ABCDE Arts&Style sunday, november 28, 2010 ROBINGIVHAN
Fashion, up from the streets
Balenciaga’s elegant creations owed a debt to the fishermen and farmers of his native Spain. E12
CIVILWAR
The influential editor who’s smashing the stereotype of the emaciated white model. Here comes diversity.
Writing in Lincoln’s footsteps
D.C. historian James L. Swanson’s new book recounts deathbed journey
BY MICHAEL E. RUANE He pictures the tall man in the stovepipe hat
walking at dusk through the fallen leaves, coming slowly down the winding path, past those two stone mausoleums, pausing before the one with the dark iron gate. The grieving man would doff his hat, duck his
head, and enter alone, to stand for amoment by the child he’d lost in the White House in the winter of 1862. Here,morethananyotherplaceinWashington,by
this secluded tomb carved into a hillside in George- town’s Oak Hill Cemetery, historian James L. Swan- son feels themournful essence ofAbrahamLincoln. Here stands Lincoln, weighed down by the agony
of theCivilWar, thedeaths of two ofhis children, and the loneliness of a president seeking to preserve a nation ripping itself apart. And here Swanson, 51, a paleman with dark hair
andeyebrows—avoyager intothepast—gets closest to the center of his journeys. But this is a sunny autumn day almost 150 years
removedfromthewar, andthe best-sellingWashing- swanson continued on E5
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BLOGSANDCHATS
washingtonpost.com/style On Love They were neighbors in the same apartment building. Finally they spoke. E10 Carolyn Hax Her sister was a rock during her divorce. Now she’s pulling back. E4
Ask Amy, E8 Celebrations, E11 Cul de Sac, E7 Movie Guide, E9 Horoscope, E7 Lively Arts Guide, E4
EVY MAGES FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
INSPIRED: Swanson feels Lincoln’s presence at son Willie Lincoln’s tomb at OakHill Cemetery.
MUSIC
Dreams crippled, and a life reborn
VOGUE ITALIA
COVERLOOKS: Franca Sozzani’sVogue Italia used an oil-soaked model to send a message about the fragility of nature, dedicated a special issue to black Barbie, made a splash with a four-cover Black Issue and delivered a tribute to Africa in sister publication L’Uomo.
Fashionstatement F
BY ROBIN GIVHAN IN MILAN
ranca Sozzani, the editor ofVogueItalia, has taken the lead on one of the most fraught topics in her industry: diversity. She did so in reaction to runways that, in the past few
years, had turned strikingly homogenous as a steady stream of pin-thin, white models — most hailing from Eastern Europe—began to dominate the catwalks ofNewYork and Europe. The result of the whitewashed runways meant that the women being funneled into magazines, cosmetics con- tracts and ultimately into our popular conscious- ness as archetypes of the feminine ideal were overwhelmingly white and often emaciated. Under the prestigious banner of Vogue Italia,
Sozzani now celebrates black and brown women, fat girls and obese ones, too. Sozzani works out of a modest, book-strewn,
brightly lit office overlooking Piazza Cadorna, which is dominated by a two-story sculpture of a blunt-tipped needle threaded with a loop of rain- bow-colored yarn. Sozzani’s magazine claims a modest circulation of about 120,000 to 170,000, compared with American Vogue’s 1.2 million. But
MARIA VALENTINO FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
PAGETURN: Sozzani seeks to showcase all types of models.
do not be misled by Sozzani’s small footprint. The seasonal Moda Donna collections are a
citywide affair centered on Piazza del Duomo. Video screens, several stories tall, flash runway images to the public; wall-size speakers throb morning to night with the rhythms of a dance party, and live catwalk productions unfold in the urban center for the entertainment of anyone who hap- pens by. Fashion is woven into the personality of Italy’s industrial capital, where mom and pop businesses have blossomed into international brands and fashion week’s evening bacchanals — which have attracted everyone from soccer stars to PrimeMinister Silvio Berlusconi—are as crucial to dealmaking as lobbyists are toWashington. All of which means that Sozzani is an extremely
important woman. Her magazine rides herd over designers, pushes
aesthetic boundaries and often offends. The cover of the August issue featured model KristenMcMe- namy dressed as an oil-soaked bird. Sozzani de- scribed the photo as a commentary on the fragility of nature; others complained that it glamorized the BP oil spill.
franca continued on E2
BY LEON FLEISHER AND ANNEMIDGETTE My 12th birthday present
frommymother and fatherwas a recording of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor. My family didn’t have many re- cords, apart froma few records by Enrico Caruso — a staple in American homes in those days —butmyparents knewthis one was something out of the ordi- nary. The soloist wasmy teach- er, the great Artur Schnabel, whose playing was even then legendary and bore the seal of absolute authority: After all, in his youth in Vienna he hadmet Brahms, heard him play and even gone on a picnicwith him. And the conductorwas the bril- liant Hungarian taskmaster George Szell. The BrahmsDminor concer-
When Leon Fleisher’s hand failed, a 30-year mystery began
to is a huge work. In those days of 78 rpm records, it took up seven or eight discs. I put the firstdisconthe recordplayerandloweredtheneedle, and a dark roll of timpani poured out of the big horn of the speaker, like the thunder of Thor. There fol- lowed a defiant cry from the massed forces of the orchestra, as if shaking a fist at the loweringheavens. The hair on my head stood up. That opening did somethingtomethatnoothermusichaddonebefore. I wore out the first side of that recording. It tookme about a week even to get to side 2, where the piano actuallymakes its entrance.
Anexcerpt from pianistLeon Fleisher's “My NineLives:A Memoir ofMany Careers inMusic,” by Fleisher and Post criticAnne Midgette, to be publishedTues- day byDouble- day.
fleisher continued on E6
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