How do you picture yourself a strong, self-confident and stylish woman? who crops up to your mind first when you think about influential, non-confront able women of fashion industry? well, as for me its Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue.
Shes intelligent, utterly beautiful and without any doubt very stylish. She has been editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue since 1988 and since than has never lowered the profile even throughout the economical crisis. She was the one to inspire "The Black issue", "Makeover" and the most recent "Re-branding Africa" as long as collaborating with photographers like: Mario Testino , Bruce Weber, Peter Lindberg, Francesco Scavullo, Paolo Riversi and many other.
Franca has definitely has made a her own singular mark on world of fashion over last 30 years as she have transformed the magazine into a platform for celebrating the power of the image and of photography. In the process, she also happened to drag political, cultural and tackling environmental issues in the world of fashion by which she gained respect of a lot of people in fashion industry and besides.
Here are fragments from her interview:
Q: You are
famous for being a risk taker. You did a “Black” issue, you did a “curvy”
issue, and people call you a rebel. Do you think of yourself as a rebel? Or
does this have more to do with having curiosity and a willingness to explore?
SOZZANI: I think I just do what I
feel is good to do. Everybody can give me their suggestions, but at the end,
the final risk is mine because it’s my name on the magazine. So I only do what
I really feel. Everybody tries to influence you, of course: “Oh, this is the
right moment to do this” and “This is the right photographer to choose,” and
“This is the right model to have . . .” I listen, but I must go my own way.
When you take risks, it means that you know every month people are there to
judge you. Some months are good; some months are bad. When you make a mistake,
they call you immediately. And when you do something good, they send flowers to
the stylist. So this is a way to say that I want to do it myself. I don’t care
if you like it or not. I do the magazine that I think is correct. If you like
this issue, I am more than happy. If you don’t like this issue, you will like
the next because we do 14 issues a year. So once in a year you will love, no?
I’m very independent.
Q: You are very independent. You've also had a
long history of encouraging young people—you love new talent. In
fact, you've actually opened the doors of Italian Vogue in Milan for two
years in a row now to more than a thousand young people to meet with you
and your staff. How did that work? Did each one of them have some time with
you?
SOZZANI: It was very intense because you've got
1,500 people in two afternoons. So it was very fast. People would be very calm
and cool, all very well dressed. They were coming to the Vogue office . . . But
what’s strange is that everybody has a different question. It’s not all like,
“How do you be a fashion editor?” or “I want to be an writer.” It’s like, “I
want to take a good picture” or “I like this look—what do you think is good?”
They come to you not to have an answer for their lives but to have an answer
for that moment. I’m not the prince of China, so it’s not like they come and I
say, “Oh, you will have a life in Vogue.”
But when you try to support somebody, you know that you have to be careful of
the words that you use. So in a very quick way, I’m like, “No, no, don’t do
commercial. Go this way,” or “You are very good at doing commercial. Don’t be
scared to do commercial. It’s not a bad word.” You know, it was different
intentions for every person. And all these people today—they write, they see, and
they follow the blogs . . . So that’s interesting.
Q: Did your trip to Africa as a goodwill ambassador change
your perception of fashion at all?
SOZZANI: It didn't change my idea of fashion, but
you know what it did change? It changed my attitude. I’m really very committed.
I drove all day long to meet people, to try to convince people, and at the same
time, I feel that I cannot do anything by myself. I feel that I can select
people to do my work, and I can do a lot of dinners and help bring attention. But
being in those countries . . . I’m just observing now, but it won’t be easy to
change the situation. So more than changing my feelings about fashion, doing
this work has changed my feeling about my potential and my possibilities to do
something. I’m a Capricorn. I feel that I have to be stronger. I cannot be only
“Yes, we can do it”—it’s “Yes, we have to do it.” So I’m doing the fashion
shows, doing the couture, and I was looking and thinking, “We do something like
this with these people, but what can we do to use all these people—the news,
press people, and families—to help them understand?” You know, I’m changing my
mentality . . . It’s a new thing. [laughs]
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