Franca Sozzani

Franca Sozzani (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfraŋka sotˈtsaːni]; 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. Sozzani was born and grew up in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy. 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 directed the publications Lei beginning in 1980 and Per Lui starting in 1982 before heading up Vogue Italia in 1988.In the 1990s, Sozzani helped create the phenomenon of the supermodel with one of her closest long-term collaborators, Steven Meisel. She also championed a group of photographers including Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, and Paolo Roversi, Michel Comte giving them complete freedom to choose models and subjects, and encouraging them to experiment with their work. She was appointed editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Italia in 1994.In 2010, Sozzani published a selection of her blog posts from the "Editor's Notes" pages of Vogue.it as a book, I capricci della moda.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 2006, she became editor of Vogue l'Uomo and in February 2011, she launched Vogue Curvy, staffed by plus-size bloggers who offer fashion tips for the full-figured. 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. A Catholic memorial service was held for Sozzani on 17 February 2017 in Milan.