November 2023 Brands: Karlie Kloss Buys i-D Magazine | Van Cleef & Arpels 'The Grand Tour' | Billie Eilish for Gucci
/ Anne Enke
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AOC’s first reaction to these Prada holiday, model-focused images has nothing to do with buying gifts for friends and family this holiday season.
Prada and the Future of Humanity
Anne’s response was focused on a deeply-felt anxiety that she would feel so much better if Prada Group owned Starlink, X and SpaceX — rather than Elon Musk. The ‘l’enfant terrible’ with a massive daddy complex can keep Tesla.
“The constantly forward-thinking ethos of Prada for humanity has broadened to his desire of adventure and to brave new horizons: space,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group marketing director, stated with the announcement that Prada is partnering with Texas-based Axiom Space to design the lunar space suits for the hopefully-glorious 2025 Artemis III mission. [Anne’s non-quoted words.]
Charaf Tajer‘s pre-Spring 2024 Casablanca Campaign makes a sophisticated play for a monied, athletic elegance and varsity chic-inspired cafe-society crowd.
The romantic mood of the movie ‘Casablanca’ itself ebbs quietly through the campaign, signposts for a WWII cafe society crowd that embraced classic notions of honor, loyalty, friendship and duty in a 2024 global political climate that’s testing all those values — and turning them inside out.
Count Maggie Maurer in as a member of the Resistance, joined by Valentin Caron. Corentin Leroux [IG] photographs the campaign, with art direction by Rashid Barbiker and styling by Francesca Parise./ Hair by Ryan Mitchell; makeup by David Koppelaar
Photographer Elizaveta Porodina [IG] ignites the Giorgio Armani Holiday 2023/4 campaign with a 21st century, restrained, jazz-age glamour.
Porodina’s high-level skills in clinical psychology and humanism enhance her understanding of branding in a way other photographers do not intuit.
With one broad stroke of her Jungian-inspired, creative vision, Porodina now makes Armani model Beauise Ferwerda a multi-dimensional Armani woman with a shadow-self.
After spreading its British wings to international cities with its ‘Burberry Streets’ sightings, Burberry’s Daniel Lee again heads home, assembling a motley British-related and credentialed crew for the brand’s Spring 2024 campaign.
Tyrone Lebon again is the photographer for Burberry, rowing in total synchronocity with Daniel Lee.
One sports figure in the campaign is professional boxer Somali-British Ramla Ali, who is also a Dior ambassador. She’s rather dear to AOC’s heart.
The founder of Sisters Club, Ali scored a vindicating win over Julissa Guzman, in early November. The luxury brands boxer suffered a ‘shocking’ defeat to Guzman in June 2023, which is why we use the word ‘vindicating’.
Louis Vuitton delivers smile-worthy holiday cheer in its first episode of a multi-segmented campaign lensed by Oliver Hadlee Pearch [IG] with video by Lope Serrano.
The Maison’s Mascot Vivienne and her friend Teddy arrive to explore all the Maison’s creations. As regulars, they might become treasured ornaments as the years go by — and we are eager to keep track of them.
These darling little creatures pop up everywhere in a distinct statement that whimsy is part of the holiday season and we are quietly encouraged to get “out of ourselves” and into the world of humanity.
Karlie Kloss is the proud owner of i-D Magazine, a decade after being featured on i-D’s Spring 2013 cover.
Fast forward to November 2023, where Karlie’s new media company Bedford Media is flying solo in acquiring i-D Magazine.
Karlie will lead the British magazine as CEO, with i-D top editor Alastair McKimm [IG] expanding his role to the title of chief creative officer and global editor-in-chief.
Moschino’s new creative director Davide Renne arrived at the Italian house on November 1, 2023. Renne’s candle had no time to burn brightly in his new assignment, as the designer passed into a another dimension today, November 10, 2023.
We do not know the cause of death, which has been described as a “sudden illness” that claimed his body and earthly existence just 10 days after his arrival at Moschino.
Renne’s resume was defined largely by two decades at Gucci, eventually as Head Designer of Womenswear, working with Alessandro Michele.
Supermodel, businesswoman, mom Candice Swanepoel leads us into 2024 with a new Tropic of C Sustainable Lace collection of black and white, made-to-be seen innerwear that renders lace lovers as sensual creatures who are also kind to Mother Earth.
All of Candice’s fabrics are sustainable, with this lace fabric coming out of Portugal and making its way into existing C collection styles. Note the ‘movie poster’ image with the photoshoot credentials and specific information about the fabric. Tropic of C has never veered off course in leading with sustainability.
In its Fall 2023 presentation in Rome, fine jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels chose the ‘Grand Tour’ experience as the cultural inspiration for the designs of the luxury jeweler’s newest masterpieces.
Global Impact of The Grand Tour
Traditionally, the European aristocrats were at the forefront of experiencing the Grand Tour and reveled in the opportunity to delve into the cultural riches of science, art, architecture, and history.
Yet, as the colonial expansion in South America and India gathered momentum, individuals of wealth from these regions also sought to emulate the grandeur and sophistication of the Grand Tour.
Oyadeas! I simply adore Creative Director Daniel Lee’s Burberry Holiday [IG] 2023 campaign. ADORE IT!! It’s charming, genuine, not camp but quiet luxury gone a tiny bit wild.
Roe Ethridge [IG] shoots this precious masterpiece, with creative direction by Carina Frey and Stefanie Barth.
The logo fully communicates Burberry without ruining the larger-image, buy-me item. He’s leaving before you can be annoyed with him — sort of like an apparition. He’s like “Chill, Anne, I’m leaving.”
Actually the Burberry knight reminds me of the Tribute of Light show outside my high-floor, lower Manhattan window after Sept. 11 in New York. Tribute always came to visit us and even stayed the night. But then he was gone when I woke up, off to bring a bit of hope and serenity elsewhere in our complicated world.
For a couple years we tried to trap him for at least a cup of morning French Roast, but Tribute always outsmarted us, slipping out the window at dawn.
Billie Eilish is back at Gucci and let’s applaud that move. Without question Billie is a bridge between the respective visions of the two creative directors — Alessandro Michele and now Sabato De Sarno.
For Gucci, Billie Eilish has teamed up on a greenish version of their iconic Horsebit 1955 bag. The new version is crafted from Demetra, a 75% plant-based, animal-free material that has been produced in Italy since 2021.
Gucci launched sneakers made of Demetra two years ago. The bags also use recycled ECONYL nylon made from regenerated ghost nets, carpets, and pre-consumer waste. Prada and Burberry were leaders in the development of ECONYL with products coming to market in 2019. Demetra is tanned in accordance with Gucci’s century-old standard practices.
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