Fashion, Design, Jewelry, Luxury Brands News
/ Anne Enke
Featured
Read on: Latest Fashion Stories and Ad Campaigns/Lookbooks
Pre-2020 Renewed Archives
Pre-2020 Fashion
Read on: Pre-2020 Archives: Refreshed & First Posts
Brand News
Featured
Stefano Cantino Exits As Gucci CEO, Replaced by Francesca Bellettini
Gucci CEO Stefano Cantino is expected to exit the helm of the brand in hours to days, report multiple business media Sunday evening in US. Cantino, a veteran of both Prada and Louis Vuitton, has been Gucci CEO for about nine months.
Francesca Bellettini, currently Kering’s deputy CEO for brand development, is expected to succeed Cantino.
Monday is new Kering CEO Luca de Meo’s first day at work. If the action proceeds as reported, the new Kering CEO will have demonstrated to financial markets that he is indeed now in charge at Kering.
The Dries Van Noten FW 2025 Campaign Mines Opéra Garnier Aristocratic DNA
The Dries Van Noten Fall/Winter 2025 Campaign showcasing the first collection under new creative director Julian Klausner is shot by in-demand photographer Carlijn Jacobs [IG]. The location of the ‘Behind the Curtain’ Campaign is Opéra Garnier, located in The Palais Garnier and commissioned by Napolean III for the Paris Opera and built from 1861 to 1875.
Watching the fashion show video, it was obvious that the new Dries Van Noten collection embraced old Dries, but Klausner had also injected a new vibe into the collection that could only be his own.
As I noted on Tuesday in a deep dive into the Prada Galleria bag campaign, the ancient history of rituals goes far deeper than the pursuit of shiny hair while admiring ourselves in the mirror. Like Prada, the Dries Van Noten brand has credentials when the focus is rituals.
Having watched us trivialize the concept of duality into nothingness, I sincerely hope we don’t put the word ‘ritual’ through the same meat grinder.
Prada Galleria Bag Fall 2025 'Totem of Change' Rituals Film with Scarlett Johansson
Prada ambassador Scarlett Johansson fronts her third Prada Galleria [IG] bag campaign, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Prada regular Ferdinando Verderi provided creative direction for a handbag Prada calls a “totem of change.”
It’s the first time the two creatives Johansson and Lanthimos have worked together.
A totem of change: It’s indisputable that the Prada Galleria campaign is focused on rituals, which have evolved among humans for thousands of years and are closely aligned with religion and spirituality. When you call a handbag a “totem of change”, this creative team is placing the Galleria on a significant pedestal.
The Prada campaign lovingly mocks rituals with Johannson embracing a very long — and seemingly absurd to-do list given her by an ‘other’ self — in the execution of her particular ceremony.
From the standpoint of human psychology, Carl Jung called Johansson’s other self, the “shadow self”, and we see her operating in the film.
Read On: Brand Analysis and Fashion News
Culture, Creatives, Humanism, Earth
Featured
Trump Administration Crackdown on Civil War and Slavery References Begins
The Trump administration has ordered the removal of information on slavery at multiple national parks and other cultural institutions in an effort to end advocacy of corrosive ideologies in America.
At Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia, Trump officials told park employees to take down a sign that criticizes the post-Civil War “Lost Cause” ideology, saying that it romanticized the Confederacy and denied slavery’s central role in the conflict.
The National Portrait Gallery of Art in Washington houses the original version of “The Scourged Back,” also known as “Whipped Peter.” It’s also scheduled for removal.
AOC shares the life of Peter Gordon, aka ‘Whipped Peter’. His story and photos jolted northerners who had no idea that slavery could be so cruel.
AOC Delves into Sofia Coppola’s White World of Women
Hollywood actor Kirsten Dunst covers the September 2025 issue of Town & Country [IG], interviewed by Mickey Rapkin in ‘Cool Girl Colossus’. Dunst is styled by Deborah Afshani in images by Tina Tyrell [IG].
Late Emerging Criticism of Economic and Racial Realities in ‘Marie Antoinette’
While there was no serious race-related pushback against the film initially, over time Coppola’s preoccupation with a “privileged white woman’s problems” has become a source of criticism. Even agreeing that Marie Antoinette can be viewed universally, critics and students both insist that Coppola’s world of women is white and preferably rich.
In her Town & Country interview, Dunst reveals that she just finished reading a script for director Sofia Coppola’s latest film project.
Kirsten Dunst and Sofia Coppola have collaborated on four feature films: The Virgin Suicides [1999], Marie Antoinette [2006], The Bling Ring [2013], and The Beguiled [2017]. Dunst starred in the first three films and had a cameo in the fourth.
Pharrell Williams Heads to Rome with Voices of Fire for Vatican City Unity Concert
In Rome, Pharrell will co-direct with Andrea Bocelli the ‘Grace for the World’ closing celebration of the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity. The “landmark cultural and spiritual event” will take place in St. Peter’s Square and will stream live on Disney+, Hulu, and ABC News Live on Sept. 13 at 3 p.m. ET.
According to a press release, the concert will “bring together music, reflection, and visual storytelling in a singular live experience,” and feature live performances by Bocelli, Williams with the Voices of Fire Gospel Choir, Teddy Swims, John Legend, a 250-person international choir and more talents. There will also be an aerial drone and light show by Nova Sky Stories, including imagery inspired by the Sistine Chapel.
Pharrell called the upcoming gathering “a rare cultural moment where the world stops and collectively tunes in. It is a message of unity and grace for all of humanity”.
Read the Excerpts in: Culture, Creativity, Humanism, Earth
Women’s News, Interviews, History
Featured
Abbey Lee Covers Vogue Australia September 2025 in Images by Dan Jackson
Vogue Australia September 2025 [IG] finds Abbey Lee [Kershaw] at home in her Williamsburg, Brooklyn loft preparing for her eighth cover for the magazine. She shares the loft with her partner Milo.
Writer Alison Veness visits Abbey Lee weeks before the debut of the new Netflix series ‘Black Rabbit’ starring Jude Law and Jason Bateman on September 18.
The difference between modelling and acting, Abbey Lee says, is like night and day. “I mean, modelling is financially fulfilling, and you get to travel around the world, but at the end of the day a model has one very simple task. As an actor, it’s about your voice, your mind, your emotions, your physicality and your intelligence.”
Sydney Sweeney, Caught in the Moment by Elizaveta Porodina for WSJ Magazine
Sydney Sweeney is the ‘woman of the hour’ today and not because of her gorgeous photoshoot by Elizaveta Porodina [IG] in the September 2025 issue of WSJ Magazine [IG].
She’s not the ‘woman of the hour’ because of a led-by-the-right to bait-the-left manufactured controversy over her recent American Eagle ads.
We don’t know yet if Charlie Kirk’s killer, now-in-custody Tyler Robinson, 22, took him out over the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle manufactured-by-the-right controversy. His laundry list of hate will be revealed in the coming days.
The reason Sydney Sweeney is loud and proud today is because her November 2025 release ‘Christy’ movie trailer dropped hours ago, and it’s a blockbuster.
Read the Excerpts in: Interviews: Models, Artists, Business
Jewelry News
Jewelry News
Read On: More Jewelry News
Body Wellness, Sexuality, Culture & Politics
Daily Excerpts New Posts
Read the Excerpts In: Wellness, Sexuality, Body Politics, Culture
Ballbreakers and Billionaires
Featured
Model Dorit Revelis covers the May 2025 issue of Vogue Netherlands [IG], dedicated to the global sisterhood.
I trust that Trump and Musk won’t ban this issue of Vogue Netherlands dedicated to sisterhood — but anything is possible in our current mess of a country.
Update on Trump, Musk and Kennedy Cancelling America’s largest and longest-running women’s healthcare research project on Wed. night: The American Women coalition beat back this billionaire boys club cancellation of our women’s health research in less than 24 hrs.
This is not a game for nice little women.
We Ballbreaker ladies are not to be messed with in trench warfare with Billionaires. And ESPECIALLY with Elon Musk, who can’t seem to run his own businesses effectively, let-alone buy the US federal government for a pittance.
Presumably, Musk expects American taxpayers to finance his alleged genius, as we already financed $38 billion of his pet projects.
In April 2022, Republican State Senator Lana Theis claimed in a campaign fundraising email that State Sen. Mallory McMorrow wanted to "groom and sexualize kindergartners." On April 19, 2022, McMorrow took to the senate floor to defend herself against Theis's accusations, stating:
"I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme.”
This week State Sen. McMorrow announced her run for the open Michigan US Senate Seat created by the unexpected retirement of Democrat Senator Gary Peters.
AOC can’t imagine a better Michigan Senate candidate than the forceful, inspiring white-lady ballbreaker Mallory McMorrow, emerging as a tour de force political candidate against MAGA and for Michiganders. McMorrow is a Michigan-based nutcracker in the tradition of ‘Big Gretch’, Michigan Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer.
