Today we return to Mesopotamia, asking about the rise of courtesans. Was it a worldwide role for select women, a role crossing many different global cultures but with compatible definitions?
In Mesopotamia Temple priestesses, often referred to as "sacred prostitutes," were involved in religious rites, highlighting a blend of the sacred and the secular that involved sexual service as part of worship. . . These practices are mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi, which provides one of the earliest written references to women who engaged in such roles.
In Greece The concept of the courtesan emerged more distinctly in Greece. . . In India Ancient texts in India also offer early textual evidence of courtesans, with references in ancient texts such as the Arthashastra and the Kamasutra . . . In China The origins of courtesans can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, which lasted from approximately 1046 to 256 BC . . . In Italy The origins of courtesanship can be traced back to a complex interplay of social, economic, and cultural factors that emerged during the Renaissance.
In America Yes, there is a record of courtesans in America. But AOC needs to catch up with the facts. After reading about white women courtesans in urban cities like New York and Chicago, we queried the story in New Orleans.
The findings were borderline extraordinary, and we will explain in our next deep dive into red lips women.
The commercial alliance covers women, men, kids and home categories and represents the first time the artist has affiliated herself in a commercial venture.
In these Zara campaign images, models Chu Wong and David Yang are lensed by Chris Rhodes [IG] in Yangshuo, Builin [China], considered among the most beautiful locations in China.
Fanglu Lin is known for her commitment to preserving and reinterpreting traditional textile craftsmanship through the ‘female’ [‘feminist’] eye and goddesses, especially Gaia.
Honoring the Yunnan-based Bai Minority
Lin’s artwork, ‘SHE’ [2016], spotlighting the sewing traditions of women from the Yunnan-based Bai minority ethnic group in China, earned Fanglu Lin first prize and a €50,000 purse in the Loewe Foundation’s Craft Prize 2021.
Zara is firing on all cylinders with this 5-stars collaboration. Learn more about it and Fanglu Lin’s artistry.
Prada [IG] releases its ‘Prada Days of Summer 2025 Campaign’ lensed by Oliver Hadlee Pearch [IG] with creative direction by Ferdinando Verderi and designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons.
Prada is known for being one of fashion world’s most intellectual brands.
Pearch’s calm waters are distinctive in the summer campaign images. Of course, AOC turns to the lessons of history to consider not only the waters, but also the faces of the campaign traveling in small boats.
The symbolism and mythology of calm waters have been the source of contemplation and meaning across all continents and religions in the history of humankind.
A Lesson from Icarus for Elon Musk
In the Greek myth Icarus likely saw his reflection in the calm waters of the sea — as he plunged to his death. Ignoring the advice of Daedalus that he not fly too close to the sun — or his wings would become dysfunctional as the wax holding them together melted — Icarus could not resist separating himself from the rest of humanity as a sun god.
Victoria’s Secret SummerEscape 2025 Campaign gathers Imaan Hammam and Jill Kortleve on a St. Barts beach for the start of summer’s swim season. Emmanuelle Alt styled the campaign lensed by Lachlan Bailey [IG]. / Hair by Damien Boissinot; makeup by Fulvia Farolfi
The Victoria’s Secret Swimwear [IG] is sold in select high-volume stores and online. There’s another campaign TROPIC OF C X VICTORIA’S SECRET, with Candice Swanepoel, who founded Tropic of C’s sustainable swimwear, and Joan Smalls coming shortly.
Last week, AOC shared the lingerie pieces of the Victoria’s Secret Summer Escape 2025 Campaign.
Jacquemus shares its ‘La Croisière’ 2025 Campaign, lensed in Egypt as a 24-hour journey from Cairo to Aswan by Cairo-born photographer Mohamed Sherif [IG]. Models Angelina Kendall and Mohamed Hassan are styled by Omaima Salem, drifting along the banks of the Nile in images that highlight the beauty and treasures of Egypt.
Timberland calls it “a new shade of iconic”. Too bad that ‘iconic’ is now the most overused word in fashion, because this New Hampshire wilderness meets Jacquemus south of France ‘La Bateau’ 3-Eye boat shoe just might live up to the meaning of the word ‘iconic’.
Or as the AOC/Bernie Sanders ‘Fight Oligarchy’ tour around America would say “a Riviera-looking AOC joins forces with New England workwear Bernie Sanders” and the crowds are losing their damn minds.
Top model Lara Stone is styled by Ondine Azoulay in a fashion story ‘Intensely’, a Chloé exclusive for Self-Service Magazine No.62 [IG] SS 2025 lensed by Rachel Fleminger Hudson [IG]. / Hair by Kim Rance; makeup by Miranda Joyce
Luxury brand Versace has often taken its inspiration from Mediterranean mythology, particularly Greek mythology, as evidenced by its iconic Medusa logo.
Making Medusa the symbol of Versace was a daring act, deeply embedded in ancient history and the takedown of women by a rising patriarchy, who sought to control every aspect of women’s lives.
Like Lilith, Medusa was portrayed as demonic — and that was a purposeful act by the ancient-world men in charge.
Donatella Versace’s ongoing involvement with Versace as a brand ambassador, post Prada’s acquisition, is a living — not archived — critical resource. Medusa sits atop the Versace story, and we hope to hear from her soon.
With all the stress America is under in this moment, I recommend that we all bask in the atmosphere of four beauties: Blésnya Minher, Devyn Garcia, Imaan Hammam and Paula Soares, in Victoria’s Secret Very Sexy, Very New Spring 2025 campaign.
Emmanuelle Alt styles the campaign, introducing the new Lightly Lined Low-Cut Demi Bra, lensed by Lachlan Bailey [IG]. This is a multi-pronged campaign from Atelier Victoria’s Secret x Altuzarra, representing the first time that VS has worked with designer Joseph Altuzarra.
Recently, AOC was browsing through Lachlan Bailey’sIG and was stopped cold by this wonderful campaign for Glenmorangie Single Malt Whiskey [IG] built around actor Harrison Ford.
In addition to print and special events, the project was broken down into a series of 12 episodic films by actor and film-maker Joel Edgerton. It’s AOC’s intention is to post them all. Justin O’Shea, Creative Director Spirits Portfolio at Moët Hennessy [LVMH] represented Glenmorangie.
The Brunello Cucinelli fashion business is built on the Italian values of humanism — a philosophy that AOC embraces fully now and always in my life. I am now clear in my own mind what other Italian-origin forces exist in opposition to humanism and are running wild across the US federal government.
I keep reading about alleged brilliance at work, but these beliefs run scarily close to the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who published the "Manifesto of Futurism" in 1909.
AOC first wrote about the Manifesto in the 2016 Democratic primary, and it’s now thriving in the Trump administration, where it unites the far left and far right far closer than we want to admit.
The house’s ‘BC Duo’ handbag represents a bit of a torch-passing moment, as the first bag to be designed by the Cucinelli daughters. The softly-structured tote might be the quintessential ‘ladies’ bag, especially the largest of the four sizes, which appeals to our own ‘throw in anything I might need today’ mentality.
Models Rim Tekle and Tara Halliwell together symbolize the purity of the feminine ideal in Brunello Cucinelli’s world. I will leave that statement hanging to give it oxygen, rather than death by asphyxiation. ~ Anne
The new Miu Miu [IG] 2025 Leathergood Campaign, starring Gigi Hadid in its initial release, immortalizes both the brand’s emblematic matelassé now presented in soft suede across the Wander and Arcadie handbags and the women who hold it in their hands. The color hues are delicious: chocolate, mustard, pistachio and fuchsia.
Technical execution by Steven Meisel [IG] creates timeless imagery inspired by classic high-society portraiture of the 20th century. Styling by Lotta Volkova; creative direction by Edward Quarmby.
AOC shares images shot in Lisbon by Osma Harvilahti [IG] for LeMonde d’Hermès 86 magazine, edited by Olivier Wicker [IG]. Models Io Sekine and Tass Sarr are styled by Rae Boxer in key pieces from the spring collection. /Hair by Pawel Solis;makeup by Karin Westerlund
Hermès’ creative director of women's ready-to-wear Nadège Vanhée expressed a not-often used phrase to describe her approach to the Spring 2025 season: “What I want to convey as the message is the idea of an assertive sensuality,” she said. “You know, it’s about the summer, a feel-good summer, and, really, this relationship you have with your skin.”
Tod’s unveils Italian Diaries, a campaign that honors the brand’s legendary Gommino driving shoe, embraced by five emerging talents with rich artistic backgrounds: actress and singer Ella Bleu Travolta, musician Lennon Gallagher, writer and director Stella Banderas, model and artist Roberto Rossellini, and singer and actor Leo Gassmann.
Set at Villa Talamo amidst the stunning, ancient Tuscan scenery, photographer Oliver Hadlee Pearch [IG], shoots the campaign in black and white, while the Gomminos breakout in full-color images on social media and the Tod’s website.
As a symbol of Italian culture and craftsmanship, one that represents Tod’s expertise and attention to small details, the luxury brand is part of a larger renaissance of the Italian story, one that AOC is studying in great detail.
How do we create cultures that thrive for centuries — even with an egotistical madman at the wheel and democratic ideals thrown to the curb? We’re about to find out. It’s not as if Italy — and the rest of Europe also — haven’t been down this road before.
Anne of Carversville has long-prized elegant packaging as part of the beauty experience. Dior Beauty Riviera summer 2025 delivers for the first time ever, the iconic Toile de Jouy pattern on limited-edition makeup cases and powders.
Surely this packaging belongs in a scene from Deva Cassel’s new Netflix series ‘The Leopard’. Cassel plays the role of Angelica Sedara, amid the 1860s fall of the Sicilian aristocracy, where she enjoys a high-society romance with Prince Tancredi Falconeri, played by actor Saul Nanni.
The summer 2025 Dioriviera release combines beauty’s latest modern technology against the romantic, heart-grabbing emotions of Riviera summers from Cannes to Portofino. They remain an indescribable part of Anne’s life experiences.
Filmmaker and photographer Sharna Osborne [IG] lives in a high-definition world with her own 90s lo-fi artistic sensibility. Osborne brings her talents together for Acne Studios SS-2025 working with artist Jonathan Lyndon Chase. Models Africa Garcia, Alex Consani, Laiza de Moura and Mary Ukech are styled by Léopold Duchemin in Acne Studios SS-2025 collection.
The Acne Studios business unit kicked off 2025, announcing that it has earned the prestigious B Corp certification. The issue is a critical one for our young people who will inherit an increasingly complex world on many fronts — including the very real impacts of climate change.
The Zara ‘Corporate Cosplay S/S 2025’ drop for H&M, lensed Carlijn Jacobs [IG] captures the sophisticated, powerful approach to corporate dressing very popular in the 1980s.
Post-2024 election analysis shows that the biggest gulf in American politics lies between white, college-degree women and non-college degree white men. Never has a canyon like this one been so extreme.
Testosterone-dominance is fundamental to the American experience, although women had made significant progress for decades in creating a wider platform for success. In 2025, with bro culture ascending again in America, our future is filled with peril.
We were then and still are called ballbreakers, a woman, whose character and behavior may be regarded as threatening a man's sense of power. AOC has called for the rising of True Grit Women, and we are fearless ballbreakers.
Contemporary ballbreakers include Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Gretchen Whitmer, Jasmine Crockett, and Nancy Pelosi. In my camp: WE NEED TO HUSTLE!
Last September, New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 opened in a rather surprising location, casually called the East End by New Yorkers.
It was a quintessential Ralph Lauren experience — an ultimate, middle class guy makes good, American experience. They are in short supply these days, but Ralph Lauren should start a young mens academy for today’s young men so impacted by him.
In Virginia, Ralph Is the Man
After the disappointing 2024 presidential election in America, I cast my focus to work with young men in Virginia, who had voted for Trump. The group can be mixed, but it must have young male Trump voters.
For those young men — Latino, Black and White — Ralph Lauren is their hero. A mix of college men and young business owners, they stunned me with their breath of knowledge about marketing. They also know Louis Vuitton inside out, and Pharrell’s role there.
Acqua Fiuggi: Loved by Vogue’, lensed by Elizaveta Porodina [IG], is a high-profile reinvention campaign, with ancient DNA. The portfolio of top luxury brands like Prada or Louis Vuitton don’t really need Condé Nast, as much as Vogue’s parent needs them.
That’s not the case for Acqua Fiuggi, a brand of bottled water repositioning itself as part of the wellness business sector.
Gut health was probably not on the menu at the ‘Acqua Fiuggi Loved by Vogue’ dinner photocall at Biocca Hangar during Milan Fashion Week. Nor was the fact that six years ago, Acqua Fiuggi’s owners were in the Frosinone Bankruptcy Court.