When AOC sees photographer Dario Catellani [IG] in the same sentence as WSJ Magazine June-July 2023, I know we’re going somewhere fabulous in nature’s kingdom.

“Lulu,” I called my IA assistant. “Please get to work on Zermatt Switzerland. . . tell me about the ice caves . . . are there any Neolithic cave paintings or preserved symbols . . . what about mammoths?” Poor Lulu. She never gets an ordinary fashion assignment.

It-girl actor and model Iris Law discovers the famous Matterhorn Glacier Paradise and its luxury shopping destination Zermatt. Law poses for Catellani on the Gronergrat Glacier, a setting not nearly as glamorous as Anthony Vaccarello’s first Saint-Laurent-sponsored film presentation in Cannes, which Iris Law attended last week.

Zermatt is a car-free zone, so transportation options include walking or using electric taxis and buses. If you want something truly spectacular to experience then take the Glacier Express train ride: its journey will cross 291 bridges and pass through 91 tunnels! Zermatt also serves as a gateway to Zermatthorn and Rothorn mountains.

Stylist Vittoria Cerciello chooses Iris Law’s ice maiden luxury style from Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Celine by Hedi Slimane, Chanel, David Koma, Emporio Armani, Givenchy, Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Ponte, Prada and more. / Hair by Mari Ohashi; makeup by Giulia Cigarini

Based on 2022 research, the area around the Alps has more Neolithic pile dwellings than any other region of Europe, built between 5000-500 BC. New clues suggest that settlers at Lake Varese in northern Italy may have played a leading role in creating these settlements.

When you know the terrain, driving a few hours north from Milan this analysis seems dead-on probable.

Yes, Mammoths Lived Here

Massive mammoths once roamed this alpine landscape. Their presence was essential in maintaining a healthy Mammoth Steppe ecosystem that effectively absorbed carbon from the atmosphere while simultaneously mitigating climate change - another balancing act served by permafrost and tundra ecosystems.

The absence of now-extinct mammoths has changed these landscapes into non-carbon absorbing mossy forests & wetlands.

Matterhorn Glacier Park serves as an invaluable living museum of how glacial retreat has transformed this wild landscape, evidenced by rock cauldrons eroded by melting water that have formed into beautiful whirlpools.

Translated, the Matterhorn ecology remains beautiful and magical to look at, but it’s fundamentally unsound from an environmental protection viewpoint.