Angelina Jolie’s new purpose-driven collective has its first location at 57 Great Jones Street in New York City. In the IG video showing off the new headquarters, Jolie’s children, Shiloh, 17, and Pax, 19, are also visible spray painting the collective’s logo onto the building.

“A privilege to be in this space,” the Atelier Jolie account wrote. “We will do our best to respect and honor its artist legacy with community and creativity. Hope to see you there.”

This has got to be an exciting time for Angelina Jolie and her children as they enter a space where Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat lived and worked for several years.

The deal for the property was confirmed by John Roesch and Garrett Kelly, both directors at the agency Meridian Capital Group. Most reports are that Jolie is renting the building, but Hypebeast says she bought it.

The interior space features 6,600 square feet of space across three floors. The exterior of the building is adorned in street art, and Jolie will keep it that way as a public tribute to Basquiat. who started his career as one half of the graffiti art duo SAMO.

Basquiat rented the second-floor space from Warhol shortly after they first met. Warhol originally bought the building in 1970.

In Los Angeles, the show JEAN-MICHEL-BASQUIAT KING PLEASURE© has been extended through October 15, 2023. Location is 100 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, Ca 90012. Self Parking is located between W. 2nd Street and W. 1st Street on S. Olive Street.

Run by Basquiat’s estate and his sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveauxex, the exhibit features 200 never-before-seen and rarely shown works of art from the multimedia artist.

Coincidentally — if you believe in coincidences — I don’t in this matter of Angelina Jolie, Gabriela Hearst is officially leaving Chloé to return to New York to focus on her own eponymous label, which is financed by LVMH Ventures. Jolie is a LVMH-owned Guerlain ambassador working with women beekeepers around the globe.

Gabriela Hearst and Angelina Jolie just worked on the first collaboration for Atelier Jolie under the Chloé umbrella. Jolie was very attracted to Gabriela Hearst because of Chloé’s B-Corp status. Hearst is in love with Jolie’s vision for Atlier Jolie. Both women are avid feminists and deeply committed to solving the world’s most serious problems — with a special emphasis on women and girls.

Jay-Z in Paris

Sorry for the digression, but I had to set this up properly and not send you all over the AOC website, chasing article links. Coincidentally, Jay-Z, who was sitting next to LVMH head Bernard Arnault at theJune 20 reveal of Pharrell William’s Louis Vuitton show, performed in Paris on April 14.

It was the first time Jay-Z had performed in Paris since 2018, when he joined his wife Beyoncé’s, the On The Run Tour II. The event, you ask?

It was the opening of Jean-Michel Basquiat x Andy Warhol exhibit in Paris, organized by the Louis Vuitton Foundation and running through August 28, 2023.

Basquiat at Tiffany & Co

You may recall that Jay-Z and his wife Beyoncé helped relaunch Tiffany & Co after the LVMH purchase, and they did it in the company of a Basquiat painting ‘Equals Pi’.

The campaign was controversial as you can imagine, but I was most impacted not by the activists who accused Jay-Z of selling out and demeaning Basquiat. From all I’ve read today, Basquiat’s family has an excellent relationship with the Arnault family.

I was deeply moved by ordinary people of color who commented about how beautiful the campaign was — and how they felt included and respected with their own talents center stage — including Basquiat.

LVMH understands this issue like it understands a fine wine. And I don’t believe most fashion and culture writers understand just how deep this issue goes. It’s not mere lip service, as I’ve said many times.

Louis Vuitton Rochambeau Ranch

Just yesterday, AOC wrote about the new LVMH commitment to training artisans to support its brands. There’s a part 2 coming in the story because I remembered that Louis Vuitton opened a leather workshop in Texas in 2019.

It’s called the Louis Vuitton Rochambeau Ranch. Upon arrival at the car park, you see three flags proudly flying in front ― American, French, and Texas — differing configurations of red, white, and blue. All waving side by side, wrote Paper City Magazine.

I was not surprised to discover that the facility is named for one Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau. He was the French nobleman who championed America’s War For Independence. Not just financing it, but apparently he actually fought alongside George Washington against the Brits. Here we go, from the American Revolution Institute.

From just scanning these materials, there are plenty of references to the argument that without France’s financial backing, America might not have won our independence from Britain in the Revolutionary War.

Here’s our history lesson from George Washington’s Mount Vernon: The Seven Years’ War was a conflict between France and Great Britain that began in 1754 as a dispute over North American land claims in the region around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This conflict eventually spread into other parts of world, including Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Louis Vuitton chose to channel that long-standing friendship and cooperation between France and the United States as it opened the brand’s first Texas manufacturing outpost. Two other plants are in California, and we’ll see what stories they reveal. ~ Anne