X-posted in Private Studio

Marloes Horst and Will Davidson have delivered one of the most stunning editorials I’ve seen in a long time — and the first we will double post in our new Apple Valley nature, ethics, sustainability, slow living, and values channel — aka home to Cultural Creatives, who are Smart Sensuality women in many cases but in others, they are people who really aren’t into style.

I built the Smart Sensuality concept in my consulting business out of data that studies the intersections of these values subsets. (Read more)

I can hear the pc crowd screaming already, but this editorial is so exquisitely expressive of true sensuality, simplicity, concern for nature and human intimacy. Wow! Stylist Jillian Davison, Marloes and Will have produced a visual feast for the eye, heart and mind with ‘Wanderlust’ for Harper’s Bazaar Australia’s March 2012 issue.

Cultural Creatives and Slow Living

Reading that the editorial was short in South Africa, we will make every effort to locate the name of the male model and add it. Just yesterday Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani spoke about slow living and a deeply-held appreciation of what is important in life. Materialism doesn’t top human relations, nature and reflection.

The Age of Aquarius is about leaving that time period behind, and this splendid editorial gives us a good idea of where we’re going. Sorry for the poetic, reflective response but this editorial really grabs my heart — perhaps because I must spend the afternoon working on our new jewelry collection.

Inspired by a range of goddesses, I’ve come to understand that Mami Wata is at the heart of it all. Because of the slave trade, Mami Wata really got around the globe and so beads and natural components from Africa are at the heart of the jewelry collection, as well as a controversial but oh-so-relevant new philanthropy initiative. You might say that Mami Wata will be the top goddess at AOC, yes — knocking even Aphrodite off her throne.

After much tossing and turning, I’ve decided that buying sanitary napkins for girls in Africa will be our main philanthropy initiative. Not having personal care products is a key reason why girls drop out of school or miss five days of school each month, keeping them perpetually behind and with a stigma on their back. For a woman who writes about vulvas and taking on monotheism for its treatment of women, it’s a natural fit.

AOC will be joining a powerful, successful initiative launched by — of all people — not the Catholic Church, but Lions International and Rotary Clubs. I’m really impressed that once men-only organizations would be leaders in this effort. As Bob Dylan dared to predict, ‘the times, they are achangin’.” Let’s hope. Anne