During this past weekend’s Vogue Fashion Dubai Experience, Style.com/Arabia’s Sofia Guellaty had the opportunity to sit down with Vogue Italia’s Editor in Chief, Franca Sozzani, to talk about new talents and her vision on fashion’s emerging markets.
Sofia Guellaty: I’ve noticed that you’re always one step ahead of the rest—with your focus on the Middle East for instance, but also Vogue Black or Vogue Talent.
Franca Sozzani: Sometimes I ask myself, “Why did I do it? Why do I go out of my way? How did I do it?” (laughs) I’m very attracted by diversity or by people who have difficulties in life. When I did the black issue (July 2008), I couldn’t have known that in November, Barack Obama would win the elections. During the fashion shows, I was seeing all these beautiful girls but they all looked alike. Beautiful, amazing, young. Fantastic. Long legs, beautiful hair, and beautiful eyes. But they all looked the same to me. The only girl that was always grabbing my attention was Liya Kebede. I didn’t even realize that Liya was not a white girl; I just found her elegant. After Naomi [Campbell], we didn’t see similar girls on the runway so we did the issue—it was a struggle at first. This was 8 years ago.
When did you start thinking about supporting international identities beyond just Italy?
Eleven years ago, when I started to work closely with young designers, it was difficult in the beginning because people weren’t looking to support the new generation—they were scared. I thought, “We have to go on and do it.” I think we did very well because we didn’t do it for money, we didn’t even award the designers with money—we gave them production, distribution, and press. That’s what you need to be successful. Some of them did become successful. For me, it’s a great achievement.
One of your missions—and maybe that’s why you like Liya Kebede, who is both a model and a World Health Organization Ambassador—is to give your endeavors a humanitarian purpose using fashion as a means, not an end.
You know what? Fashion is only one side of who I am. It’s like a business card: “This my name, this is what I do.” But I’m interested in the other side. I see everything from afar with a long-term plan. It’s the only thing that’s made me survive the fashion world for so many years. That’s why I take risks. I’ve been controversial many times, but it’s OK. I started the African Fashion 4 Development with the United Nations and now I have more projects underway. I also quickly realized that, more than fashion, we need water, so I got interested in climate change. I also partnered with the World Food Program. It’s a long journey…
[Former American Vogue Editor in Chief] Diana Vreeland used to say “You can…see the approaching revolution in clothes.” Your work always has an underlying social meaning…
Every era has its own social movements and struggles. Today, for example, everyone is dressed the same because of global distribution. I like to go deep inside a subject that is unexpected.
For instance, we did a photo shoot about domestic violence [Ed.: in April 2014, a photo shoot shot by Steven Meisel depicting scenes of violence stirred a great deal of controversy towards Sozzani, the same way her photo shoots about the BP oil spill in August 2010 or plastic surgery in July 2005—always with Meisel—did). Some people said, “You should not have put fashion captions on the photos,” but I chose fashion to give a message. Of course, those girls had clothes on—everyone has clothes on, even when they die. Everybody knows fashion. I use fashion to give a message. Take punk, for example: it was a social movement, of course, but fashion was a means of communicating that era.
How do you see the Vogue brand evolving between being niche and mass, between Internet and print?
Magazines like Vogue Italia are here to give you a message; besides the moment and the fashion, they are here to reflect on our own lives. Vogue Italia is strictly about what is today. It is about offering a vision: good quality, good photographers, and good ideas. We sell a dream.
When you go on the Internet, everything must be very fast. I have a blog and I like to have an immediate answer from the people I am writing for. I read all the commentary every day and now I know the people who read me…I argue with them—sometimes we even insult each other. It is about sharing points of view; that’s very important for me, even if they are critical.
