Okay, people. Louis Vuitton Men is off and running with the SS24 collection — introduced June 20, 2023 with my Virginia neighbors Voices of Fire singing “Joy, Joy, Joy" into the Paris night sky from the Pont Neuf bridge. AOC will not forget that event ever.

Pharrell, I don’t need to tell you how many fashion industry people are waiting for you to fall flat on your ageless, Humanrace skincare face. Anne of Carversville is not one of them.

If the cash register rings, no one will give a rat’s ass about your appointment. Some have already admitted that they were wrong — except certain female fashion critics who still find your hire appalling.

It disturbs me that your biggest critics are women professionals. And the criticism has been deeply personal.

They will argue that you and all your high-falutin’ friends like new Louis Vuitton Men campaign star LeBron James will ultimately destroy Louis Vuitton.

You will drag LV into the sludge of the Seine. After it gets cleaned up for the 2024 Summer Olympics and then returns to its 21st-century polluted reality, Louis Vuitton will be fighting for its life, say the critics.

Not this girl. I originally wrote ‘white girl’ but then remembered that the biggest voice of doom and gloom outrage around Pharrell’s appointment was Washington Post senior critic, woman of color Robin Givhan.

Consider yourselves advised that I will amend this post with new links and sharing a new concept for tracking our favorite brands. It will be done this weekend, living right off the main page. Louis Vuitton is the first brand added.

CEO Pietro Beccari: Pharrell’s Partner in Crime

We must remember that Pharrell is a very collective-inspired guy . . . a team player like LeBron is serious about his relationships . . . and Louis Vuitton does not hire or promote fools into key positions for their biggest brand.

On that subject, can we agree that Louis Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari is no dodo bird?

I’ve been quick to shower Dior Women’s Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri with high praise for her spectular financial performance since her 2017 appointment.

Dior revenue’s have tripled since Chiuri arrived. The second brand AOC will add to our main page permanent addition after Louis Vuitton is Dior.

Beccari — who loves Formula One racing — arrived at Vuitton from Dior, where he was Chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture.

Surely, Becarri also contributed to the spectacular growth of Christian Dior. Beccari is a winner and he likes driving fast. However, he is not reckless.

In his own high-level negotiations around his big promotion to CEO of Louis Vuitton, Beccari was candid about his desire to fill the shoes of the tragically-lost Virgil Abloh with Pharrell Williams. His was the only name on Beccari’s list, according to multiple sources who have written about the hire, including Business of Fashion, in an interview with Beccari.

Clearly Bernard Arnault and other key players at LVMH bought into Beccari’s vision in this critically-important appointment. So when these critics are raising the roof over Pharrell’s appointment, they are basically saying that Arnault, the five kids, Pietro Beccari — this conglomerate of the best minds in the fashion industry — don’t know what they are doing.

That’s RUDE!

Louis Vuitton Men Pop-Ups in NYC and LA

When these same critics express horror over the golden arches of the Louis Vuitton Men pop-up stores now open in New York City Soho and Hollywood through mid-March, we have no response.

Many won’t even recognize the Pont Neuf bridge in the Louis Vuitton images of the pop-ups, when it’s staring them in the face. A white and gold checkered floor honors the house’s classic Damier pattern, which was a prolific visual influence throughout Pharrell’s first LV spring/summer 2024 collection.

Yes, it’s flashy but so was The Pont Neuf Wrapped, conceived in 1975 and executed in 1985 by environmental artists Christo and his partner, Jeanne-Claude, along with dozens of engineers and city planners who contributed to the Paris spectacle.

It would be courting a PR disaster today, but 450,000 square feet of woven polyamide fabric — silky and golden in finish — gave the Pont Neuf a shimmering and almost celestial appearance. The effects of stars and moonlight connecting with a rippling Seine was mesmerizing.

Truly, social media would lose its mind today over 450,000 yards of polyamide oil-derived, microscopic-fibers, indestructable-forever fabric being used for an art installation.

Savvy Willpower Abounds at LVMH

Don’t underestimate the instinctive will of LVMH man-in-charge Bernard Arnault, who sold his $73 million Bombardier 7500 corporate jet in 2022, because he was tired of the then Twitterverse tracking the plane around the world.

Arnault and company still travel private but renting planes as needed. No more activists are waiting, hoping to blow up his plane — at least metaphorically — at private airports.

Imagine spraying red paint all over Bernard Arnault as he walks across the tarmac.

Giving up his jet is a great story about what makes Bernard Arnualt ‘run’, and yes, LVMH did issue in mid-December 2023 a detailed, environmental-progress presentation to 500 guests at UNESCO Paris.

Bernard Arnault is to Luxury Marketing What LeBron James is to Basketball

The NBA and Louis Vuitton have been married for several years now, thanks to a deal Abloh put together.

Having nothing to do with Louis Vuitton, but clearly about a man who marches to his own drum and wears Louis Vuitton, AOC turns again to LeBron James.

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter, along with three others, won a Daytime Emmy "Recipe for Change: Standing Up to Antisemitism" for their YouTube Originals project in December.

As plugged-in as AOC is, it’s funny how these significant events don’t make either FOX or MSNBC. Better to repeat the same key point around an issue, with the same pundits for the 697th time, rather than promoting an interesting, award-winning show on the topic you are discussing.

You know, another perspective from one of America’s most important and respected voices on topics that matter — and is connected to regular people. AOC would never tell Lebron to “Just shut up and dribble,” as FOX news host Laura Ingrahm did in 2018.

Lebron’s voice and opinions are sprinkled throughout the pages of AOC. But it amazes me that I haven’t heard about LeBron’s award when the Hamas-Israel-Gaza attack has dominated the headlines every day since Oct. 7.

AOC is the only voice I know of that tracks the personality synergies and the intersections of values and activism with luxury brands and their ambassadors and business partners. When Jay-Z and Beyoncé sat next to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Arnault at Pharrell’s June 20, 2023 Pont Neuf debut, it was as ambassadors.

With Jay-Z, he was sitting next to his 50-50 business partner in their champagne business.

It was the first 50-50 deal for LVMH ever, and it was concluded long before Kanye West went on his anti-semitic attacks about Jews [which Bernard Arnault is not. But he has great respect for Jewish people and attends temple on occasion.]

Perhaps it’s why Anne of Carversville sees a much larger social, cultural and political picture emerging in the intersection of the luxury market and popular culture, especially with the LVMH brands.

I would be cursed out for saying so on Twitter — now X — but I consider them good global citizens.

In that absurd mess over the December 2023 Zara Atelier campaign, I restated why there are no comments on AOC. I got run off Twitter at the same time over a decade ago. I can’t imagine the abuse coming my way for saying that LVMH folks are good global citizens.

In closing, if this approach doesn’t work for LV Men, I will be the first to admit my mistake. My hopes are high, but I’m no Icarus.

Anne will tell you if Pharrell flew too close to the sun, and AOC supported him 110%.

Meanwhile, I’m imploring the goddesses of the universe to reward this inspiring man from Virginia Beach, VA who spins so much good energy and positive human value into the universe.

We need way more leaders like Pharrell. Anne

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Anne’s Mind Never Stops

My first Master Class was with Martha Stewart, because I love her — especially Martha’s relationship with Snoop Dogg. Martha just refuses to act her age.

Next up is a 10-classes on The Power of Empathy’ with Pharrell and his global posse. He calls them co-instructors. What a guy!

Breaking 1/6/24: Snoop is headed to the Paris Olympics with NBC.

AOC didn’t know the news. . We say YES!

Come on, Snoop. You gotta invite your bestie Martha for at least a day! You and Martha can hook up with Paris French chef phenom Mory Sacko. He hosted the Louis Vuitton restaurant in St. Tropez in summer 2022 and Sacko has his own top-rated cooking show in France.

Remember, Snoop, LVMH - Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior - parent company has dropped $160 million for the Olympics, as a premium sponsor. There is no doubt that Mory Sacko will have major visibility at the Olympics.

You guys and Mory Sacko could squeeze in a sitdown with Pharrell to discuss food and all other topics that resonate. Then we can put it on blast on the Louis Vuitton [Extended] podcast.

I know for a fact that the Thomas Jefferson Monticello Foundation in Virginia is working with French chefs to create recipes made from seeds brought to America on the slave ships and grown at Monticello. To date, I haven’t confirmed that Sacko is one of them.