A Sexy Hailey Baldwin Sends Vogue Mexico Balenciaga Message For UN World Food Programme

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A Sexy Hailey Baldwin Sends Vogue Mexico Balenciaga Message For UN World Food Programme

On the heels of my comments on the new VS 'Tease Rebel' fragrance campaign, Hailey Baldwin drops into the pages of Vogue Mexico's September 2018 issue. It's a perfect setup to ask: What's sexy now?

Hailey's wearing a Balenciaga hoodie with the WFP logo is part of that conversation, one that AOC has engaged around with readers for a decade: : the rise of  Smart Sensuality Women who are smart, sexy and have great heart. 

When Demna Gvasalia became creative director of Balenciaga, one of his first moves was to unveil a partnership with the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, the World Food Programme. Vice wrote: "Rooted in Balenciaga’s conviction to be a pacemaker for positive change, this partnership uses fashion to engage global consumers with the issue of hunger and to raise awareness of the World Food Programme‘s work in emergencies and with local communities to build resilience."

“It’s about using fashion as a tool of communication,” Gvasalia explained post-show while wearing a co-branded WFP logo-adorned cap with its ‘Saving Lives, Changing Lives’ slogan written on its side. “Now as a designer, if I create a graphic, it has to mean more,” he added.

“We consider this partnership to be an important step in making fashion useful in a different way and supporting good causes with our products whenever possible.”

In no way am I suggesting that Victoria's Secret should strike a partnership with the UN. But they need to strike a partnership around a genuine values set that resonates with a very changing branding landscape. Hailey Baldwin may be flashing a priceless engagement ring in these sensual images but she's also embracing a larger set of humanitarian values under assault worldwide.

Hailey is styled by Celia Azoulay in casual denim and cozy sweater looks lensed by Bjorn Iooss. / Hair by Joey George; makeup by Fulvia Farolfi. 

Jack Waterlot & Soo Joo Park Front 'Just the Two of Us' For Numero Tokyo June 2018

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Photographer Jack Waterlot lives on both sides of the camera lens in 'Just the two of us', lensed with Waterlot's bride to be, model Soo Joo Park. The duo, who became engaged on New Year's Eve, simmer in the pages of Numero Tokyo June 2018, styled by Deborah Afshani./ Hair by Peter Savic; makeup by Francesca Tolot

Alessandra Ambrosio Lights A Sizzling World Cup Torch In Tatler Magazine June 2018

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Supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio gets the award for sexiest World Cup editorial in a fashion magazine. Ambrosio sizzles in the June 2018 cover story for Tatler Russia. Renata Kharkova styles the former VS Angel in Louis Vuitton top and pants for the cover and extreme body con, sporty looks for the editorial. Zoey Grossman captures all the live action, as if anyone is seriously interested in World Cup football at this point in the fashion game. 

Lara Stone Entices In 'Passion & Power' By Giampaolo Sgura For Vogue Mexico May 2017

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Lara Stone Entices In 'Passion & Power' By Giampaolo Sgura For Vogue Mexico May 2017

Models Lara Stone and Garrett Neff wrestle with desire and narcissism in 'Passion & Power', styled by Patrick Mackie. Photographer Giampaolo Sgura captures the duo for Vogue Mexico May 2017. Hair by Franco Gobbi; makeup by Maud Laceppe

Stella Maxwell Gets Bohemian Sporty, Lensed By Giampaolo Sgura For Vogue Japan June 2017

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Stella Maxwell Gets Bohemian Sporty, Lensed By Giampaolo Sgura For Vogue Japan June 2017

Top model Stella Maxwell is styled by Anna Dello Russo in sporty street looks with plenty of pop. Giampaolo Sgura flashes Stella in 'Stella Takes Time For Sports' for Vogue Japan June 2017./ Hair by Andrew Guida; makeup by Jessica Nedza

A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

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A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

In an appalling act of absurdity, The UN Economic and Social Council voted days ago to award Saudi Arabia a four-year term on the Commission on the Status of Women. beginning in 2018 

“Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s absurd.”

“Every Saudi woman,” said Neuer, “must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia also bans women from driving cars.”

“I wish I could find the words to express how I feel right know. I’m ‘saudi’ and this feels like betrayal,” tweeted a self-described Saudi woman pursuing a doctorate in international human rights law in Australia.

Saudi Arabia was elected by a secret ballot last week of the U.N.’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Usually ECOSOC rubber-stamps nominations arranged behind closed doors by regional groups, however this time the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley  U.S. forced an election, to China’s chagrin.

 Annie Leibovitz Archives Go To LUMA Foundation's Living Archives Program

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Annie Leibovitz, Photographs from the “Driving” series. © Annie Leibovitz

Iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz has arranged for her archives to be part of the LUMA Foundation, the Swiss nonprofit founded by Maja Hoffmann. The collaboration is part of LUMA's Living Archives Program, dedicated to working with living artists across disciplines including photography, design, literature, film, and dance. 

Over 8,000 photographs will open on May 26 in an exhibition coinciding with the opening of LUMA's Frank-Gehry designed Parc des Ateliers location in Arles, France.

“Annie Leibovitz Archive Project #1: The Early Years”—which opens on May 27—will focus on the photographer’s work between 1968 and 1983 and is intended as the first of several projects dedicated to Leibovitz’s career-beginnings. The show will also mark the first time that the archives become available to the public. ArtNet writes:

Opening with photographs taken when she was enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute as a painting major, the exhibition will go on to examine the artist’s work through 1983. During that time, Leibovitz began working for Rolling Stone, eventually becoming the magazine’s chief photographer in 1973 before resigning ten years later to photograph for Vanity Fair.

Trump Slams Civil Rights Hero Ga. Rep. John Lewis On MLK Honorary Weekend

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President Barack Obama's Address in Selma March 7, 2015

When President-elect Donald Trump denigrated the personal history of Ga. Rep. John Lewis this weekend -- after Rep. Lewis said that he questioned the legitimacy of America's presidential election with the Russians doing Trump's bidding -- it seems like this 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Day is best honored with my review and full text of President Obama's historic March 2015 Selma speech. 

For Donald Trump -- who discredited President Obama for years with his birther claims -- to become indignant over Rep. Lewis' opinion and then turn like an attack dog on Lewis is more than I can stomach. This archives article details not only the events around Selma, in which John Lewis was nearly killed, but also the subsequent march to Montgomery, Alabama led by the Rev. Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta.

On this reverential weekend in America, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen to unleash a high-profile feud with people of color and all progressives and Americans of conscience who have not forgotten Rep. Lewis' near-death experience in Selma.  The New York Times explains with In Trump's Feud With John Lewis, Blacks Perceive a Callous Rival.