & Lemons is known for romantic embroideries and V-Day brings an abundance of pink, scarlet and ivory blooms. Other hyper-feminine touches like tiny pleats, embroidered hearts, ribbon ties, lace-ups and dainty prints render Alana a total coquette. Or with VS and their fragrance — a grade-10 tease.

Carin Backoff [IG] photographs the For Love & Lemons x Victoria’s Secret Valentine’s Day 2022 Collection, styled by Ashley Glorioso. / Hair and makeup by Sacey Tan