Perhaps after getting the crap beaten out of him over Kenneth Cole’s absurd Egypt Uprising tweet, the “uproar in Cairo” was sparked by his spring collection, the designer got wise and returned to his roots (as Donna Karan returned to hers, not that she had any explaining to do) with a controversial new “Where Do You Stand” campaign, asking consumers to put their money where brand values exist.

Kenneth Cole collaborated with director Sean Ellis on his new Fall/Winter 2011 campaign that tackles issues such as gay marriage, war, abortion and gun control.

The ‘Where Do You Stand’ campaign features models Angela Lindvall and Casey Taylor and was shot in New York. We approve.

In describing the initiative, Founder and Chief Creative Officer Kenneth Cole says in his PR release:

“Over the years I’ve used my brand platform to raise awareness about vital social issues to remind people that it’s not just what they look like on the outside, but who they are on the inside; and not just what they stand in, but what they stand for,” says Kenneth Cole. “When I first started out, the means of communicating we have today didn’t exist. So in this new age of social media, I wanted to use this campaign to re-energize a debate with customers and like minded individuals around certain provocative, and at the same time, defining social issues.”

Redo the Prochoice Video at Once!

FOX News suggests that handbags have nothing to do with abortion. This is a Modern values media comment. Cultural Creatives and Smart Sensuality women — the stylish side of the CCs- know that a company’s values have everything to do with buying their handbags.

Eric Scheidler, the executive director of the Pro Life Action League, told Fox News.com that they’ll never buy another Kenneth Cole handbag. We say “good”.

At the same time, I am also highly critical of the Kenneth Cole video in support of the prochoice issue.

To suggest that abortion is the equivalent of deciding which handbag to buy is a travesty and reaffirms the stereotype that prochoice women are totally narcissistic, which we are not.

Changing Consumer Values

Kenneth Cole is saying indirectly — and we agree — that if he steps up to raise our consciousness on key social issues in SATC — you are the sum of your stilettos America — Cole hopes you will buy his brand. This is the Kenneth Cole I have known and supported, which is why I was furious over his self-serving Egyptian spring tweet.

The so-called experts quoted by FOX don’t understand this evolving attitudinal landscape — one I’ve tracked for over 10 years — at all.

Those who say Kenneth Cole is only using controversy to leverage his brand in bad times, don’t understand the changing consumer landscape at all.

Smart Sensuality consumers — our readers — want more than an expensive luxury handbag. We expect some kind of social conscience out of our brands. Once again, I will cite Gucci as a brand that understands Smart Sensuality women brilliantly. Anne

WhereDoYoustand.com GAY RIGHTS from Kenneth Cole on Vimeo.

WhereDoYoustand.com PRO-CHOICE from Kenneth Cole on Vimeo.

Why Kenneth Has Issues from Kenneth Cole on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Coco Chanel

‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ & Coco Chanel’s Alleged Nazi Spy Role AOC Style

‘Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War’ by American journalist Hal Vaughan was published this week in the US by Knopf, prompting Chanel to issue a statement refuting the book’s claims that (Gabriel) Coco Chanel was a member of Germany’s Abwehr intelligence agency.

The author relied on recently declassified documents that he says prove Chanel was recruited on spy missions by Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage for Abwehr, who was a known professional spy in Paris and the Mediterranean, reporting to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s right hand man.

“She would hardly have formed a relationship with the [Jewish Wertheimer] family” — which currently owns the entire Chanel brand empire — “or counted Jewish people among her close friends and professional partners,” a Chanel spokesperson said in a statement.

Vaughan disagrees, claiming that Chanel’s anti-Semitism led her to seize control of her famous Chanel No. 5 fragrance from the Wertheimers, using French laws allowing the expropriation of Jewish property. The Wertheimers had secretly moved control of the company to a Christian prior to the Nazi invasion of France.

Enjoy also images from Coco Chanel’s third-floor apartment at Chanel’s Rue Cambon address.