Franca Sozzani

Franca Sozzani (; 20 January 1950 – 22 December 2016) was an Italian journalist and the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia from 1988 until her death in 2016.

Biography

Sozzani was born and grew up in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy. She was descended from a long line of aristocrats, including Princess Catherine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. She studied Germanic languages and literature and philosophy at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, graduating in 1973.

She married at the age of 20; the union was dissolved three months later.

Sozzani's career began as an assistant at the children's fashion magazine Vogue Bambini in 1976. She was appointed editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Italia in 1994.

As well as her editorial writing, Sozzani also wrote photography and art books among them "British Artists at Work" with photographer Amanda Eliasch. Sozzani provided text for exhibition catalogues, often collaborating with other writers, journalists and artists on publications. In September 2015, she took over editorship of Vogue Sposa and Vogue Bambini.

Sozzani died of lung cancer on 22 December 2016, at the age of 66.

Style Sozzani was known for including topics and issues in her magazine which other fashion publications avoided, such as domestic violence, drug abuse and recovery, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010. She also curated several exhibitions and retrospectives, including: 30 Years of Italian Vogue (Mario Testino), Vietnam Story and My Own Story in Vogue (Bruce Weber), Women (Peter Lindbergh), and Portraits of Elegance (Milan Triennale), as well as Francesco Scavullo. The same year she became a United Nations goodwill ambassador. In 2014, she was named a global ambassador against hunger for the United Nations' World Food Programme In addition, she worked with the AIDS organisation Convivo and from March 2013 she was the president of the European Institute of Oncology Foundation.

Publications A Noir: An exploration of the colour Black between fashion and art, (1986), published by Assouline 30 Years of Italian Vogue (1994) Style in Progress: 30 years of L’Uomo Vogue (1998) Valentino’s Red Book (2000), credited with original concept, published by Rizzoli International Work in progress: photography (2001), co-written with James Truman, published by Art Books International British Artists At Work: An itinerary among the most important British artists of the time, credited with original concept, published by Assouline (2003) I capricci della moda (2010), published by Bompiani kARTell – 150 items, 150 artworks (2016), published by Skira Editore

Family Sozzani had one son, Francesco Carrozzini (born 1982), a photographer and director. Her sister, Carla Sozzani, is the owner of 10 Corso Como, a Milan photography gallery and store. Sozzani's niece, Sara Maino, is an editor at Italian Vogue.