Rawdah Mohammed in Vogue X Cartier for Vogue Arabia by Nima Benati

In her role as Norwegian fashion editor for the new Vogue Scandinavia, model Rawdah Mohamed is appearing frequently as a model for the magazine and online at Vogue Scandinavia. In May AOC featured Mohamed as an ambassador for Cartier, representing the brand in Denmark.

Today we share new images of Rawdah Mohamed in a Vogue X Cartier collab for Vogue Arabia. Gaia Fraschini styles the multifaceted model in images by Nima Benati [IG] for the September 2021 issue.

Studying these women is a fascinating example of “new thinking” around creatives and talents, media and luxury brands. Old-fashioned lines of "‘ethical’ demarcation are definitely blurring.

Benati’s IG is filled with images of her toasting Moet & Chandon, with whom she has worked since 2017, at the Venice Film Festival. “I adore you!” she exclaims about her LVMH client, raising her glass from her boat in the canals of Venezia.

On the sustainability front, Cartier’s chief executive Cyrille Vigneron recently interviewed with BOF on the subject of sustainability and also lab-grown diamonds.

For decades consumers assumed brands and retailers did the right thing, the CEO explained and “that was enough”. In the digital age, brands and retailers cannot make unsubstantiated claims about their sustainability initiatives. “When it comes to the environment, you must express your intentions and show that you “walk the talk,” Vigneron said.

We believe that as brands, models, image-makers, editors and magazines become one contiguous cast of interlinking characters, each will inherit the other’s DNA. AOC has never been judgmental about these business decisions, but we will explore them always as part of our own editorial policy.

In July, WWD featured an article on parent company Richemont and its brands — including Cartier — stipulating that the company has fully embraced a “green growth” agenda. Preparing to release its July 2021 report “Movement for Better Luxury”, Richemont stated that for the first time in the 15 years, it has asked EY to audit its processes, progress and adherence to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development, and other goals.

On this topic, AOC likes to think we may have influenced this decision, being positively critical of Cartier’s sustainability reporting. In May 2020, we wrote:

Model Vivien Solari is styled by Sam Ranger in simple elegance accented by ‘Panthere de Cartier’ luxury jewelry. Photographer Charlotte Hadden is in the studio for Exit Magazine’s Spring-Summer 2020 issue.

Looking for more information on Cartier’s sustainability practices, it strikes me as being more vague than those of Tiffany and Chopard. Here is Tiffany & Co. 2017 Sustainability Report. — all 100 pages. And this fall 2019 link takes us to a detailed overview of all Tiffany & Co. sustainability practices and global initiatives.

Working off the Cartier resources website, this simple list of very general Sustainable Development goals appears, when I request the output of Cartier’s sustainability strategy in report form. One must never draw any conclusions between a 100 page sustainability report from Tiffany and a 1 page report from Cartier. This link from the US Cartier website highlights the brand’s philanthropy efforts, particularly with women.

The content is heavy on culture generally but I don’t see any public discussion of Cartier’s sustainability efforts. If I have missed the sustainability discussion — including the rights of workers — on this page, I sincerely apologize. There’s no time to click every link in the website.

We agree 500% that Cartier via Richemont is doing a fantastically better job at embracing publicly and subjecting itself to credentialed scrutiny on the topic of sustainability in 2021.

AOC has done our job well, too.

I’m a bit glum, however, with concern about how Vogue Scandinavia will walk this blurring of the lines tightrope of ethics and commercial relationships. My Swedish and Danish heritage — before all else — are sources of immense pride to me.

With the debut of Vogue Scandinavia, I toasted my own glass of champagne to the future of the “ideal” Vogue.

I didn’t comment a few months ago about the potential for ethical conflict among brands, models, image-makers, editors and magazines in lining up Vogue Scandinavia, Rawdah Mohamed and Cartier.

It’s good that I held my thoughts on this topic, given the inspiring improvement in transparency at Cartier around its sustainability practices. I will also go on the record now, saying that AOC is very sobered up on just how tight this web of interlocking brands and people will become in the future.

It could be a positive development if talents like Rawdah Mohamed are also able to challenge the brands she models for and represents as an ambassador, while acting as a fashion editor who models frequently in a magazine with the strongest sustainability and ethics credentials gifted to them by people like myself. Time will tell.

I am taking my gift back now of high expectations for Vogue Scandinavia.

Most Swedes and Danes [Anne’s heritage] I know are totally hip to the “good burden” they carry on the world stage, and I have no doubts that they will rise to the occasion. Earning my loyalty should be easy — but as of this moment, the key word is earned. Love to all. ~ Anne