2014 Variety Power of Women Luncheon Winners & Their Activist Projects

2014 Variety Power of Women Luncheon Winners & Their Activist Projects

AOC Smart Sensuality readers want more substance in their celebrity news — who cares that Jennifer Lopez and Reese Whitherspoon wore complementary dresses to the 2014 Variety Power of Women Luncheon Winners. 

Co-hosted with Lifetime TV, the October 10 luncheon paid tribute to Viola Davis and Donna Langley in addition to Fonda, Lopez and Witherspoon. We share details about these five women and the important philanthropy projects motivate them, because — for the most part — fashion bloggers don’t dig below the surface of who wore what. 

Joan Smalls & Lil Buck Soar In Daniel Jackson's WSJ Innovators Editorial

Joan Smalls & Lil Buck Soar In Daniel Jackson’s WSJ Innovators Editorial

None other than Madonna showed up at WSJ’s Innovator Awards Wednesday night, held at MOMA in New York. Eminem lauded Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine for their years of Entrepreneurship including Beats, which was sold to Apple for 3 billion. Jennifer Connelly presented a Fashion award to Nicolas Ghesquiere, and then the material girl took the stage to honor dancer Charles ‘Lil Buck’ Riley in the Performing Arts category.Other honorees included Sou Fujimoto in Architecture; Kara Walker in Art; René Redzepi in Food; and Reshma Saujani in Technology.

“You are as fearless as you are talented,” Madonna said in her introduction of Lil Buck. “You are more than a dancer. You are a poet.” Calling her comments ‘delightfully unhinged’, New York Magazine continued saying “Buck shows up uninvited at my house for dinner all the time” before praising his tenacity, grace and talent.

LA-based Lil Buck received his Innovators award and then performed his now famous ‘The Dying Swan’ in a style of street dance called jookin’. Lil Buck met Madonna in 2011, dancing in her Super Bowl half time show after winning ‘Dance for Madonna Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Competition’. He then joined her MDNA Tour as one of 22 dancers.

Lil Buck is paired here with model Joan Smalls in Daniel Jackson’s editorial for WSJ Magazine. George Cortina styles the duo in long and lean, mostly black elegance. Read WSJ’s in-depth feature Lil Buck Elevates Jookin’ to an Art.

Watch an exquisite performance ofLil Bucks and ‘The Dead Swan’ at the Vail International Dance Festival and author Sarah Lewis’s interview with Lil Buck at The Aspen Institute.

Eggdoodler's 'Africa' Egg Sculptures Inspire Talk On Rhino, Giraffe & Elephant Extinction

Eggdoodler’s ‘Africa’ Egg Sculptures Inspire Talk On Rhino, Giraffe & Elephant Extinction

Deviant Artist eggdoodler carves incredible sculptures out of delicate egg shells. In this series entitled ‘Africa’, eggdoodler uses large ostrich eggs to sculpt an elephant, a giraffe and a rhinoceros. To achieve this incredible detail and removal of so much shell, the artist used a NSK Presto hand piece with diamond and carbide bits. About 1,000 hours of labor is required to sculpt these magnificent eggs.

AOC is devoted to elephant preservation in Africa and we have written extensively on saving the elephants. We know much less about rhinos and giraffes. 

Kenya's Cattle Trade For Girl's Education | Malala Donates $50,000 To Rebuild Schools In Gaza

Kenya’s Cattle Trade For Girl’s Education | Malala Donates $50,000 To Rebuild Schools In Gaza

Fishnets & Feminism | Powerful Women Like Our Fishnets Thanks To Madonna, Beyonce, Angelina, Jennifer Lopez & Co

Fishnets & Feminism | Powerful Women Like Our Fishnets Thanks To Madonna, Beyonce, Angelina, Jennifer Lopez & Co with 10 AOC Fishnet Fashion Editorials

Natalia Vodianova Launches Benjamin Millepied At the Paris Opera Ballet By Annie Leibovitz For Vogue US November 2014

Natalia Vodianova Launches Benjamin Millepied At the Paris Opera Ballet By Annie Leibovitz For Vogue US November 2014

Natalia Vodianova joins Benjamin Millepied, the 37-year-old French dancer, choreographer and now new director of the Paris Opera Ballet, in ‘Grand Entrance’, lensed by Annie Leibovitz for the November issue of Vogue. Tonne Goodman styles Vodianova and Michael Philouze for Millepied./ Hair by Oribe; makeup by Stéphane Marais; set designer Mary Howard.

Hamish Bowles writes the story behind the editorial, noting that Millepied joins “a wave of glamorous young innovators heading up legendary arts companies, from Gustavo Dudamel at the Los Angeles Philharmonic to Andris Nelsons at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.”

In a country that takes its cultural heritage very seriously, Millepied is a bit of an upstart … an outsider. Born in Bordeaux, he trained and danced in America, rejecting the French ballet school system and training at the School of American Ballet in New York.

October 11 Is International Day of the Girl | Honoring Malala Yousafzai's Nobel Peace Prize & Angelina Jolie As A British Dame

Eye | October 11 Is International Day of the Girl | Honoring Malala Yousafzai's Nobel Peace Prize & Angelina Jolie As A British Dame

On Friday Malala Yousafzai became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, sharing the honor with India’s Kailash Satyarthi, who has dedicated himself to fighting child slavery in India for decades.

Malala has amazed millions of Westerners as an articulate survivor of the attempts of Pakistan’s Taliban to kill her. A vocal advocate for girls education who already had a blog on the BBC website, Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban, who commandeered her school bus. Not only did Malala Yousafzai defy all odds of surviving with her brain intact, she has achieved global rock star status as a change advocate for children.