GUEST of honour

editor's blog on Vogue.it

... on the occasion of her coming to Vienna to curate the 20th anniversary fashion show of Life Ball, I had the chance to conduct a short interview with Franca Sozzani, editor of Vogue Italia. The interview was published in today's edition of the newspaper, and it was most fascinating to hear Mrs Sozzani talk about how fashion and social commitment can and must go together or how writing a blog changed the perception of her as a public figure. When asked what motivated people's interest in fashion editors (Anna Wintour fictionalized as the protagonist of a novel and a film, Anna dello Russo invited to create an accessory collection for H&M), Mrs Sozzani gave me an interesting answer: "All in all, fashion is one of the main topics in all media worldwide and it attracts a lot of attention. By which I mean that even people who are not interested in fashion as an object are interested in fashion as a phenomenon and would like to participate". I do quite agree, I must say, and that makes fashion journalism all the more rewarding. For the rest of the interview, brush up on your German and click here ...

... lors de son apparition comme "commissaire" du défilé spécial pour fêter les vingt ans du Life Ball viennois, j'ai eu l'occasion de réaliser une brève interview avec Franca Sozzani, rédactrice-en-chef, mais vous le saurez, de Vogue Italia. C'était tout à fait fascinant de l'entendre parler de son engagement sociétal en Afrique et ailleurs et comment la mode peut, à son avis, contribuer à améliorer le monde. Puis elle m'a raconté comment son célèbre blog a changé la perception de sa personne en la rendant plus accessible, plus "humaine" dans les yeux de certains. Quand je lui ai demandé pourquoi, à son avis, l'intérêt du grand public pour la mode semble s'être accru au cours des dernières années et pourquoi cet intérêt porte désormais même sur les journalistes-vedettes et rédactrices-star (il suffit de penser à Anna Wintour en tant que protagoniste d'un roman et d'un film ainsi que d'un documentaire fait pour le grand écran, ou encore à Anna dello Russo, rédactrice de mode invitée à créer une collection pour H&M), Madame Sozzani m'a donné une réponse fort fascinante : "La mode est, dans son ensemble, l'un des thèmes les plus médiatisés au monde en ce moment, ce qui fait que même les gens qui ne portent aucun intérêt à la mode en tant qu'objet s'intéressent pourtant à elle en tant que phénomène et veulent donc absolument être capables de donner leur avis là-dessus." Quelle belle réponse, et une très bonne raison pour continuer à faire du journalisme de mode. Pour plus d'affirmations prononcées très "francamente", relancez votre allemand en cliquant ici ...

... siccome verrà a Vienna per selezionare le griffes che sfileranno per festeggiare i venti anni del famosissimo Life Ball, ho avuto l'occasione eccezionale d'intervistare Franca Sozzani, direttrice di Vogue Italia. Mi ha raccontato quanto è importanto di puntare sul rischio, la creatività e la qualità nell'elaborazione di una rivista di altissimo standard, abbiamo parlato della "versione umana" della rivista che è il suo blog e di quanto la percezione della sua persona sia cambiata grazie a questo blog. E poi, quando le ho chiesto le ragioni per cui il pubblico s'interessa sempre di più alle fashion editors come Anna Wintour o Anna dello Russo, mi ha dato una risposta molto chiara: "La moda è uno dei temi più mediatici al mondo ed è per questo che richiama l'attenzione di persone che non tutte s'interessano della moda come oggetto ma piuttosto della moda come fenomeno. E siccome è cosi mediatica, tutti hanno voglia di partecipare e di dare la loro opinione. Ed io, di questo sviluppo, ne sono in favore." Per leggere la versione integrale dell'intervista, cliccate qui ...

THE VOGUE disaster

"seductive" Iris Strubegger on the cover of German Vogue,
naturally not a word about her in the magazine -
that would have cost some journalistic effort, and
that's definitely not on the radar of the magazine's, uhm, "editor"

... I'm sorry but this time round the DISASTER that German Vogue is month after month after month really makes me want to comment. You know, to cut a long story short (and the same goes for Vogue Paris, naturally), when you pick a former "fashion director" (more often than not, in the case of a glossy magazine, that will be the stylist in charge of the fashion editorial spreads that define a title's characteristic "aesthetic"...) as future EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, you're just not in for a good MAGAZINE - as in: a periodical publication that doesn't only consist of IMAGES but also contains some WRITTEN STORIES that surpass the length of a DOUBLE PAGE and transport an overall editorial vision. I mean, I don't know where Christiane Arp thinks she is taking the magazine (I can tell you and her: to meaningless and endlessly boring realms) but it has nothing whatsoever to do with magazines like US VOGUE or (American) VANITY FAIR (or even British or Spanish Vogue, as for that - I do actually like Spanish Vogue a lot!) which are excellent examples of how a magazine can content those readers that are looking for beautiful images as well as INTERESTING STORIES. And yes, dear "editors", these readers still exist and I even think that those people who actually bother to go to the newsstand (or send in a subscription-postcard) and buy a magazine instead of just browsing through the latest pick-and-mix of fashion news on the web are exactly the same people that want to READ comprehensive, intelligent, witty articles. Hello? Yes, that IS an option. Instead of being presented with one-page-features about the latest must-haves blah blah blah. You know, I'm not particularly keen on being fed endless "news" about celebrity weddings BUT let's just take the September issue of German Vogue and of American Vogue as an example: both feature newly wed supermodels on the cover and whereas Kate Moss is presented in a portrait in the American version, German Vogue, uhm, "forgets" about Iris Strubegger's wedding? I mean, OF COURSE Mrs Arp had to clear some space for the obligatory two pages dedicated to KARL LAGERFELD in German Vogue (believe me, he's in there every month, sure as hell - more often than not as the "talented" photographer that he is, ahum). Clearly, Condé Nast's directory board must know the reasons why they go for people like Arp or Emmanuelle Alt, or even Sozzani in Italy (I think that Vera Montanari does an excellent job with Mondadori's flair magazine in Italy by telling the stories that the "artsy" industry magazine, Vogue Italia, leaves untold), maybe it's easier to leave the advertising clients satisfied with plentiful beautiful colourful images galore, but come on... And I don't say that everything Juliet Joan Buck (recently taken on board by Dasha for Garage magazine) does or did was good, but I think that the editor-in-chief of a renowned magazine (such as French Vogue, in Buck's case) should have a far-reaching vision for a lifestyle magazine, and one that does go beyond the fashion spreads and trend pages a fashion magazine OBVIOUSLY has to contain. It just shouldn't be all about that, should it ...