🎙️ The Ensemble: US Leaders Slam Europe, Brigitte Macron Hits Back, and Chanel Takes Over the NY Subway
This week from Bridge Summit Abu Dhabi - where the world's media are chewing ownership changes and the endless rise of creators.
Greetings from Abu Dhabi - where H2H has been presenting and networking at the UAE’s flagship Media summit, in its inaugural edition. The headliner speakers were Idris Elba, Arsene Wenger and Priyanka Chopra - which gives you a sense of the kind of stardust that media industry types still hope will rub off on them. But the dynamic in the Gulf is very much about asserting themselves as relevant media players on the global stage. So it was timely that news of Paramount’s hostile bid to buy Warner Bros - funded in great part by wealth funds from UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia - dropped in the middle of the conference. We know from an earlier failed UAE attempt to buy London’s Daily Telegraph that foreign ownership of Western media is still a live political issue. So between Netflix and a Gulf-funded Paramount, which way will US regulators - and of course the only regulator who matters, sitting in the Oval Office - jump? More on this in this week’s H2H podcast publishing shortly - along with Suzanne’s mortifying failure to recognise Arsene Wenger in the seat next to her on a 14 hour transatlantic flight. Least said soonest mended!
Trump & Musk Strike Back at European Civilization
Trump and Musk have declared war on European civilization. After the EU imposed a hefty $140 million fine on digital platform X last week for violating the bloc’s Digital Services Act, Musk called for the abolition of the EU, branding it a “bureaucratic monster”. Going a step further in the new National Security Strategy released last Friday, Trump’s administration lambasted Europe as an “over-regulated, censorious continent” facing “civilizational erasure”. A radical departure from US policy, the new policy signals the US is no longer standing behind the EU, while also suggesting the US can help with immigration policy, falling birth rates, and loss of national identities. Stunned by the new policy, which plainly mirrors Russian talking points, European leaders have called it “unacceptable and dangerous”.
Sources: Washington Post (image), Foreign Policy (image)
Chanel’s Riding the J Train
In a move to bring Chanel to the people in an egalitarian venue Mayor Mamdani would approve, Chanel’s new designer, Matthieu-Blazy, staged a runway show on the New York subway, attracting an A-list crowd including Tilda Swinton and Martin Scorsese to the turnstiles. Orchestrated at a defunct stop on the J train called “The Bowery”, the show was part of Metiers d’Art, an annual Chanel event celebrating artisans who create intricate details for the brand through traditional art forms like feathermaking, embroidery, and goldsmithing. Channeling quintessential “New York” energies, models performatively ran to catch the train and looked longingly out its windows. The show was inspired by Coco Chanel’s 1931 trip to New York, which convinced her that her chic look was catching on across the Atlantic. Audiences sat on the side of the platform, where the station’s shocking cleanliness and perfumed scent, specially curated for the multi-sensory show, left them dreaming of a regular Chanel subway takeover.
Sources: The Telegraph (image), The New York Times (image)
French Comedy Show Sparks a Political Scandal
French actor and comedian Ary Abittan caused a big stir last weekend during stand-up comedy shows at legendary Parisian music hall Les Folies Bergeres. Feminist activists from Nous Toutes wearing masks of his face interrupted his performance on Saturday night, yelling “Abittan rapist” in reference to a 2021 rape allegation against Abittan. But an even bigger controversy followed Abittan offstage the next morning when he met with France’s Premiere Dame Brigitte Macron, who dismissed his fear of protestors at the next show, saying “if there are any dirty bitches (sales connes), we’ll kick them out.” A video of the conversation quickly went viral, sparking a scandal nationwide and challenging Prime Minister Macron’s messaging on the need to fight sexual violence. While Macron’s PR team is defending her offensive comments, audiences see through the purplewashing and are proudly reclaiming the slur #SalesConnes online.
Sources: Le Parisien (image)
Australia’s Kids Go Offline
In a world-first experiment, Australia has launched a ban on social media use for minors. Accounts held by children under 16 must be removed from socials including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube, Threads, Twitch, and Kick, and users under age 16 will be prevented from creating new accounts. Implementation promises to be a challenge, as age verification software is far from foolproof. While many teens and parents hope the measure will reduce phone addiction and mental health issues, others fear losing access to social circles, with some parents teaching their children how to work around age restrictions using VPNs. The unprecedented move has garnered worldwide attention and nations including Norway, Denmark, and Malaysia are planning to adopt a similar ban.
Sources: CNN (image), ABC News (image)
Inclusivity is the Secret to Michael Kors’ Success
While MAGA aesthetics and uber thinness are trending, athleisure superstar Michael Kors attributes the success of his fashion brand to the power of inclusive catwalks spanning size, age, and race. “We all know different people of different ages and different sizes. Don’t we want them all to be invited to the party?” Speaking before the launch of his new flagship store on London’s Regent Street, Kors observed how public scrutiny and scandal turn political dressing into “the trickiest thing in the world”. But he said the commercial success of his mainstream offshoot “MICHAEL Michael Kors” comes from meeting the needs of everyday consumers more so than curating the closets of A-list celebrities and high profile politicians, proving that while entertainment and spectacle may come and go, relatable looks, bodies, and price points are always in style.
Sources: Guardian (image), Refinery 29 (image)
Threads of Change
Showcasing creativity as a powerful force of resistance, a major London museum has collaborated with Liberty of London’s fabric department to showcase three new designs in an exhibit exploring the role of art and craft during war, conflict, and incarceration. Titled “Creativity in Conflict and Confinement”, the project launches this week at the Imperial War Museum London, drawing on pieces from the museum’s collections and the new designs developed in collaboration with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arbitrarily imprisoned in Iran for six years. While awaiting her release, Zaghari-Ratcliffe sewed clothes for her daughter with the prison’s only sewing machine. Creativity renewed her sense of agency and hope in the face of trauma. “We used to say, when I was in prison, they can take away the world you live in, but they can’t take away what’s happening in your mind. No one can control your imagination.” Embroidery has recently resurfaced as a powerful site of creativity and archive of resistance for women facing protracted conflict in Syria, empowering them to sew what they couldn’t say out loud.
Sources: Guardian (story and images)