On December 22, 2016, the world lost an amazing woman - Franca Sozzani. She was a true pioneer in the fashion industry, and used her passion for people and life to better those around her. Franca is someone that I look up to not only as a woman, but a human being that made her life's work something to be remembered.
"Franca had a passion for, and a deep knowledge of, fashion and its
history, but an ability to keep an amused distance from its modern day
excesses."
Franca Sozzani was born on January 20, 1950 and grew up in Mantua, Lombardy, in northern Italy. She died after a year-long illness on December 22, 2016, at the age of 66.
Her Work
Sozzani's career began as an assistant at the children's fashion magazine Vogue Bambini in 1976. She directed the publications Lei beginning in 1980 and Per Lui (its male counterpart) starting in 1982 before heading up the Italian edition of Vogue in 1988.
"She turned Italian Vogue into a magazine powerhouse with a reach and influence far beyond its relatively modest circulation. A maverick spirit, she turned Vogue into a magazine that
not only celebrated the power of imagery, but also used fashion
stories as a platform to discuss broader issues. She was fearless in her willingness to tackle provocative and
controversial social and cultural issues through the medium of fashion
shoots."
By 1994, she was appointed Editor in Chief of Condé Nast Italia. Franca immediately shook up the formulaic title with dynamic covers and
content, creating a magazine that, in her words, would be “extravagant,
experimental, innovative.”
In 2006, she became editor of Vogue l'Uomo and in February 2011, she launched Vogue Curvy, staffed by plus-size bloggers who offer fashion tips for the full-figured. In September 2015, she took over editorship of Vogue Sposa and Vogue Bambini.
Her Legacy
In the 1990s, Sozzani helped create the phenomenon of the supermodel with one of her closest long-term collaborators,
Steven Meisel.
Sozzani was known for including topics and issues in her magazine which
other fashion publications avoided, such as domestic violence, drug
abuse and recovery. Issues of her magazine included "The Black Issue" (which featured only
models of colour), "Makeover" (dedicated to the exploding phenomenon of plastic surgery) and most recently "Rebranding Africa".
In 2014, she was named a global ambassador against hunger for the United Nations’ World Food Program and received the Swarovski Fashion Award for Positive Change in 2016.
Franca, you will be missed.
