Carine Roitfeld Breaks Ranks With Gigi & Halima Promoting UNICEF USA & Doing Good In CR Fashionbook #23

Carine Roitfeld Breaks Ranks With Gigi & Halima Promoting UNICEF USA & Doing Good In CR Fashionbook #23

Models Gigi Hadid and Halima Aden cover CR Fashion Book Issue 13, an issue dedicated to UNICEF USA, according to editor Carine Roitfeld.  Carine broke away from the fashion pack with her fall issue, dedicated to doing good by raising awareness for the global children's relief organization with two of its newest ambassadors Hadid, the half Palestinian daughter of a Syrian refugee and Aden, a Somali refugee and prominent Muslim, hijab-wearing model. 

“The state of fashion media is absolutely in flux so it was really important for me to use my existing platform for good,” Roitfeld told The Hollywood Reporter. Choosing to spotlight UNICEF USA was a response to the international news. According to the organization, “more children are on the move now than at any point since World War II,” notes Roitfeld, the editor of Vogue Paris for a decade before founding CR Fashion Book in 2012.

Reflecting on the state of magazines generally, Carine Roitfeld says: "It’s difficult for me to talk about the future because things are constantly changing. Over 15 years ago I was asked this question while everyone was going digital and no one knew what was going to happen. Print survived then and it’s still trying to survive now," she says. "Today we are up against social media, which is a blessing and curse. People have much more access in real time — they don’t want to wait until an issue hits stands to read something. I think maybe some magazines will stay but they have to be very beautiful, like a collector’s item. They have to feature people and topics that are unique, that stand out but also resonate globally.”

UN Ambassador Gigi Hadid Visits Jamtoli Refugee Camp In Bangladesh, Housing Rohingya Muslims

UN Ambassador Gigi Hadid Visits Jamtoli Refugee Camp In Bangladesh, Housing Rohingya Muslims

Gigi Hadid has embarked on her first humanitarian mission as a UNICEF ambassador, visiting the Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh as part of a United Nations Children’s Fund initiative. The part Palestinian model is documenting her visit with Muslim children in Cox's Bazaar's Jamtoli Refugee Camp on her Instagram account. The Jamtoli Refugee Camp is currently home to approximately 45,000 Rohingya refugees who escaped Myanmar after the 2012 riots that resulted in the displacement of over 90,000 people.

The 23-year-old showed her 40 million followers a football game with some of the children, along with this text:

“As well as psychosocial work to help them get through trauma through activities like art, they also can play sports, learn music, and learn to read & draw (some for the first time in their lives). Separate from educational spaces, the importance of these spaces is huge due to the fact that refugee children can spend a majority of the day working, usually collecting fire wood from miles away so their families can cook, taking care of siblings, helping around the house, etc., and here they can just focus on having fun!”

Hadid also visited the ‘Women/Girl Friendly’ zones in the Jamtoli Camp: a safe place for females, young and old, to come learn basic education as well as personal hygiene, skills such as sewing, and also a place where they can share and connect with other women and girls.

AOC missed the June announcement that Gigi Hadid was joining HM Queen Rania of Jordan, Serena Williams, Priyanka Chopra and Katy Perry as a UNICEF International Ambassador.  We've never been critical of Gigi, including when she speaks in support of Palestinians, but it thrills us extra, when she puts her celebrity status to good works like this visit to Bangladesh. This is true beauty!!

Gucci Brand's Deep Commitment to Women In Need

Gucci Brand's Deep Commitment to Women In Need

Digging deeper into the Gucci website, we discover a wide range of involvement with young people around the world. The luxury brand supports China Children & Teenagers Fund. And now for the AOC jackpot.

PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights

Gucci is part of the PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights, replacing the former SolidarCité. The foundation is tied to PPR, the French multinational founded by François Pinault and now run by his son François-Henri Pinault.

PPR sold its French Printemps store in 2006 and is now focused on Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Sergio Rossi, Boucheron, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen (50%) and Stella McCartney (50%), as well as other brands and mail order companies.

The Foundation for Women’s Dignity & Rights is involved in so many global initiatives for women that we can’t list them. The projects aren’t sexy: genital mutilation, forced child marriage, honour killings, sex trafficking.

In my experience, most American brands shudder at the thoughts of articulating these concerns in the same sentence as their brand names.

An 'Au Naturel" Jolie and Pitt Laugh at Gossipmongers at LA UNICEF Bash

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are the anti-glamour couple at the UNICEF Ball honoring Jerry Weintraub

An ‘Au Naturel’ Jolie and Pitt Laugh at Gossipmongers at LA UNICEF Bash

Presumably the tabloids won’t let up on the fact that Brangelina is coming unglued and there’s no love left in the house, but Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were beyond joined at the hip last night, at UNICEF’s Ball honoring Jerry Weintraub.

The pair looked very Cultural Creative last evening, perhaps the most “au naturel” we’ve seen them when attending a gala. Angelina Jolie is a UNICEF ambassador and chose to not outshine the grime of the many devastating war and poverty zones that she covers on her international beat.

Diamonds at the Beverly Wilshire and starving camps in Somalia don’t make the best press, although no one would throw even a marsh mellow at Jolie and Pitt, a couple who goes beyond “walking their talk” for humanitarian causes.