Franca Sozzani

Franca Sozzani

Franca Sozzani (Italian pronunciation: [fraŋˈka soˈdzani]; born January 20, 1950) is an Italian journalist and the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia since 1988.

Career

Sozzani grew up in Mantua, a small city in northern Italy. After completing a degree in philosophy and Germanic language and literature, she married at the age of 20, divorcing three months later She began her career at Vogue Bambini in 1976 and directed legendary publications LEI since 1980 and PER LUI since 1982 before heading up the Italian edition of VOGUE in 1988. She was appointed editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Italia in 1994.

In the 90s, Sozzani helped create the phenomenon of the supermodel with one of her closest long-term collaborators, Steven Meisel, and she has championed a group of photographers such as Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, and Paolo Roversi.

Memorable issues of her magazine include "The Black Issue" (an entire issue devoted to celebrate black women's beauty), "Makeover" (dedicated to the exploding phenomenon of plastic surgery) and most recently L'Uomo Vogue "Rebranding Africa", for which she was awarded several international prizes.

In February 2011, she launched Vogue Curvy — an arm of vogue.it staffed by plus-size bloggers who offer fashion tips for the full-figured.

Sozzani collaborated with artist Maurizio Cattelan and repetitively with Vanessa Beecroft. She also curated several exhibits and retrospectives, including: 30 Years of Italian Vogue, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber (Vietnam Story and My Own Story in Vogue), Peter Lindbergh (Women), Francesco Scavullo and Portraits of Elegance (Milan Triennale).

She is founding member of CHILD PRIORITY – a non profit organization created by Condé Nast to offer concrete study and work opportunities for those who have none, despite being talented and artistically gifted.

Sozzani has been a pioneer in bringing Vogue Italia into the digital age, democratizing fashion, and making a point to feature plus-size and non-white models. While some of her decisions have been met with controversy, they've always encouraged important discussions.