Model Vaughan Ollier is styled by Leith Clark in luxury looks from Alberta Ferretti, Alessandra Rich, Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Max Mara, Miu Miu, Yves Saint Laurent and more.

Photographer Lynette Garland [IG] captures Ollier in ‘The Grass, The Thicket & The Fruit-Tree Wild’ for Harper’s Bazaar UK’s May 2022./ Hair by Philippe Tholimet; makeup by Natsumi Narita

Initially I found Ollier’s physical mood out of sync with my own desire for more positive imagery in these complex and often dark days. After more reflection, I was wrong,

“The grass, the thicket, and the fruit'-tree wild” is a line from ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ by the famous British poet John Keats. The poem is unusually sober — some would say ‘dark’ — in its reflections on the conflicted nature of human life, the duality of human existence.

Harper’s Bazaar UK dwells on the topic of sustainability moreso than most fashion and lifestyle media. Through this lens, the focus of nature in ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ points today to a larger paradox in the reckless, dominating stewardship of man over nature.

Environmental leaders in Britain like Prince Charles and designer Stella McCartney are deeply concerned about the very real possibility of humans destroying our planet with their Christian, so-called God-given, Biblical right to dominate nature.

This Anne-interpretation of ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ today gives the poem a very modern meaning that is deeply relevant to our young people.

Our teens and young adults are not scoring high on the happiness index, as their own concerns mount about the future of everything. Environmental concerns often lead the list of all that is upsetting young people worldwide, and AOC is never dismissive of that view — even though it’s not typically the concern of popular culture as expressed by modern media. ~ Anne