The September 2023 issue of Vogue Czechoslovakia [IG] turns to Vogue Poland’s EIC [IG], photographer Ina Lekiewicz Levy to create a fashion story with a nod to America’s New Orleans roots.

American model Amanda Murphy, born in Orland Park, Illinois, poses at multiple stops in New Orleans, including in front of the city’s largest cathedral — according to Vogue Czech — built by an architect with Moravian roots Benjamin Latrobe.

In fact, architect Benjamin Latrobe designed the the first cathedral built in the United States, the neoclassical Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore.

In the case of the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, in 1819, the city council and church trustees decided to share the expense of obtaining a clock and bell from France and erecting a tower to contain them. Latrobe’s design was selected, as it was judged to complement the cathedral’s existing architecture perfectly.

Anne has been reading about New Orleans nonstop on a different project, coupled with the Guardian linking into our Kate Moss at Bloomsbury’s Charleston House story over the weekend.

Preparing what is becoming a least three articles about ‘Charleston’ in Sussex and Charleston, South Carolina, our own history lesson has gone into high gear comparing the French Huguenots in Charleston, who were Protestants and the French Catholics in New Orleans. Benjamin Latrobe clearly navigated those tensions with considerable success.

Fashion could do so much by way of creating history lessons, if we made the decision to become storytellers. For example, building on the callout of architect Benjamin Latrobe by Vogue Czechoslovakia, his father was a French Huguenot, a leader of the Moravian Church, who was responsible for all Moravian schools and establishments in Britain. He is one of America’s earliest architects and by some scholars called the “father of American architecture”.

With Vogue Czech in New Orleans, I’m inspired to head into the AOC archives. A fabulous FW 2017 Miu Miu campaign comes to mind, shot by Alasdair McLellan. Thanks for pursuing our American roots in New Orleans, Vogue Czech and Vogue Poland. In the world of ubuntu, we are all connected. ~ Anne