December 2023 Brands: Atelier Jolie Opens | Kristina O'Neill at Sotheby's Magazine | Missoni Explores Sale
/ Anne Enke
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Giorgio Armani launched Armani Neve in the mid-90s, long before ski collections became a trend. The Italian perfectionist’s approach to high-style design and ‘la dolce vita’ living on the ski slopes makes another decades-old bow with the new Winter 2023/24 collection.
Models Giacomo Cavalli, Ibrahim Idoow, Jiayun Xie, Tommy Vanden Meerssche, and Valerie Scherzinger are captured by photographer Brett Lloyd [IG] and styled by Mauro Demestria in retro feeling images perfect for a St. Moritz New Year’s. / Makeup by Arianna Campa; hair by Giovanni Iovino
Banana Republic [IG] gathers models Mayowa Nicholas, Roberto Sipos, and Suvi Riggs Koponen for their winter 2023 campaign.
Shot in Norway by Josh Olins [IG] with creative direction by Remi Paringaux and Ryan Spacey, the campaign acknowledges — not only the majesty of nature — but indirectly, its fragility.
Banana Republic is introducing new cashmere items connected to this campaign, including this Caro Lightweight Cashmere Cardigan [website] in 12 colors.
Refusing to promote cashmere without clarity on its sourcing standards as verified by outside agencies, Anne of Carversville notes that Banana Republic cashmere is part of an initiative called The Good Cashmere Standard (GCS).
GUESS returns to southern Europe for the Holiday 2023/24 campaign, lensed at the Villa Alpebella in Forte dei Marmi, Italy. In August, 2023 GUESS opened a store in Forte dei Marmi with a grand party at Villa Alpebella, owned by the Bocelli family, led by famous tenor Andrea Bocelli.
The Italian singer Matteo Bocelli, one of Andrea Bocelli’s three children, is featured in the new GUESS Holiday 2023/24 campaign, appearing with Albanian model and singer Oriola Marashi.
Ukrainian female duo Vicoolya [photographer] & Saida [stylist and art director] [IG] created the campaign. They are best friends who handle everything connected to a shoot: makeup, hair, styling, location, lighting, photographing, retouching... Vicoolya & Saida handle everything.
When former editor in chief of WSJ Magazine Kristina O’Neill departed her position in April 2023, the luxury fashion and style world knew she was going somewhere important.
Kristina O’Neill has been named editor in chief of the new Sotheby’s Magazine, starting Jan. 8. She will report directly to Gareth Jones, Sotheby’s chief marketing officer.
In perhaps the best story of all, Sotheby’s recent American whisky auction set new records with two big blockbusters. LeNell’s Red Hook Rye 23 Year and Rathskeller Rye, each sold far beyond their highest initial estimate ranges. The LRHR 23 year scoring $56,250 (est range $20,000 – $30,000) and RR grabbing $37,500 ($18,000 – $24,000).
Models Liv Walters, Maty Fall and Yang Ling deliver recognizable Missoni spirit to fall/winter 2023/24 imagery at a time when the Italian heritage house has retained Rothschild to explore a full sale of the company.
In 2018 Italian investment fund FSI injected 70 million euros into the house, for 41% of the business, with the remaining shares held by the Missoni family.
From AOC’s angle of vision, the Italian heritage brands have never been so desirable — and from a cultural-creatives, values-based proposition, not modern values which say “s[he] who wears the most wealth on her back wins.”
Jackets Without a Good Fit
Zara has removed this controversial advertising campaign from the front page of its website after pro-Palestine activists called for an international boycott of the retailer.
Inditex, the company that owns Zara, said on Monday that the photos were taken in September 2023, before the current war erupted between Hamas and Israel. The creative brief was approved in July — which makes sense to AOC.
However alert to perceptions gone wrong, I myself was in the process of writing about my night at the Louvre in Paris 20 years ago, marveling over the jazz-evening setup with the statuary in seeming disarray, strewn like these images but with blue strobe lights for extra effect.
Only when I went to Zara’s IG did I realize that something was very wrong with the campaign.
The latest trends in spa treatments or relaxing getaways bring a host of scientific and technology innovations very different from spa visits past.
Technology and Science Meet Ancient Traditions
In the near future, spas are expected to embrace artificial intelligence [AI] and virtual reality [VR] to create immersive and personalized wellness journeys.
Virtual reality is set to transform the spa landscape. By transporting guests into serene virtual environments, VR experiences can enhance relaxation and provide an escape from everyday stresses. More exciting, VR can transport us back in time, so that we might join our human ancestors in community based rituals, for example.
Tom Ford’s codes, “of glamour, sexiness, elegance, and beauty,” are embraced by promoted Tom Ford Creative Director Peter Hawkings as well, the designer told Vogue in advance of his September 2023 Milan Tom Ford runway debut.
In the just-released Spring 2024 Tom Ford ad campaign, the visual impact is Zegna with edge. Stars of the Tom Ford Spring 2024 campaign are Alaato Jazyper, Dara Gueye, Eva Komuves, Ilias Loopmans, and Jeanne Cadieu, lensed by Robin Galiegue [IG].
Tom Ford does not need fixing in the minds of Estee Lauder, the business tean at Zegna or Hawkings himself. In that case, who is better than Peter Hawkings to inherit the Tom Ford design mantle and not be obsessed with turning a design vision inside out to make it “his own.”
As Louis Vuitton artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière [IG] celebrates his 10-year anniversary with the brand, as well as the renewal of his contract for another five years, HTSI Magazine [IG] launches a huge celebration around the designer, the label and the muses.
Ethan James Green photographed Ghesquière himself for a HTSI [Financial Times How to Spend It] interview with the designer ‘First, we have fun’: Nicolas Ghesquière on a decade at Louis Vuitton.
Bibi Cornejo Borthwick with WeFolk [IG] agency photographs the 10 models, talents and ambassadors for these remaining images, styled by Isabelle Kountoure.
Models and talents expand on HTSI’s IG comments quoted on AOC in a separate online article. They appear in chronological order of their first project with Nicolas Ghesquire for Louis Vuitton.
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