V Man 47's 'Renaissance Men' by Fanny Latour-Lambert with Malick Bodian, Parker Van Noord

Photographer Fanny Latour-Lambert [IG] captures ‘Renaissance Men’ with models Malick Bodian and Parker Van Noord. Gro Curtis styles the stellar imagery for V Man 47 September 2021./ Hair by Jacob Kajirup; makeup by Laure Dansou

Let it be said that AOC is very impressed with Gro Curtis and this entire photoshoot. Fanny is fabulous and the styling sublime. However, the The VMan text may be a bit premature, especially in America where the Delta COVID virus is bringing red state deaths to levels not seen before. Large parts of America’s medical infrastructure in the South is nearing collapse over COVID. Children are getting sick in large numbers for the first time.

So we appreciate Curtis’ sentiments, but it’s not clear to AOC that we are exiting the worst of the pandemic. Here’s an August 23 global COVID update from McKinsey & Company.

Update 9/2/21: And we must remember that the perils of climate change, significantly created by our unrelenting desire for consumption, dressing up, expressing ourselves and also creating status — are bearing down on America on every front. At Least 14 Dead as Ida Remnants Wallop New York Region.

In America — as opposed to Europe when science seems to be more entrenched — we can’t even agree on the need for vaccinations or face masks. In America, Trump-voting red-staters equate mask wearing with the Holocaust, leaving everyday life much more dicey on this site of the Atlantic.

Curtis and Latour-Lambert worked together to create a shoot that defies all expectations set during the tumult and chaos of the last year and a half. "We took inspiration from the color palette of the painter George Henrik Breitner to bring together the set elements," says Latour-Lambert of the inspiration for their creative vision.

To Curtis, this shoot is "almost an act of rebellion." It is defiant and triumphant and hopeful: "We spent a year in sweatshirts, scared about our future, but what we realized is that we have to find a way to stand up and fight. These clothes are not about opulence or burying your head in the sand; they are simply about celebrating life and fighting for our future," he told us.

The shoot is a powerful tribute to the resilience and power of royalty, calling back to the romance of renaissance paintings."We made the poses very static to reference the posing style of old paintings," said Latour-Lambert, in reference to the way they've decided to interpret the clothing and the models' character. "The mood board was suggested by Gro [Curtis] and is revolving around renaissance paintings mixed with medieval elements," said Latour-Lambert.

It’s actually wonderful when multiple minds can interpret the same fashion story differently.

For AOC, the Renaissance represents a triumph for the evolution of science and a general state of enlightenment, a rich period of discovery and growth. It also followed the Black Death or bubonic plague in Europe — a time in which the world was turned upside down, when religious fanaticism spread far and wide — because God was in charge of everything.

AOC is very influenced by a book called ‘The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny’. Over the past four centuries, America has repeated the same four distinct periods, or “turnings,” over an 80- to 90-year time span: a High, an Awakening, an Unraveling, and finally, a Crisis. Right now we are in the winter of history—the fourth turning of a crisis.

Close friends of mine told me about the book, not knowing that I embraced it deeply two decades ago in my consulting practice. The point is that the rosy scenario that we are out of the COVID crisis and there are no other catastrophes around the corner is probably not realistic, in this examination of the cycles of history.

Extreme suffering lies ahead, just as easily as life returning to “normal”. We also have the reality that slavery as we know it in America was born of the Renaissance. Holland Carter touches this fact in his NYT review of the Fall 2012 art season and a show at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum ‘A Spectrum From Slaves to Saints’.

As Fanny and Gro underscore, the new renaissance looks forward into a new dawn, not into the past. Their view is anything but retrograde. AOC agrees. The challenge is whether or not humans have suffered enough — that the worst is behind us. On this timeline topic AOC is probably more sober and conservative than Gro and Fanny in grabbing the close to now answer. However, great personal growth and individual excellence can come from a time of suffering. Still, I hope they are right and not AOC. ~ Anne