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Top models go head-to-head for hotly anticipated model of the year award

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Top models go head-to-head for hotly anticipated model of the year award

Written by Leah Asmelash, CNN

The distinguished annual Style Awards are again on Monday evening, and one of the hotly anticipated classes is the mannequin of the yr prize.

5 prime business names — Adut Akech, Bella Hadid, Paloma Elsesser, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Lila Moss — have been nominated for the award, which acknowledges probably the most influential mannequin whose impression goes past the catwalk, in accordance with organizers. The awards, an annual fundraiser for the British Style Council Basis, additionally acknowledge designers and impartial manufacturers.

The winners might be revealed throughout a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Corridor on December 5.

With no mannequin class in 2021 or 2020, Akech picked up the award in 2019 — when she as up in opposition to Winnie Harlow and Kaia Gerber, amongst others — earlier than the pandemic compelled the occasion to make adjustments to its format.

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This yr, the group of nominees displays an ongoing shift away from the homogenous mannequin very best of the previous: Akech is a refugee from South Sudan, Elsesser is a plus-size mannequin, and Chasinghorse is an Indigenous mannequin and activist.

“It’ll take some time to see this modification take over,” Akech informed CNN in 2019, in reference to a shift in the direction of extra various illustration within the business. “Nevertheless it makes me very proud to be a mannequin at this second the place I might be a part of that change.”

Adut Akech walks the runway for Chanel as a part of the Paris Style Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2020/2021 on March 03, 2020 in Paris, France. Credit score: Peter White/Getty Photographs

Akech has been a pressure in vogue for years now. Born in South Sudan and rising up in a refugee camp in Kenya, she is now one of the in-demand fashions working, frequently showing for manufacturers like Valentino and Givenchy.
In 2019, she devoted the prize to refugees all over the world.

“To them I say this. No matter it’s you wish to do, whether or not it is modeling, or appearing, or medication, it is best to by no means doubt your self or let the world persuade you that it isn’t attainable,” she mentioned whereas accepting the award. “As a result of if somewhat dark-skinned South Sudanese refugee who comes from completely nothing can do it, so are you able to.”

Quannah Chasinghorse walks the runway at the MADE New York 2022 New Wave New York show at Brooklyn Bridge Park on June 24, 2022 in New York City.

Quannah Chasinghorse walks the runway on the MADE New York 2022 New Wave New York present at Brooklyn Bridge Park on June 24, 2022 in New York Metropolis. Credit score: JP Yim/Getty Photographs

Chasinghorse, writing for CNN Model earlier this yr, additionally praised the bigger change within the business. A member of the Hän Gwich’in and Sičangu/Oglala Lakota tribes within the US, Chasinghorse mentioned she grew up with out seeing herself represented in popular culture. Now, she feels lucky to signify her folks on journal covers and on the runway.

Nonetheless, there’s all the time room for enchancment.

“So many rising fashions now have one thing particular and distinctive about them that they convey — they don’t seem to be simply meant to put on garments,” Chasinghorse wrote. “Seeing these adjustments throughout the business is heartening because it evolves into a greater model of itself. However now we have to maintain holding one another accountable. I am wanting ahead to watching it develop.”

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Paloma Elsesser walks the runway during the Lanvin Womenswear Spring/Summer 2022 show during Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2021.

Paloma Elsesser walks the runway through the Lanvin Womenswear Spring/Summer time 2022 present throughout Paris Style Week on October 03, 2021. Credit score: Peter White/Getty Photographs

When Elsesser shot her cowl of Vogue for the January 2021 subject, she described the expertise as “surreal.”

She — a self-described chubby, brief, mixed-race lady — on Vogue, famously recognized for showcasing white, tall, and skinny? In one other period, it would not have been attainable. Right this moment, Elsesser has walked for main luxurious manufacturers like Fendi, Lanvin and Chloé, and been featured in promoting campaigns by many others, together with Victoria’s Secret.

She’s additionally pushed the labels she’s walked for to incorporate a wider vary in sizes. After working with designer Nensi Dojaka, the designer started providing bigger sizes for the primary time.

Lila Moss had her blood glucose monitor on show on the runway at the Fendi by Versace special event during the Milan Fashion Week in September, 2021.

Lila Moss had her blood glucose monitor on present on the runway on the Fendi by Versace particular occasion through the Milan Style Week in September, 2021. Credit score: Daniele Venturelli/Getty Photographs Europe/Daniele Venturelli / Getty Picture

Lila Moss, daughter of legendary mannequin Kate Moss, has pushed vogue in her personal approach as effectively. Simply this yr, Moss attended the Met Gala — one of the distinguished occasions within the vogue business — carrying her insulin monitor and pump.

The units, meant to control insulin ranges for these dwelling with Kind I Diabetes, have been seen beneath her sheer Burberry costume. And this is not the primary time Moss has worn them — she additionally walked a Fendi and Versace joint runway present in September 2021 with the pump sitting on her higher left leg.

Although about 1.5 million People reside with Kind I Diabetes, it is uncommon the machine is proven on the runaway. Nonetheless in a video for British Vogue earlier this yr, Moss revealed the pump “comes with me in all places.”
Bella Hadid at the Vivienne Westwood Womenswear Spring-Summer 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week in October, 2022.

Bella Hadid on the Vivienne Westwood Womenswear Spring-Summer time 2023 present as a part of Paris Style Week in October, 2022. Credit score: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Photographs Europe/Getty Photographs

Bella Hadid, who made her New York Style Week debut in September 2014, was the middle of one of many buzziest moments of Paris Style Week in October this yr, when she closed French label Coperni’s Spring-Summer time 2023 present with a costume that was actually sprayed on.

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Hadid started strolling carrying nothing however underwear. Then, a staff of scientists sprayed a misty liquid on prime, which nearly remodeled into wearable materials in lower than 10 minutes.

Supermodel has costume spray-painted on throughout vogue present

Whether or not that is the way forward for vogue stays unclear, however after all Hadid — a extremely sought-out mannequin who has walked for manufacturers like Versace and Chanel — was on the heart. Regardless of being the daughter and the youthful sister of fashions, mom Yolanda and sister Gigi respectively, Hadid has carved out an area that’s all her personal.

She was nominated in 2016 for the award, however misplaced to her sister. This yr, she may lastly seize the highest prize.

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Microsoft hires DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to run new consumer AI unit

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Microsoft hires DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to run new consumer AI unit

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Microsoft has hired Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of Google’s DeepMind and chief executive of artificial intelligence start-up Inflection, to run a new consumer AI unit.

Suleyman, a British entrepreneur who co-founded DeepMind in London in 2010, will report to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, the company announced on Tuesday. He will launch a division of Microsoft that brings consumer-facing products including Microsoft’s Copilot, Bing, Edge and GenAI under one team called Microsoft AI.

It is the latest move by Microsoft to capitalise on the boom in generative AI. It has invested $13bn in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and rapidly integrated its technology into Microsoft products.

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Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI has given it an early lead in Silicon Valley’s race to deploy AI, leaving its biggest rival, Google, struggling to catch up. It also has invested in other AI start-ups, including French developer Mistral.

It has been rolling out an AI assistant in its products such as Windows, Office software and cyber security tools. Suleyman’s unit will work on projects including integrating an AI version of Copilot into its Windows operating system and enhancing the use of generative AI in its Bing search engine.

Nadella said in a statement on Tuesday: “I’ve known Mustafa for several years and have greatly admired him as a founder of both DeepMind and Inflection, and as a visionary, product maker and builder of pioneering teams that go after bold missions.”

DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014 for $500mn, one of the first large bets by a big tech company on a start-up AI lab. The company faced controversy a few years later over some of its projects, including its work for the UK healthcare sector, which was found by a government watchdog to have been granted inappropriate access to patient records.

Suleyman, who was the main public face for the company, was placed on leave in 2019. DeepMind workers had complained that he had an overly aggressive management style. Addressing staff complaints at the time, Suleyman said: “I really screwed up. I was very demanding and pretty relentless.”

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He moved to Google months later, where he led AI product management. In 2022 he joined Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greylock and launched Inflection later that year.

Microsoft will also hire most of Inflection’s staff, including Karén Simonyan, co-founder and chief scientist of Inflection, who will be chief scientist of the AI group. Microsoft did not clarify the number of employees moving over but said it included AI engineers, researchers and large language model builders who have designed and co-authored “many of the most important contributions in advancing AI over the last five years”.

Inflection, a rival to OpenAI, will switch its focus from its consumer chatbot, Pi, and instead move to sell enterprise AI software to businesses, according to a statement on its website. Sean White, who has held various technology roles, has joined as its new chief executive.

Inflection’s third co-founder, Reid Hoffman, the founder and executive chair of LinkedIn, will remain on Inflection’s board. Inflection had raised $1.3bn in June, valuing the group at about $4bn, in one of the largest fundraisings by an AI start-up amid an explosion of interest in the sector.

The new unit marks a big organisational shift at Microsoft. Mikhail Parakhin, its president of web services, will move along with his entire team to report to Suleyman.

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“We have a real shot to build technology that was once thought impossible and that lives up to our mission to ensure the benefits of AI reach every person and organisation on the planet, safely and responsibly,” Nadella said.

Competition regulators in the US and Europe have been scrutinising the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI amid a broader inquiry into AI investments.

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Threats, debt and Trump's advances: 'Stormy' doc examines the life of Stormy Daniels

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Threats, debt and Trump's advances: 'Stormy' doc examines the life of Stormy Daniels

Stormy Daniels from the Peacock documentary Stormy.

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Stormy Daniels from the Peacock documentary Stormy.

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The new documentary Stormy begins in 2023 — around the time former President Donald Trump was indicted over hush-money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Stormy Daniels, who was paid by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen to keep quiet about their alleged previous affair, watches the news unfold on TV and then says, “Let’s go,” before she walks off screen.

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Stormy chronicles Daniels’ life from her childhood in Baton Rouge, La., to her rise as an adult film actor and then, in the opinion of some, a feminist hero. It also gives viewers a glimpse into how she went from friend to foe of a celebrity businessman who became president of the United States.

“I am here today to tell my story and even if I just change a few people’s minds, it’s fine. If not, at least my daughter can look back on this and know the truth,” she said in the film.

Trump’s criminal trial over the hush-money payments has been delayed until mid-April. He faces 34 felony counts, alleging he falsified New York business records to conceal damaging information before the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies the allegations that he had an affair with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

On Monday, a judge rejected Trump’s bid to block Cohen and Daniels — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — from testifying. The trial date will be set at a hearing on March 25.

The film, released Monday on Peacock, mainly captures Daniels’ life between 2018 and 2023. Here are the main takeaways from the documentary:

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1. Daniels explains why she didn’t say no to Trump’s advances back in 2006

Daniels alleged that she was abused by a neighbor in Louisiana when she was 9 years old. She did not go into further detail except to say that the man, whom she did not name, had abused other young girls and has since died.

Later in the film, as Daniels explained why she did not refuse Trump’s advances when the two met in 2006, she said, “I didn’t say no because I just, I was 9 years old again.” At the time, Daniels was in her 20s and Trump was 60.

Though she described the alleged affair as consensual, Daniels said she did not want to have sex with Trump.

“To this day, I blame myself and I have not forgiven myself because I didn’t shut his a** down in that moment, so maybe make him pause before he tried it with someone else,” she said. “The hardest part about all of this is I feel like I am partially responsible for every woman that could have come after me.”

2. Threats against Daniels have become more disturbing

Throughout the film, Daniels is forced to navigate insults and threats hurled at her and her family.

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But she described herself as having thick skin. In one scene from 2018, Daniels joked that she was disappointed she could not find any hate comments on Twitter after she had received a key to West Hollywood from the city’s mayor.

Fast forward to this past year, after Trump’s indictment, Daniels said the hate comments had become more intense and disturbing.

“Back in 2018, there was stuff like ‘liar, s***, gold digger,’ ” she said. “This time around, it is very different. It is direct threats. It is ‘I’m going to come to your house and slit your throat.’ “

Daniels added that she did not feel protected by the justice system, and accused it of ignoring her concerns about her safety.

3. Daniels says her ‘soul is so tired’ but she is willing to testify against Trump

Amid the six-year conflict with Trump, Daniels’ marriage ended, her relationship with her daughter became strained, and she felt her safety was constantly jeopardized.

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But with Trump about to go on trial, Daniels said she’s willing to testify in court against the former president.

“I’m more prepared with my legal knowledge but I’m also tired. Like, my soul is so tired,” she said. “I won’t give up because I’m telling the truth. And I kind of don’t even know if it matters anymore.”

4. Daniels owes Trump over $600,000 in attorney fees

Near the end of the documentary, it’s clear that Daniels also suffered financially as a result of her years-long legal battle against Trump.

In 2018, Daniels sued Trump for defamation. The suit was based on a tweet Trump wrote that year, which suggested Daniels had lied about being threatened in 2011 to not speak out about her alleged previous affair with Trump.

A federal judge later dismissed the suit and ordered Daniels to pay the then-president’s legal fees.

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Daniels appealed but lost. She now owes Trump over $600,000 in attorney fees. The film asserts that Daniels is afraid she may lose her home.

5. Seth Rogen and Jimmy Kimmel speak on Daniels’ behalf

Among the people who appeared in the documentary were actor Seth Rogen and late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel.

Rogen, who worked with Daniels on the 2007 film Knocked Up, recalled talking with her about Trump. At the time, Daniels said she was communicating with Trump about possibly being on his former reality TV show Celebrity Apprentice.

“She didn’t realize she would one day be at the center of this giant thing as she was messing around with some game show host,” Rogen said. “She’s someone who made an enemy of the most powerful guy on the planet and didn’t, like, cower.”

Kimmel invited Daniels to his show in 2018, when Daniels’ nondisclosure agreement about her previous affair with Trump was still in effect.

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Kimmel described Daniels as having a good sense of humor but also afraid of violating her NDA. He nodded to this during their interview, in which he brought out puppets to reenact her interactions with Trump.

“She told the truth and she paid a price for that,” Kimmel said in the film. “It’s not something that just goes away.”

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Calpers to invest more than $30bn in private markets

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Calpers to invest more than $30bn in private markets

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Calpers, the US’s biggest public pension plan, is to increase its holdings in private markets by more than $30bn and reduce its allocation to stock markets and bonds in an effort to improve returns.

A proposal to increase the $483bn fund’s positions in assets such as private equity and private credit from 33 per cent of the plan to 40 per cent was approved on Monday, according to an announcement by the fund and notes from its board meeting. 

The formal approval comes two years after Calpers admitted that a decision to put its private equity programme on hold for 10 years had cost it up to $18bn in returns.

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However, a review of its investment policy found that, despite the gains it had already missed, private equity was still the asset class with the highest expected long-term total return.

“Strong and ongoing growth in private equity returns is behind this measured and appropriate increase,” said Calpers trustee David Miller, chair of the investment committee. 

“Market conditions are evolving and the investment team needs latitude to deploy capital intelligently to keep the fund on track for sustainable returns.”

According to analysis published by Calpers alongside its board notes, private equity was the top-performing asset class in the decade to June 30 2023, with annualised returns of 11.8 per cent. That compares with 8.9 per cent from public equities and 2.4 per cent from fixed income. The documents did not disclose if the figures took account of fees.

The portfolio shake-up, which was confirmed after a scheduled asset allocation review, will bring the California-based plan into line with other big retirement systems in the US, including Calstrs, which has just over 40 per cent of its portfolio in private markets.

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As part of the move, Calpers will increase its bet on private equity from 13 per cent to 17 per cent of its portfolio, although this could potentially rise as high as 22 per cent.

At the same time, it is pulling back from investing in stock markets, with its allocation to equities set to fall from 42 per cent to 37 per cent of its portfolio. It will also trim its allocation to fixed income from 30 per cent to 28 per cent.

In 2021, Calpers’ board approved an expansion into private assets including private equity, real assets and private debt, from 21 per cent to 33 per cent of the portfolio, and also gave itself the ability to borrow money to invest in assets that would help diversify its holdings.

Last year the Financial Times reported that Calpers was planning a multibillion-dollar move into international venture capital, as the fund moved towards investing in riskier assets to drive returns.

The fund also reported a return of 10.3 per cent last year. It is yet to announce a replacement for chief investment officer Nicole Musicco, who resigned last year after 18 months in the role.

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