Recent Brand Insights and Analysis
/ Anne Enke
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Sporty & Rich founder Emily Oberg has dropped her new Core Collection, two months after filing a trademark application for a brand called Sensual Sport.
Top model Andreea Diaconu showcases the Core Collection, lensed by Dudi Hasson [IG].
Oberg isn’t selling a sustainability message for Sporty & Rich — although her approach to fashion itself may be more sustainable. But seeing Diaconu reminded me of her 2023 C2C Certified® cashmere campaign for Ralph Lauren. That campaign is very in sync with Oberg’s Sporty & Rich mindset.
SCMP Style [South China Morning Post] [IG] September 2024 issue turns its attention to Louis Vuitton’s ‘Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds’ high jewelry collection.
The all Louis Vuitton fashions are styled by Brit Cato for models Biliny Mabil and Myriam Chenesseau. Photographer Marco Cella [IG] captures the high-minded jewelry in all its splendor. / Hair by Anne Sofia Begtrup; makeup by Anga Borodina
The first chapter — ‘Awakened Hands’ — is comprised of 100 unique pieces inspired by an important moment in world history. The French Revolution of 1789 brought down the Monarchy and the ancien régime, resulting in the beheading of King Louis XVI and his famous wife, Marie Antoinette.
With the end of royal court rule in France, artisans were free to explore their own creativity and ‘savoir faire’. This cultural explosion in artisan experimentation and free-thinking — coupled with an expanding wealthy clientele supporting their efforts — greeted 16-year-old Louis Vuitton when he arrived in Paris in 1837.
Paris Fashion Week took a moment last week to toast Zara’s [IG] high-praise-worthy collaboration with designer Stefano Pilati [IG]
Announced officially in this old-school ad campaign with supermodel Gisele Bundchen and Pilati, lensed by Steven Meisel [IG], the hotly-anticipated Zara collection drops on October 3, 2024.
The fusion of Pilati’s forward-thinking design sensibilities and Gisele’s timeless elegance results in pieces that are both sophisticated and wearable. At the heart of the collection are structured blazers, emphasizing sharp, clean lines that are both powerful and feminine.
Supermodel Gigi Hadid delivers sultry, sensual poetry in her new role as global ambassador for Rabanne’s [IG] new fragrance ‘Million Gold for Her’.
These fabulous images of Gigi are styled by Marie-Amélie Sauvé and sourced from WWD. Yulia Gorbachenko’s [IG] interpretation and visual expression of Hadid cultivate her sultry depth, arming her with an aura absent in Gigi’s typical all-American, bombshell images.
Given the stellar performance of Miu Miu in a post-COVID luxury landscape, it has to be a crushing blow to lose Miu Miu CEO Benedetta Petruzzo.
Delphine Arnault, chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture has confirmed Petruzzo’s arrival on Oct. 15.
"I am convinced that Benedetta's talent and leadership will be major assets in the continued development of Dior's activities and its international influence," Arnault said. "Her expertise in the luxury market will persist in enhancing the desirability and success of Dior. Together, with the excellence of the teams in place, we will carry on building the future and strengthening our organization."
Supermodel, Orabella and Kin Euphorics entrepreneur, social justice activist Bella Hadid [IG] has been named Global Ambassador of luxury Swiss jewelry house Chopard[IG].
A new Chopard campaign featuring Bella Hadid has launched with images by Alasdair McLellan [IG].
The campaign focus is Chopard’s Haute Joaillerie collections, including Happy Hearts, Happy Sport, Happy Diamonds, Ice Cube, and Alpine Eagle.
Vogue Business reached out to Laurent François, managing partner of the creative agency 180 Global in Paris, about the synergy between Bella and Chopard.
“Bella Hadid has built a brand founded on authenticity that resonates across large — and sometimes opposing — demographics,” Françoise explains.
AOC thought about Bella this week in a comparison with her and Taylor Swift.
Model Yilan Hua is styled by Hanna Kelifa in ‘Sheer Pleasure’, another installment in British Vogue’s [IG] collaboration with eBay UK [IG]. Photographer Charlie Gates [IG] captures the second-life luxury looks that include 16 Arlington, Acne Studio, Bottega Veneta, Helmut Lang, Jacquemus, Maison Margiela, Massimo Dutti, Miu Miu, Nensi Dojaka, Simone Rocha, / Hair by Naoke Komiya; makeup by Claire Urquhart
Luxury Resale Expands
In media reports dated August 12, 2024, eBay revealed a significant increase in searches for statement accessories. Searches for "statement bags" climbed 40 percent, while luxury brand Loewe experienced a 35 percent surge in popularity.
Polo Ralph Lauren [IG] returns to home base for its Fall 2024 campaign. New York is the city that launched Ralph and his men’s ties, made by Beau Brummell, in 1967. Menswear followed shortly, launched in 1968.
New York City is deeply embedded in Ralph Lauren’s brand DNA.
All of these sentiments and many more infuse the new Polo Ralph Lauren campaign lensed by Lachlan Bailey [IG], with film produced by Jacob Sutton.
Ralph Lauren Vintage
The campaign also includes items from the Ralph Lauren Vintage Collection, available for the first time in September 2024 on its e-commerce site and in select stores around the world.
Dior releases new images from the pre-fall 2024 collection, inspired by the brand’s recent mood embracing New York activism of the 1960s.
AOC considers Maria Grazia Chiuri to have platinum grade design and merchandising instincts. But even Anne thought Dior’s stars and stripes ‘tracksuit’ [above] was Chiuri’s rare flat tire, with its unabashed celebration of stars and stripes Americana. Yikes!
Reconsidering that Dior 2024 Stars & Stripes Tracksuit
After watching night one of the Democratic Convention in Chicago on Monday, I was probably dead-wrong. More tears and overt displays of Democratic, Independent and anti-MAGA Republican patriotism were on display last night, than America has seen in years — maybe decades. Tonight should exceed Monday.
Given my recent attitude adjustment, I now see Chiuri’s track suit as perfect for Democrats’ young Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett [IG], who has represented major parts of Dallas since 2023.
After the eloquently hell-raising speech [IG] Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave in Chicago Monday night, AOC would probably wear the Dior Americana tracksuit, too.
So Anne was right-on in her analysis of an American state of mind unknown since 2008 and maybe not even then. WE are taking back patriotism — and with pride. But I was dead wrong with my haughty-woman response to that Dior stars & stripes tracksuit. Good work Dior; please accept my apologies. ~ Anne
If the 2024 US presidential campaign hadn’t been uprooted in the last month, the Anthropologie campaign ‘I Love Antro NYC’ would still be on point.
Models Barbara Palvin, Devyn Garcia, Taylor Hill and scads of New York dogs share an everyday romp around the city.
Photographer Yulia Gorbachenko [IG] is behind the lens, helping Anthropologie continue its winning streak into the fall 2024 season. Anthropologie’s Kyla Flax styles the shoot with creative direction by Chief Creative Officer Jisoo Kang.
Brands With Heart Evoke Emotional Connection
Anthropologie’s brand and store experience have always appealed to our hearts, selling clothes that carried love into our closets. Now — for the first time in AOC’s memory — there is a massive wild card entering the advertising and marketing space.
It’s centered on Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate ‘Coach’ Tim Walz. It speaks to joy, love and an overwhelming connection to our best-selves as voters and as the American people.
Louis Hamilton’s covers the September 2024 pages of ELLE Brasil [IG], where he wears Dior Men and Issey Miyake in a fashion story styled by Juliana Gimenez for Rimowa luggage, executed with creative director Luciano Schmitz.
Rimowa [LVMH] fires on all cylinders in images that support its new seasonal Original Emerald color. The fashion shoot by Brazilian photographers MAR + Vin [IG] is both subtle and sophisticated in its layers.
Lewis Hamilton was one of the global idea and values people focused in the Rimowa campaign I so love.
Rimowa should follow this new American story, if we really pull this off this election of Harris-Walz. And the 2028 summer Olympics will be in Los Angeles.
Even MAGA agrees that if we win in 2024, with the young people coming of age, AOC’s vision of America will probably win for the long-term. This is a very big story brewing, one LVMH understands deeply.
AOC has searched for days to find something positive about Gucci’s Fall 2024 Campaign [IG] with models Alaato Jazyper, Jiahui Zhang and Loli Bahia. Riccardo Zanola acts as artistic director in images styled by Alasdair McKimm and lensed by David Sims [IG]. / Hair by Duffy; makeup by Lucia Pieroni
Gucci Creative Director Sabato De Sarno sits atop this campaign, as he methodically and slowly ponders his way out of the red-ink mess that is today’s Gucci brand.
Global luxury brands Gucci and Burberry are vying for first place in this sea of red ink. Gucci — with its strong, leather-goods business — should not be in the same car-wreck pileup that includes Burberry, who does not have iconic handbags.
Not only has the Fall 2024 Campaign prompted AOC to investigate the history of brain lobotomies as a medical treatment for women disproportionally. Anne’s very high-grade, brain wiring just recalled the extreme degree of misogyny in the Italian Futurist movement, launched in 1909 by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Read our insights on this subject.
When professionals cut open a luxury brand patient with a big heart and leave it bleeding profusely on the operating table for nearly two years, death is a real possibility.
A quintet of Victoria’s Secret models past and present come together for the Victoria’s Secret ‘Dream Lingerie’ 2024 Campaign. The beauty lineup includes Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel, Devyn Garcia, Mayowa Nicholas and Taylor Hill. / Hair by Cyndia Harvey; makeup by Lauren Parsons; set design by Andy Hillman
For a professional who joined the Victoria’s Secret business at a 187 store count and stayed a decade as fashion director, head of product development and originally a merchant developing a home store concept, these gorgeous images by Angelo Pennetta [IG] take me into the past.
Certainly, if one is trying to return Victoria’s Secret to its original glory, this is one way to do it. The business has tried everything else in its reinvention journey.
The rise of the Medici family 1400 years after the founding of Florence is a pivotal chapter in world history, marking a period of extraordinary cultural and political transformation.
The Italian Renaissance Is Relevant
These historical facts are on Anne’s mind because of the timeliness of the Italian Renaissance and its connections to several Italian houses like Brunello Cucianelli and Loro Piana. I don’t think of Ferragamo as a philosophical brand, in the way that Brunello Cucianelli is deeply devoted to the humanist philosophy. But they could be.
In the pursuit of accuracy, there’s no argument to be made that Loro Piana is seeped in philosophy either. However, one weekend in June, AOC’s post on Bella Hadid’s Orabella launch suffered a collision with an Apple News post titled ‘Human Consciousness Is an Illusion’.
‘Experimental’ is not a word used over the last 20 years to describe designer Tory Burch [IG]. When she presented her Fall 2024 collection at the New York Public Library last February, a new adjective arose to describe Burch — one we love. The word was ‘daring’.
Vogue Runway summed up the Fall 2024 Tory Burch collection, writing: “Let’s just say she’s come a long way from the people-pleasing crystal embellished tunics and Reva flats that were her earliest successes.”
The Fall 2024 campaign photographed by Jamie Hawkesworth [IG] in Lisbon, Portugal plays with light and quiet joy. It captures Tory Burch’s new word — which is good — because fashion hammers the same words to death. We need some new words — in this case ‘sublime’.
The Sporty & Rich brand has a habit of hanging out in the best hotels. Which is why the current Sporty & Rich x adidas Originals capsule collection popped into Le Bristol in Paris’ 8th arrondissement last week in time for the Paris Olympics.
Model Malika el Maslouhi models the sporting capsule in digital media and in-store materials.
Marketing and branding has tapped every aspect of food sourcing, including a flour mill and a chocolate factory in the hotel basement. This is important to know, when a Sporty & Rich x adidas Originals miche du pain arrives on one’s table in the relaxed brasserie. Or the famous Le Bristol door key for your room? Emily Oberg has left her mark there, too.
AOC completely missed the June announcement that L Catterton is partnering with actor Naomi Watts to acquire her menopause-care brand Stripes Beauty.
The American multinational private equity firm closely partnered with LVMH and Groupe Arnault is putting some expertise power behind the venture. Debra Perelman, the former Revlon CEO, is executive chair of Stripes Beauty and Cara Kamenev, a former L'Oréal executive, is president.
This nation is very messed up over the expression of a healthy female sexuality and sensual joy as a form of wellness. France and most of Europe are way ahead of America in supporting a positive sexuality at any age.
I just had a rush of my own joy reading that Naomi Watts is now in the hands of a platinum-level, business development team in the L Catterton stable. Talk about a safe harbor for Stripes Beauty. It’s a fabulous piece of news that will age well for all parties!! ~ Anne
W Korea’s Volume #7 2024 summer issue joins the bandwagon of Asian and Southeast Asian magazines rolling into fashion-content excellence with impossible-to-ignore photography that surpasses their counterparts in America and Europe. The differences are also noteworthy among European issues that are locally-owned vs. the global fashion conglomerate we all know well.
AOC understands the concept of editorial independence from luxury brands. But if the degree of recycling images across multiple titles — while also operating with obviously-reduced production budgets — doesn’t result in editorial excellence commensurate with smaller titles, that is a long-term problem
Additionally, we have ‘professional competence meets star power’ with people like Karlie Kloss entering the discussion with her titles at Bedford Media. I’m speaking of digital imagery as well, not only print.
Etro presents a summer 2024 collection inspired by the dreamy atmosphere of an Italian vacation, shot in the fascinating, stylish and rambling atmosphere of Villa Elia, in the heart of Puglia.
Models Claudio Goncalves, Lena Werner and Nathali Fried are styled by Francesca Parise in images by Raffaele Cerulo [IG]. Creative direction by Etro designer Marco de Vincenzo.
Versace [IG] celebrates Hollywood history, returning to Los Angeles and the Marmont Hotel for its Fall 2024 campaign. Mert & Marcus [IG] are behind the lens, capturing models Vittoria Ceretti, Fernando Lindez, Hedi Ben Tekaya , Lee Minseok and Loli Bahia.
Chateau Marmont officially opened its doors in February 1929, 95 years ago, just months before the stock market crash that heralded the Great Depression. It offered refuge for decades to celebrities, Hollywood stars and rich people engaging in frequent debauchery behind its secretive walls.
Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri was recently called the most modern couturier working today by Vogue’s Nicole Phelps.
In trying to explain her ‘design ethos’, while unintentionally drawing a line in the sand between herself and Christian Dior, Chiuri explained further. “Couture has historically been about ‘building the body’ with its corset foundations and highly-structured silhouettes. But I don’t want to build the body, I want to release it.”
For her Fall 2024 collection, Chiuri turned to the Miss Dior boutique, opened in 1967 to showcase a separate ready-to-wear collection during the tenure of Marc Bohan.
The designer explained: “I think he was really visionary for the time because the couture house was in difficulty. They had this relationship only with these couture clients—and women were changing. Not all the couture-house creative directors were so visionary to understand the new era, and new women.”
Supermodel Bella Hadid’s latest street style moment sought to make the adidas SL72 sneaker summer-games supreme. Originally crafted for road runners, the SL72 was released in conjunction with the 1972 Olympic games back in the day, long before many AOC readers were born.
On Thursday, July 18, the American Jewish Committee spoke out against the campaign and called for Adidas to “address this egregious error.”
It makes far more sense to AOC that in a world of young people globally protesting in support of Palestine, and the SN 72 debut at the Munich Olympics that adidas — with or without Bella’s knowledge and cooperation — decided to turn up the global heat with this campaign.
AOC fears Adidas has bet that young people will rally around the shoe as a symbol of pro-Palestinian resistance, once Bella has been attacked by the Israeli press and numerous anti-semitism groups in America and Germany. How sad.
Chemena Kamali could write a book about the history of Chloé, having worked there as an obsessed junior designer under Phoebe Philo and then again under Clare Waight Keller. Everyone says that Kamali understands the soul of the brand.
Chloé Fall/Winter 2024 campaign models include Jessica Miller, Kristine Lindseth, Liya Kebede, Ornella Umutoni, Saphira Krumhaar, Shuqi Lan and Suvi Riggs — lensed by Sam Rock.
Just three letters spelled out the new day at Chloé: J-O-Y! The world is in serious need of a bit of joy, and Chemena Kamali is here for the moment — along with her buckets of design and marketing talent.
Deauville, a charming seaside town in Normandy, France, holds a special place in the history of fashion as the birthplace of modern Chanel fashion. It was here in 1913 that Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel opened her first boutique outside Paris. Deauville's affluent visitors and relaxed atmosphere provided the perfect backdrop for Chanel to revolutionize women's fashion.
Coco Chanel introduced a new aesthetic that embraced simplicity, comfort, and elegance — with menswear and the lives of men being a key psychological component in Chanel’s approach to fashion design for ‘liberated’, wealthy women.
Leisure as a signature of wealth surrounded Coco in her observations of Deauville's elite vacationers.
The Kim Kardashian SKIMS [IG] machine rolls into summer 2024, with Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan headlining the Soft Lounge Collection that includes the Long Tank Dress, Soft Lounge Tube Dress, Long Slip Dress in Celeste, Long Sleeve Dress — with styling by Aimée Croysdill.
Across the six Soft Lounge Collection dresses, lensed by uber-talented photographer Elizabeth Porodina [IG]. the Instagram Likes run 65,000 to 1 million per image. / Makeup by Neil Young; hair by Halley Brisker
Ralph Lauren and all its subbrands from Lauren Ralph Lauren to Polo Ralph Lauren love life in horse country. In this new Pre-Fall 2024 Lauren Ralph Lauren campaign with models Blanca Padilla, Alicia Burke and more, western-inspired, polo club glamour takes the limelight.
Victoria’s Secret [IG] launched its Very Sexy ‘Escape to Summer 2024’ campaign starring Emily Ratajkowski, Gigi Hadid, Paloma Elsesser and Tina Kunakey on June 11th.
Former EIC of Vogue Paris [now Vogue France] Emmanuelle Alt styles the campaign with a French mix of sexy corset tops, lace teddies and bras in intoxicating summer colors. Add statement jewelry to the sensual Victoria’s Secret collage, lensed by Mikael Jansson [IG].
Anne of Carversville hasn’t posted Elizaveta Porodina’s images of Bella Hadid’s Orabella ‘skin-nourishing’ fragrances campaign until today.
Given the cosmic energy of these two uber-creative humans — Bella Hadid and Elizaveta Porodina — Anne had every confidence that we would get to now.
Reading an Apple News article ‘Human Consciousness Is an Illusion, Scientists Say‘ became the door that opened posting Bella’s Orabella images this morning.
Many scientists and thinkers believe the entire universe may have an internal mind, and the phrase ‘we are all connected’ is meant to be taken literally.
Seeing images from WASTE Paris [IG] on Models.com just now, Anne said “This brand with the terrific name better be sustainable.”
Paris-based, Ukrainian female photographer/videographer Julia Romanovskay [IG] is behind the lens, capturing model Jildou Lisa.
WASTE Paris co-founder Valentine Hotton launched the brand in 2022, defined by her experience as founder of COLLECTIF CHIFFON, a consulting agency in 2019.
W Magazine China’s [IG] June 2024 icon issue shares a fantastic fashion story featuring the ‘Margiela Artisanal’ 2024 couture collection starring model He Cong lensed by Zhong Lin. W also makes high-impact points in their commentary about creativity.
Creative Directors Examined
For the second time this week, my own brain has been interrupted externally with the reinforcement of thoughts already playing out here on AOC.
In preparing this W Magazine China fashion story over the course of two months, six sets of haute couture fashion traveled across the seas. The magazine “exclusively” documented this fashion moment, along with its fascinating behind-the-scenes story.
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