Blumarine Takes Flight in Spring 2022 Images by Harley Weir for Numéro Berlin

Blumarine’s Nicola Brognano’s fashion lust is reserved for the 00s but with a twist: “My Blumarine is more dirty, bitchy, sexier.”

Fashion News at AnneofCarversville.com

Creative Director Nicola Brognano arrived at Blumarine in 2019, prepared to invigorate the beloved 90s brand that had lost its luster. Brognano’s fashion lust is reserved for the 00s, a time when the Italian designer was obsessed with Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and the era of ‘Mean Girls’.

AOC’s reference is important because in the words of the designer to a Vogue reviewer: “My Blumarine is more dirty, bitchy, sexier.”

“I was obsessed with them when I was younger (in Southern Italy),” he explains about Spears, Lohan and Hilton. “Even growing up and thinking about becoming a fashion designer, I have always wanted to make women feel as sexy and powerful as they were.”

When he first arrived at Blumarine, Brognano brought back from the dead Blumarine’s butterfly top. [Did you know that Google also brought back Feedburner from the dead, and AOC is running our RSS feed on it?]. The designer told Dazed that Versace has its Medusa and Blumarine has its butterfly.

By every measure, Brognano’s Blumarine rehab is working out just fine, with pop culture powerhouses like Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and Rihanna signing on as clients.

Stylist and collaborator Lotta Volkova is always described has having a “sharp and Knowing eye for the cheeky and surreal”, according to Vogue’s Liana Satenstein. That pov about Volkova is universal.

Photographer Harley Weir IG] joined the Blumarine Spring 2022 fashion passion party in Milan, shooting these atmospheric images for Numéro Berlin.

Erdem Moralıoğlu Is Photographer of 'Vintage' for Vogue Poland November 2021

Erdem Moralıoğlu Is Photographer of 'Vintage' for Vogue Poland November 2021 AOC Fashion

“It’s gone by extraordinarily quickly,” Erdem Moralıoğlu says about the 15th anniversary of his brand Erdem. “If I close my eyes, I can still imagine being a student at the Royal College putting together my graduate collection,” reflects the designer who has embraced a poetic femininity with deep roots in the strong, often renegade, women of history.

In fact, Erdem’s depth of historical context underpinning the collections — combined with an overarching respect or craftsmanship and artistry — is unmatched in the world of luxury fashion brands. A key element in the recent evolution of the Erdem brand vision is the extraordinary synergy emanating from Ibrahim Kamara, who has styled all of Erdem’s collections and shows since 2019.

New Vogue Poland editor-in-chief, photographer Ina Lekiewicz invited Erdem Moralıoğlu, accompanied by Ib Kamara, to create this visual masterpiece in the November issue. In a new role, the designer is the photographer for the fashion shoot on location at the 17th-century Southside House in London.

Models in ‘Vintage’ include Florence Hutchings, Lily Nova, Ngozi Anene, Sienna King and Wang Han./ Hair by Teiji Utsumi; makeup by Thom Walker

Celestial Grade Synergy

Now the Dazed editor-in-chief, Ib Kamara is extraordinary adept at upending reticence or plain ignorance in how to weave the visual narrative of race, colonialism and fashion together in a modern way. Gender and sexuality are also key undercurrents in Kamara’s work, but the visionary stylist’s brilliance is his emotional and intellectual willingness to take historical realities and weave them in a web of revised history.

The result is an unabashed modern and progressive vision of a better truth, if you think like we do. Others may shatter a mirror or two over the audacity of Erdem Moralıoğlu and Ibrahim Kamara revising colonial history in a shared vision. In another ironic twist, both talents admire strong women and they seek out unique and unconventional personalities as their seasonal muses.

Kamara makes no attempt to shun the often painful facts of history, being a son of the African continent. Rather, he reweaves them into new visual narratives that travel far beyond their original reality. This revised visual statement says “it didn’t have to be this way.”

Erdem Moralıoğlu is the beneficiary of Kamara’s insights and visual interpretations, and one imagines that the synergy between the two super-talents is nothing less than blinding at times. Born in war-torn Sierra Leone, Ibrahim Kamara benefits from Erdem’s insights as the son of a Turkish father and an English mother. Erdem was born in Montreal, Canada and shuttled between Montreal and Birmingham, England.

Ibrahim Kamara says about his relationship with Erdem Moralıoğlu:

“It’s very valuable to meet someone with whom you can perform a creative dance. “

To those of us watching, the tango is breathtaking. ~ Anne

Rocio Ramos Seizes the Power of Cardinals for Marie Claire Mexico and LA

Rocio Ramos Seizes the Power of Cardinals for Marie Claire Mexico and LA AOC Fashion

Photographer Rocio Ramos [IG] captures unadulterated-red, fashion passion in the October pages of Marie Claire Mexico and Latin America. Model Dalianah Arekion poses in primal, earth-goddesses elegance styled by Abraham Gutiérrez.

Most fashion media will promote the color red as symbolizing new energy and interest in living with the latest seasonal wardrobe. The message is consumption-oriented — which is understandable, especially if we are looking at the latest, earth-loving sustainable fashion buys.

We doubt that is the case here — that we are looking at sustainable fashion. But there are even higher principles at play in these images. AOC knows for a fact that artist and photographer Rocio Ramos is on our wave-length, and she likes the writing her images inspire.

So we will move out on red, into the fast lane.

Red Symbolism

The color red is most often associated with a passion for living and an embrace of love, but also carnal pleasures. Red is known as an emotionally-intense color that enhances human metabolism and increases respiration rate, while raising blood pressure. The impact of the color red on the human body has been seriously studied.

Culturally-speaking we are in a red-alert moment that transcends fashion runways and embraces the duality of competing narratives about our very humanity.

Red is the color of fire and blood, one often associated with energy, war, power and danger. Red is considered to be aggressive and fierce, but also grounding. In the world of 7 chakras, red is the root chakra, and while it’s easy enough to dismiss red as primitive with its positioning on the chakra chart, it is also responsible for our sense of security and stability.

When apes first stood tall and began walking into humanity, their root chakra was in high gear — literally. Rocks and caves were homes to humanity before we created mobile structures made of mammoth tusks. The setting for Rocio Ramos’ fashion story is perfect, because it embraces the necessities of security, survival and being rooted as the very foundation of our lives.

Stella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Inspires a World of Fungi Research

Stella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Inspires a World of Fungi Research AOC Muse

Designer Stella McCartney’s Spring 2022 fashion show was inspired by mushrooms. Quite frankly, life on Anne of Carversville has not been the same since I watched on Netflix the 2019 ‘Fantastic Fungi’ documentary that prompted McCartney’s deep dive into the world of mushrooms.

Mushrooms are the visible part of an organism called mycelium, and they are not plants, even though they have a plantlike form. Even more important, until recently, fungi have been part of the botanist’s domain, and they were classified — incorrectly — as plants, writes the American Society For Microbiology in an article Three Reasons Fungi Are Not Plants.

Fungi and Africans: Both Misclassified and Misunderstood by Carl Linnaeus

Fungi were classified as plants for centuries due to an axiom attributed to Carl Linnaeus: “Plants grow and live; Animals grow, live and feel.”

Linnaeus’ delineation of plant activity seems inadequate and overly simplistic, given scientific research on the way in which plants experience sentient activity. We know that plants sense danger and then communicate their information to other plants, seeming to contradict Linnaeus’ assertions around plant life. NOT knowing his connection to racial categorization — I muttered to myself “Oh, right. In the same way some white dudes classified people of color as lesser-quality humans, they managed to ignore the profound distinctive attributes of fungi and mushrooms by calling them plants.”

Eureka! Linnaeus was deeply involved in the science of racial categorization. Rather than taking a sharp right turn in this post, AOC will stay with the fact that fungi can’t produce oxygen via photosynthesis, a core attribute of the plant kingdom.

It’s interesting when fashion, mushrooms and the civil rights movement come together in a single, cohesive thought pattern. Then again, the world of fungi is so primordial and pervasive in our biosphere that mycelium — the network of fungal threads or hyphae that produces the mushrooms we eat — strikes us as the very root of existence.

Stella McCartney is leading the way in working on the development of luxury leather made from mushrooms. The designer wants all of us to become curious about mushrooms, and I am now her dedicated disciple at AOC.

Megan Fox, MGK by Daniella Midenge Talk Demon Sex in British GQ Style AW21

Megan Fox and MGK (Machine Gun Kelly) made many headlines this week, and it was perhaps exactly as planned. AOC’s friend photographer Daniella Midenge [IG] called her images ‘provocative’. Indeed they are, as Fox is wearing nothing but a harness and pointing a gun at MGK’s crotch in the one below Fashion director Nicola Formichetti works on the shoot with styling by Hunter Clem for the British GQ Style AW21 issue.

Fox described their state of being in the time of the GQ UK interview on her Instagram as: “The tale of two outcasts and star-crossed lovers caught in the throes of a torrid, solar flare of a romance featuring: feverish obsession, guns, addiction, shamans, lots of blood, general mayhem, therapy, tantric night terrors, binding rituals, chakra sound baths, psychedelic hallucinations, organic smoothies, and the kind of sex that would make Lucifer clutch his rosary.”

That’s a lot of information, but I will say that those who condemn the couple’s first kiss as a bust, don’t know what they are talking about. As MGK explained: “We just put our lips right in front of each other and breathed each other’s breath, and then she just left.”

My suggestion is “Don’t damn a tantric kiss if you’ve never experienced one. “

All weekend starting Friday, WaPo’s article Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are trying to be Hollywood’s hottest new couple, but instead are the most cringeworthy by Emily Yahr was in the top five reads. It’s also the lead right now in a Google search.

Positioned ahead of the actual GQUK interview “True romance: Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are Hollywood’s new power couple “is not ideal. But there’s no doubt that all the controversy over these two lovebirds will not hurt anyone’s careers, especially their own — and, hopefully, Daniella’s.

GQ Writer Molly Lambert asserts that Megan Fox is the “ideal cool babe consort for a burgeoning superstar like MGK, a rapper rocker whose new album, ‘Born With Horns, is executive-produced by Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.”

If you don’t know Travis Barker, he’s Kourtney Kardashian’s betrothed. Lambert writes that Fox believes she and her spiritual love MGK share what she calls the ‘combustible element’ of all celebrities like Kurt and Courtney or Mick and Marianne — except that she and MGK are “trying their damndest to make sure things don’t blow up.”

I’m not sure that they are Hollywood’s new power couple. We’re in a different moment, although eating mushrooms together on a January walk in Bora Bora is sublime. Then again, the Kardashians are in a much better position to confirm the probability of the Fox and MGK as Hollywood’s newest power couple than AOC. ~ Anne

Andrew Gn's Spring 2022 Collection Teams Up With Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Designer Andrew Gn releases images for his Spring-Summer 2022 Campaign, lifted from his fashion show video. The imagery by Bon Parinya Wongwannawat {IG] arrests our senses — including the lavish use of a coral pattern and coral motifs in jewelry., and not for the first time.

Corals have been a recurring theme in Gn’s collections since 2005, and this time he partnered with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to raise awareness about the TRULY DESPERATE reality of the future of the world’s coral reefs.

The event took place at an Art-Deco palace in Paris, Palais de la Porte Dorée, located in the 12th arrondissement, home to the National Museum of the History of Immigration. There is an intersection between art deco style and colonialism, and we will just park that factoid in this moment — so as not to divert attention from the perilous future of the world’s coral reefs.

The location was perfect for Andrew GN, with his mixed Chinese and Japanese ancestry, his upbringing in Singapore, education at Central Saint Martins in London and Domus Academy in Milan and then working as assistant to M. Emmanuel Ungaro. In his own words, Andrew GN considers himself to be a citizen of the world.

Andrew Gn’s spring 2022 collection was inspired by the memorable wardrobe worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the classic ‘Boom!’, filmed in Sardinia. Working with the Italian label Tiziani, Karl Lagerfeld had a hand in designing Taylor’s on-screen power-woman elegance.

Writing for the NYT in 2001, Amy Spindler called Taylor’s wardrobe in the obscure 1968 film “an irresistible Kabuki Kitschfest”.

As for the state of our coral reefs, it’s no laughing matter. Published in early October, as ‘The Sixth Statue of Corals of the World: 2020 Report, the world has lost 14 percent of our coral reefs since 2009.

Bali-Based Isa Boulder Fall 2021 Campaign by Carlijn Jacobs Expands Consciousness

Bali-Based Isa Boulder Fall 2021 Campaign by Carlijn Jacobs Expands Consciousness AOC Fashion

The Isa Boulder brand delivers an intoxicating Fall 2021 ad campaign that marries tightly to the brand’s DNA. Cecilia Basari and Yuli Suri were two friends living in Bali, with no experience in swimwear. The two women had never worn bikinis in public, writes Vogue Paris.

Two years later, Basari and Suri are operating at a level way above buzz. Each piece is made by local craftsmen in Bali from recycled premium fabric.

“Providing a bespoke service is definitely something we are proud of because we are able to make something for our wearers that is personally made with them in mind. By producing in small quantities we are also able to ensure that we do not overproduce and have unnecessary stock.” the duo told VP.

Will American Bees Survive Pesticides, Government Dysfunction and Other Killers?

Will American Bees Survive Pesticides, Government Dysfunction and Other Killers? AOC Fashion

American [species] Bumble Bees Could Gain ESA Protection

AOC has followed the problem of dwindling bee populations for almost a decade. But we were shocked to learn this week that the American bumble bee population has dropped nearly 90 percent. These vital pollinators for wildflowers and crops have vanished completely in eight states: Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wyoming.

Presently American bumble bees have no protection. But an August 2021 petition for protecting the American bumble bee under the Endangered Species Act [ESA] was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Bombus Pollinator Association of Law Students, an Albany Law School student group.

Sounds great you say. Finally we’re taking action to protect our bees. Yet the plight of another bee species shows us just how complicated it is to protect these precious pollinators. Passing a law or writing a new policy does not guarantee any improvement in bee deaths.

We must create spaces — land with controlled uses of pesticides — in which bees can thrive and regenerate their population. However, America still can’t agree on the science of pesticides. Any mandate meets countless political headwinds, as Democrats and Republicans generally loathe each other on plans — or no plans — to protect our environment.

Francesca Hayward Raises the Barre by Ekua King in Porter Edit October 18, 2021

Francesca Hayward Raises the Barre by Ekua King in Porter Edit October 18, 2021 AOC Fashion

The Royal Ballet’s Francesca Hayward is known for her honest but also diplomatic assessment of life in the notoriously clubby world of ballet. There’s little pretense with Hayward — like her telling Porter Edit interviewer Kadish Morris:

“I don’t come from a dance family, so my whole career has been about just giving it a go and seeing what happens.”

Hayward credits Kevin O’Hare, director of the Royal Ballet, for seeing clearly her potential. “He plucked me out of the water very quickly and said, ‘You can do this.’”

Francesca Hayward is styled by Jenny Kennedy in luxe fashion from Alaïa, A.W.A.K.E, Bottega Veneta, Dries Van Noten, Erdem, Molly Goddard, Saint Laurent, Simone Rocha and more. Ekua King [IG] captures the rising star in ‘Raise the Barre’ for Porter Edit’s October 18, 2021 cover story.

Bob Dylan Helps Hayward Prepare to Perform

The dancer was born in Nairobi, Kenya, then moved to West Sussex at age two, living with her grandparents. She is presently set to dance as Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, a part very familiar to her. “It’s in my body,” Hayward explains, adding that her chief concern is not to go on autopilot.

Framing Prejudice as ‘Imbalance’

On the topic of the rise of activism, Francesca Hayward is circumspect and dedicated to raising the convo around the world of ballet. “I think it is ingrained into ballet dancers from our very first class that we should be so grateful to be here, that we are so lucky doing what we’re doing. But we should be able to speak out,” she tells Morris.

When AOC calls Hayward ‘diplomatic’, here’s an example of how she doesn’t mention the words ‘racism’, ‘prejudice,’ ‘white superiority’ but only ‘diversity’. in a word chain that we will consider fully, Francesca Hayward uses the word ‘imbalance’ to describe the reality of racism. What a fascinating, nonjudgmental communication umbrella to frame racial ugliness or even hate with the more innocuous word ‘imbalance.’

Never Let Them See You Sweat

Hayward’s references to managing fear and nervousness in the performing arts or the public space generally also resonate as very good advice — an AOC mantra, in fact:

“Don’t look SCARED. People who can smell fear might exploit it. Look STRONG — even if you’re not feeling strong on the INSIDE.”

Francesca Hayward is performing at London’s Royal Opera House in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ from October 5-23; ‘The Dante Project’ from October 14-30; ‘Giselle’ from November 22-27, and ‘The Nutcracker’ from December 7-16

Correlation Exists Between Lynching Events and Confederate Statues by US County

A map [middle image’ highlights the correlation between lynchings and Confederate monuments in America. The darker, redder colors indicate higher numbers of lynching victims; with each dot representing a Confederate monument (courtesy of the University of Virginia)

Republish via AOC at FeedBurner CC 3.0 License Attribution Required: Daily Fashion Design Culture News

Large numbers of white southerners have long argued that Confederate monuments exist exclusively as symbols of southern pride and a proud history of rebellion against America’s federal government.

Led by United Daughters of the Confederacy, supporters of Confederate monuments refuse to acknowledge that there is any psychological damage to nonwhite people living their daily lives in the shadows of these relics to the days of slavery.

Former slave families should also celebrate the honor of the Old South, say white southerners while waving their Confederate flags in their faces. If people of color are bothered by these towering monuments of famed Confederate generals, they should praise God’s creation of an ideal society and way of life. Otherwise, people of color can hop the first boat back to Africa. Easy peasy.

A new study by researchers at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville challenges the noble premise of Confederate monuments.

Led by Kyshia Henderson of UVA’s Social Psychology Program, who worked with data scientist Samuel Powers and professors Sophie Trawalter, Michele Claibourn, and Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi at the university’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, the researchers documented a significant correlation between the numbers of Confederate monuments in an area and the number of documented lynchings from 1832 to 1950.

Published by the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers do not assert that the existence of Confederate monuments causes or provokes lynching. Their private beliefs — and those of the majority of researchers working in this area of study — do believe that Confederate statues are symbols of hate and also dominant power. But this study only concludes that there is a positive correlation between the two data sets: lynchings by county and Confederate statues by country.

“We can’t pinpoint exactly the cause and effect. But the association is clearly there,” Trawalter wrote. “At a minimum, the data suggests that localities with attitudes and intentions that led to lynchings also had attitudes and intentions associated with the construction of Confederate memorials.”

The researchers referenced another study associated with dedication speeches for Confederate memorials, finding that nearly half of the 30 dedication speeches reviewed involved “explicit racist language,” including phrases like “love of race” and “your own race and blood.”

T Magazine's Fluffy, Furry Ancestral Creatures by Toby Coulson with Cherokee Jack and Briana Michelle

T Magazine's Fluffy, Furry Ancestral Creatures by Toby Coulson with Cherokee Jack and Briana Michelle AOC Fashion

Modern-day nomads are slowing down, honoring traditions and the roots of our culture. This T Magazine fall 2021 feature on ‘Winter’s Fluffiest and Furriest Outwear’ highlights not only whimsical textures in which we are one with furry creatures in an animistic, psychological relationship.

Presented by models like Briana Michelle and Cherokee Jack with close, ancestral ties to the land, we are all invited to pay our respects to cultures and a biosystem eons older than the prevailing patriarchal, white-man’s so-called Christian vision of dominance over the the earth and its peoples.

AOC isn’t suggesting that all references to indigenous cultures belong to ‘the good guys’.

Consider the Arizona man Jacob Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, who led an insurrection against the US Capitol on January 6. We must not be naive about men wearing big, furry hats with horns. They can kill you.

Stella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Hugs Shroom Power Sustainability

Designer Stella McCartney’s Spring 2022 fashion show happened under the Brutalist concrete cover of the Espace Niemeyer. It turns out, writes the New York Times, that the space resembles a Martian bio-dome. Mushrooms are Stella’s muse for not only her spring 2022 collection, but in her deeply-held commitment to sustainability and living with constant reverence for our biosphere.

The Times’ Vanessa Friedman is not entirely fair — or her memory failed her — when she wrote that sustainability finally made its full-throated entrance in the spring 2022 shows with Stella McCartney’s collection.

Friedman wrote: “Well, hello sustainability. Wondering when you’d show up.” The fashion industry expert must have slept through Gabriela Hearst’ Chloé show: Gabriela Hearst Takes Chloé to Bugatti Speed in Redefining Purpose for Luxury Brands

Within this creative atmosphere, the fashion crowd heard the voice of American mycologist and entrepreneur Paul Stamets, who is considered an intellectual and industry leader in everything associated with fungi. In only a few seconds, Stamets summed up the future of fashion with his admonition: “In fashion, mushrooms are the future.”

Stella McCartney has been deeply committed to Bolt’Threads’ mycelium leather called Mylo, for the last few years and she shared her first Mylo production — a treasure trove of only 100 little black leather crescent handbags.

Sixty-three percent of the materials in the spring 2022 collection are eco-friendly, according to Stella McCartney’s press kit. Gabriela Hearst earlier published the stat of 58 percent of Chloé made from lower-impact materials, compared to 40 percent of the winter collection.

AOC’s point is not to pit the two brands against each other in any way, but to celebrate them for their high goddess perches of working diligently to protect the environment. It would be great for all luxury brands to issue their scorecard on sustainability in the collection as part of their press kits.

We’re not talking how many trees were planted by the brand, but the garments themselves: what styles support our global, ecological biosystem?

Stella McCartney’s spring 2022 silhouettes were roomy as well as skinny and curve hugging. The influence of athleisure infused the collection with swagger and modern confidence. Mushrooms appeared in prints. Of great import to McCartney was the philosophy behind her designs:

“For me, the concept was about transitioning. I wanted to project what the future could be like for the house of Stella — a lightness of touch and a slightly more tender approach, but still mixing sporty and masculine pieces. I was asking myself, ‘What’s the breath of fresh air that I feel, and what are we looking toward in the fashion industry?'” the designer said.

Stella was highly impacted by the Netflix documentary ‘Fantastic Fungi’, and it’s still showing on Netflix. AOC was been following the topic of mushrooms for several years — including Stella’s work with Bolt Thread’s innovative mycelium leather Mylo™️.

Anticipating that you might become confused about more than one documentary about mushrooms on Netflix, we’ve included two for you and we will be watching both. Stella’s source of information is above, and it debuted earlier than the second one below. There may be more Netflix content on mushrooms, because AOC has just discovered at least three TED Talks.

I’ve been looking for a deep dive that touches many intellectual and planet-friendly pulse points. Stella sold me with her spring collection. Mushrooms it will be.

AOC closes out our mushroom world discussion with the video of Stella McCartney’s Summer 2022 show. The impromptu photography of spring designs from the show is worth the visit to Stella’s website.

As for blue mushrooms, they do exist in nature, and for now we don’t have the mental wits to explain blue mushrooms to you. An explanation IS forthcoming. ~ Anne

Valery Kaufman by Lindsay Adler's Exquisite 'Sanctuary' for Harper's Bazaar Kazakhstan October 2021

Valery Kaufman by Lindsay Adler's Exquisite 'Sanctuary' for Harper's Bazaar Kazakhstan October 2021 AOC Fashion

AOC shares one of the most beautiful fashion stories of the season. Top model Valery Kaufman is styled by Cannon in utterly sublime images by Lindsay Adler [IG] There was a period when Harper’s Bazaar Kazakhstan produced the most exquisite fashion stories in circulation. Producer Daniele Carettoni takes us back to that period of visual wonderment for the magazine. / Hair by Isaac Davidson; makeup by Joanne Gair

When challenges dominate our lives, beauty nourishes our souls. This one generates health-nourishing endorphins all around.

AOC always calls out the location stories attached to many of the fashion stories — and we’re obviously influencing other websites, who are following us. It’s a small way of learning about the world around us.

In this case, Espresso Productions has chosen a most wonderful site north of New York City — Tamerlaine Sanctuary. Read on for more info.

Adele Covers Two Continents: Here in American Vogue US November 2021 by Alasdair McLellan

Adele Covers Two Continents: Here in American Vogue US November 2021 by Alasdair McLellan AOC Fashion

On the British side of the Atlantic, Adele signals the return of va va voom dressing. Not only has Adele walked out of the shadows and into the light — but her new-found roar is heard on both sides of the Atlantic in the first-ever cover star collab between American Vogue and British Vogue.

In America, Adele is much more subdued, compared to her Steven Meisel images in British Vogue. She looks fabulous on the cover, wearing a green Valentino Haute Couture gown. Photographer Alasdair McLellan [IG] captures the star, who is styled by Tonne Goodman./ Hair by Frankie Boyd; makeup by Akki Shirakawa

Vogue writer Abby Aguirre catches up with Adele at Heart & Hustle, a private gym in West Hollywood.

We learn that Adele has been doing rigorous weight-lifting and circuit-training sessions every day for three years and counting. Sometimes, Adele works out twice in one day if her anxiety is running high. The world agrees on very little at this point, and women who lose weight are slammed regularly on social media for betraying the sisterhood and our core argument that all bodies are beautiful.