Franca Sozzani

Lorenzo Serafini‘s debut collection for Alberta Ferretti wasn’t the loudest, but certainly was persuasive. “It is the big dreams that make people big. Small ones are desires. One should not be afraid to be ‘exaggerated’… at least in dreams.” Serafini used this beautiful Franca Sozzani quote in the notes for a show that represented, for him, the actualization of a very big dream: his new role at the Milan-based brand founded in 1981. The Sozzani factor was thanks to the late great Vogue Italia’s friendship with Ferretti, and her inspirational status for Serafini. Alongside the founder, Sozzani acted as the spiritual muse for this collection. You could actually imagine these dreamy, billow-y gowns and oversized suits on the pages of Franca’s Vogue, maybe photographed by Sarah Moon or Paolo Roversi. Serafini also delivered some of the most fascinating evening numbers we’ve seen this season – especially the unobvious-looking draped dresses that had a little of Romeo Gigli in them.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Franca Sozzani, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, passed away yesterday after a year of struggling with a sickness.

28 years ago, she became the editor-in-chief of quite forgotten and dusty Italian edition of Vogue, bringing pulsing energy, erotic seduction and provoking ideas to the again desired pages. Throughout her career, Sozzani invited cult photograohers and stylists, like Tim Walker, Steven Meisel, Joe McKenna or Paolo Roversi, to work on the editorials, and most of all, the non-chalant, yet refined image of Italian Vogue. She was often called the “gold-mine of creativity”, for a reason.

Let’s look back at small part of archival shots and editorials that were done under Sozzani.