Vogue Italia Editor Franca Sozzani attends Pitti Uomo, Florence, in 2015. Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images
“Even though one’s best legacy is their children, if you leave something independent of your family, you become part of history,” said the late Franca Sozzani, in her son, Francesco Carrozzini’s film, Franca: Chaos and Creation. Sozzani, who passed in December of 2016 following a heroic fight with cancer, continues to make history, with the inauguration of an annual award in her name, which will debut at the Venice Film Festival.
The late editor helmed Vogue Italia from 1988-2016, and brought the magazine to international prominence for her choice of bold editorials such as the all-black magazine (July, 2008) and a shoot in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While Sozzani has been honored with several awards, including this year’s CFDA Fashion Icon award, this is the first time that an award in her name has been created.
The Franca Sozzani Award will be given to actor Julianne Moore at this year’s Venice Film Festival. To be presented on September 1st by actor Colin Firth at the Lido, the award’s board includes Donatella Versace (4); Valentino creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli; Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana president, Carlo Capasa; Tod’s CEO, Diego Della Valle; Condé Nast Italia president, Giampaolo Grandi; Moncler CEO, Remo Ruffini; Marco and Afef Tronchetti Provera; Taodue Film CEO, Pietro Valeschi; and Sozzani’s family, Francesco Carrozzini; her sister, 10 Corso Como owner, Carla Sozzani; and Vogue Italia’s senior editor, Sara Sozzani Maino. The board deemed that Moore, an Academy Award winner, beholds “the same strength and determination of Franca, combined with excellence in art and a strong civil and social commitment.”
Julianne Moore arrives at the 87th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 22, 2015 in Los Angeles. Photo by Dan MacMedan/WireImage
Sozzani began her work at Condé Nast in the ‘70s with Vogue Bambini before working at women’s magazine Lei and men’s magazine Per Lui in the ‘80s. She became the editorial director of Condé Nast Italy in 1994 and helmed L’Uomo Vogue.
In Conversation with Vogue Italia’s Late Editor Franca Sozzani
