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What’s the common thread running through our second OG portfolio? The word fearlessness came up often. The courage to be disliked, to stick to your guns, to seek adventure and make trouble, to look past trends and embrace the next generation of like-minded mavericks, to keep going, at 55 or 95, despite it all, and (to quote Nobel Prize–winning OG poet Louise Glück) “risk joy in the raw wind of the new world.” A toast to the aristocracy of talent on this list. We see and salute you. After all, game recognizes game. — Erik Maza
Willy Chavarria It was only last year, while attending Willy Chavarria’s fall show in New York, that I made note of a truth that doesn’t get less troubling with time. Mixed, in every possible sense, the crowd caused me to reflect on how seldom in two decades of covering fashion I’d seen such a diverse turnout. And with that thought came an inevitable reckoning with the fact that in mainstream culture, people—and especially minorities—are so routinely displaced, miniaturized, and marginalized that sometimes without even realizing it they become invisible to themselves. Whether you call it assimilation.Ruven Afanador
Rick Owens “I just think about how to live with all this negativity. The only answer I see is that, in coping with discomfort or suffering, we now have an unprecedented amount of luxury: a level of knowledge we did not have before. And knowledge is power. If this world is gonna go down, I’m going down in heels and shoulder pads, not a cozy sweatsuit.” —the designer in Marylou Luther’s book Be-SpokeRUBEN TOLEDO
Ruben Toledo Cuban-American artist famed for his fashion illustrations. Look up! Paul Bruinooge - Getty Images
Smokey Robinson More than 60 years after he released his first album with the Miracles—becoming the first artist and writer of the Motown Sound—Robinson is releasing his first album in a decade, Gasms, next month. The Recording Academy named him and his comrade in arms, Motown founder Berry Gordy, MusiCares Persons of the Year.Getty Images
Maria Cornejo Chilean-born dean of downtown fashion, 25 years and counting.Getty Images
Gloria Estefan First Latina inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame. Get on your feet! Getty Images
Harrison Ford The whole rapscallion action star thing? Indy did it first. Study up, Channing Tatum.Pascal Le Segretain - Getty Images
Virginie Mouzat French journalist turned novelist. Le Dernier Mot is out now from Flammarion.Bertrand Rindoff Petroff - Getty Images
Andrew Lloyd WebberPhantom may be closing, but Bad Cinderella is just getting started. Getty Images
Kehinde Wiley His elite Senegal artist residency, Black Rock, is expanding to Nigeria.Dimitrios Kambouris
David CronenbergNicolas Guerin - Getty Images
Gabe Doppelt Tower Bar MVP quarterbacking San Vicente Bungalows’ NYC transfer.EMILY BERL
Lisa EisnerStefanie Keenan/VF22 - Getty Images
Janet JacksonTheo Wargo - Getty Images
Donna KaranArturo Holmes - Getty Images
Laura Lusuardi Max Mara’s institutional memory.Andrea Delbo/Shutterstock
Cheech Marin The patron saint of stoner flicks is one of the world’s Top 200 art collectors.Andrew Chin - Getty Images
Yossi Milo “The kind of person who makes New York what it is: indomitable, funny, curious, naughty, and full of wonder, all these years and successes and friendships later.” novelist and editor Hanya YanagiharaDaniel Tchetchick
Roisin Murphy Ireland’s art pop supernova walked so Gaga could run.Burak Cingi - Getty Images
Frank Rich Former Butcher of Broadway is now a political TV powerhouse.Karjean Levine - Getty Images
Carrie Mae WeemsKris Connor - Getty Images
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This story appears in the March 2023 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
