Kudos to Franca Sozzani, who just wound down Milan Fashion Week but made it to New York yesterday for a whirlwind trip to attend Fashion 4 Development’s fourth annual First Ladies Luncheon at the Pierre and then swing by the Italian Trade Commission. The occasion? Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Vogue Italia celebrated the launch of their two-year global partnership. Guests previewed the upcoming ‘Visionary World of Vogue Italia’ video exhibition coming to New York next month featuring Manolo Blahnik, Philip Treacy, and Olivia Palermo to name a few. Sozzani has drawn from Vogue’s private vault of footage to share an insider’s perspective on the magazine’s work. So, How’s Sozzani holding up with such a packed schedule? Color us impressed!
How are you feeling?
I don’t have the jet lag, anymore! I have no time for jet lag. I’m lucky that I slept well on the plane.
How was Milan Fashion Week? What did you enjoy?
I enjoy that everybody is trying to do the best. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes not. There was a very good energy. We’re here to support the fashion designers. We want everybody to be successful. Today I made a speech with the United Nations and I said that six billion people around the world work in fashion. We’re all around the world so we should want each other to do well.
We didn’t run into you during fashion week, but congratulations on your epic September issue with all those legendary models on the cover.
We came up with the idea with Steven [Klein] to do fifty women for fifty years. The issue is about women!
Tell us more about the Peroni partnership.
I’m so proud of the event. Once again we are showing that Italians do it better! We’re here to discover young talents. Our partnership the first time was with young photographers. Vision is the only way to look at the future. You can be creative, but you have to be very visionary. The image today is the new language. With an image, you can communicate with everyone. With our anniversary and me being there for 25 years, I say that I invented the Instagram. I only did images and few words.
You’re off to Paris next!
Yes! I’m really not that tired.
What’s your secret?
I sleep! I sleep!