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has known Hardison since the early ’80s when theymet through the Paris-based designer Azzedi- ne Alaia, who, as it happens, is known for his affection for black models. In 1994 Hardison helped black male model Tyson Beckford sign a groundbreaking advertis- ing contract with Polo Ralph Lau- ren. In the past three years, she’s aggressively rallied the fashion industry to question itsownstan- dards. “No one wants to be a racist. The people in this industry are not,” Hardison says. “But the results of what they do are rac- ism.” Vogue Blackwentlive inFebru-
ary with Hardison as editor at large. Although it’s headquar- tered inMilan, it clearly speaks to an American audience. The site opens in English in the United States, and many of the topics are culled from American popular culture. It mixes model profiles with street fashion pictures and short stories about creative types such as artist Kehinde Wiley. The reaction has been a mix of opti- mism, ambivalence and curiosity. “It strikes me as strange, to be
VOGUE CURVY PLUS SIZEONTHEWEB:Vogue Curvy, which focuses on plus-size fashion, is among Franca Sozzani’s projects to foster greater acceptance. franca from E2
wore I liked. I started to question myself. “We cannot use only these girls
who are the same,” Sozzani says. “We go to the East Side and Russia. We go looking for tall, thin and blue eyes. Butwehave to scout in Africa, everywhere. “I decided to do an issue only
with black girls. People say, ‘It’s a ghetto.’ But we do thousands of issues with Russian girls and it’s not a ghetto.” There was grumbling and
skepticism from cultural observ- ers that the issue was a gimmick or that she was exploiting inter- national interest in the American presidential election. “People ac- cused me of doing it because of Obama and said that I was very clever,” Sozzani says. “But I start- ed the previous October, before ObamaandHillaryClintonbegan to fight.” Still, her timing proved pre-
scient. When the issue arrived on newsstands July 1, 2008, Obama had wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination. The Black Issue was distribut- ed with four different newsstand covers, each featuring a well- known black model. Inside, a
roster of relatively unknown mannequins was spotlighted, along with several veterans, such as Gail O’Neill and Alva Chinn. Plus-size model Toccara Jones — once a contestant on “America’s Next TopModel”—posed topless. The special issue turned into a
collector’s edition. After its initial print run of 120,000, it had to be reprinted for Britain, Germany and the United States, which makes up 40 percent of the maga- zine’s readers. “It was like Michael Jackson
was coming to town in the fash- ion industry. People were scram- bling to buy every single cover,” says Michaela Angela Davis, a NewYork-based cultural critic. “If you put Vogue in front of
anything,”Davis says, “that brand means something in the hearts of women.” For Sozzani, the Black Issue was only the beginning.
Launching Vogue Black There have been no cultural pressures on Sozzani to broaden the embrace of her magazine or its Web site. Indeed, the Black Issue did not sell especially well in Italy. Some Americans com- plain that she created separate venues for women of color—and
for larger women — instead of welcoming them more enthusias- tically into the pages of Vogue Italia. But what is the extent of an
Italian magazine’s responsibility for representing such women in its pages? Should their presence reflect their visibility in Italy?The degree to which they are high- end fashion consumers? Or is there some other matrix? Although obesity rates are ris-
ing in Italy, only about 13 percent of women there are obese com- pared with 48 percent of women in the United States. And not so long ago, the few black faces on Italian streets belonged to the Ethiopian immigrants who ar- rived in the 1970s and ’
80s.Today, immigrantsmake up only about 7 percent of the Italian population and many of them, such as those from North Africa and Eastern Europe, have been met with hos- tility and distrust. Recent stories have detailed
the backlash against the Roma, whoselargeGypsycampin north- ern Milan is under threat from local officials. The Northern League, with its strong anti-im- migration stance, thrives in the Milan area, where the only en- counter a tourist is likely to have
with a minority is along the stone streets of Via Brera, where black Africans sell knockoffs of Prada and Gucci handbags. The North- ern League, Sozzani jokes, has a problem with anything south of Florence. Acceptance of outsiders is
“happening step by step,” she says. “We are not a big country. We are not as rich as [immi- grants] think we are. Probably they think they will find more than they find . . . but we all work with foreigners at home and in the office.” Sozzani was taken aback by the
success of the Black Issue. The business opportunity was evi- dent: A market was being ig- nored. But Sozzani did not want to be perceived as a dabbler, a cultural tourist. “For me, it became a commit-
ment,” Sozzani said. “I talked to these girls. I promised to take care of them.” Before launching Vogue Black,
Sozzani conferred with Hardison — tall, dark-skinned with close- cropped hair, a self-declared rev- olutionary — for advice. Sozzani
honest. Italy is such a small coun- try and it’s not particularly di- verse,” says writerClaire Sulmers, founder of Fashion Bomb Daily. “I wasn’t sure where there was a shared common interest.” “I think she’s trying to be a
maverick,” says Sulmers,whocov- ered the spring 2011 Paris collec- tions for the site. “I think they saw what a huge stir the Black Issue caused and felt this is how we can make our mark.” The idea of Sozzani, a white
Italian woman, taking even par- tial ownership of black beauty might be a prickly one, given the negative emotions stirred when Essence hired a white fashion director this summer. The topic was so fraught that during Sep- tember’s fashion week in New York, some industry observers took to the streets in silent pro- test. And Davis — a tall, cosmo- politan black woman with a san- dy-colored Afro—who was quite vocal in her criticism of Essence, hosted an hours-long panel dis- cussion/community conversa- tion/venting session at New York University. During that town hall,modera-
tors held up the October issue of Elle as an example of how white editors fail in their representa- tion of black women and large women. Actress Gabourey Sidibe was on the cover and her image was derided as unflattering. Had
she been the target of overzealous retouchers who lightened her complexion? Unskilled hairstyl- ists who victimized her with a dime-store wig? Fatophobes who cropped her plus-size body out of the picture? (No, no and no, said Elle.) For her part, Sozzani has most-
ly escaped criticism for insensi- tivity.
“She has a breadth of experi-
ence and knowledge,” Davis says. “Franca gets it.”
Can’t please everybody It’s easier to turn a smaller boat
than an aircraft carrier. Sozzani’s third-floor office atVogue Italia is tiny compared with the grand quarters from which American editors in chief typically reign. There is no fancy reception area, just a couple of nondescript chairs tucked against a wall in a corridor lined with rumpled gray carpeting and crowded with box- es and file cabinets. The rows and stacks of maga-
zines that fill the bookshelves in her office are a testament to the 22 years that she has ruled Italian fashion. And as she sits talking at one end of a large glass confer- ence table, one can’t help but notice the two unopened bou- quets of flowers that lie forlorn in their brown wrapping paper at the other. Vogue Italia doesn’t have the commercial pressures of itsmuch larger American counterpart. Its greatest strength is its nimble- ness and its point of view. “Italian Vogue magazine is an
experimental magazine — that’s the impression people have,” Soz- zani says. “Idon’t think it’s experi- mental; it has a vision. It can’t please everybody. I don’t want to please everybody.” Still, Sozzani has decided that
she will happily embrace anyone — black, brown, thin, fat — who sees the world as she does.
givhanr@washpost.com
I
MORE PHOTOS To see more photos from Italian Vogue and
its editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani, go to
washingtonpost.com/style.
STRATHMORE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS AT
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David Pittsinger and Carmen Cusack. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Marco Borggreve
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