Vogue Italia is the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 edition of Vogue

Vogue (magazine)

Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...

 magazine. Owned by Condé Nast International, it is the least commercial of all editions of Vogue magazine and has been called the top fashion magazine in the world.

Its imagery is frequently shocking and provocative; according to the art director of British Vogue

Vogue (British magazine)

The British edition of Vogue is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1916.When British Vogue was launched, it was the first overseas edition of an existing fashion magazine. Under the magazine's first editor, Elspeth Champcommunal, the magazine was essentially the same as the American...

, its photographs "go beyond straight fashion to be about art and ideas".

History

Vogue Italia is considered the best edition of Vogue magazine. Vogue Italia and the Italian fashion industry have historically had a symbiotic relationship, with Vogue Italia contributing to Milan's domination of the fashion world.

Recent influential editorials have included Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...

's September 2006 "State of Emergency", a visual play on the War on Terror

War on Terror

The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...

, and Meisel's July 2007 "Rehab", addressing recent celebrity visits to rehab clinics. and the August 2010 Issue, featuring Kristen McMenamy

Kristen McMenamy

Kristen McMenamy is an American model. She is known for her unconventional, androgynous appearance.-Career:Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, McMenamy's modeling career mainly spanned the years 1985 to 1998, when she worked for many of the world's top designers and international fashion houses...

, shooting on the site of the BP

BP

BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...

 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

All Black Issue

The July 2008 issue featured only black models, photographed by Steven Meisel, and the articles pertained to black women in the arts and entertainment. The magazine claimed to showcase black models in response to anger caused by the disinclination of fashion magazines to display black models on their covers. Fashion industry insiders claim black models are featured less often because they are unable to sell. This statement, along with the formation of a protest group in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 that challenges racism in the industry, convinced Italian Vogues editor

Editor in chief

An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...

, Franca Sozzani

Franca Sozzani

Franca Sozzani is an Italian journalist and the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia since 1988.Franca has been at the forefront of Fashion since the beginning of her career. Sozzani started her career at Vogue Bambini and directed legendary publications LEI since 1980 and PER LUI since 1982 before...

 to create this issue. The issue included established supermodel

Supermodel

The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...

s like Vivien Tan, Yasmin Warsame

Yasmin Warsame

Yasmin Abshir Warsame is a Somali-Canadian model and activist. In 2004, she was named "The Most Alluring Canadian" in a poll by Fashion magazine.-Biography:...

, Alek Wek

Alek Wek

Alek Wek is a Sudanese British model who first appeared on the catwalks at the age of 18 in 1995, sparking a career lasting to date. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in South Sudan, but in 1991 she and some family members fled to Britain to escape the civil war in Sudan...

, Veronica Webb

Veronica Webb

Veronica Webb is an American model, actress, writer, journalist and television personality. Webb was the first African-American to have a major cosmetics contract...

, Noemie Lenoir

Noémie Lenoir

Noémie Lenoir is a French model and actress of African and European descent.-Career:Lenoir was first spotted by Ford Models when she was 16 years old. In 1995, Lenoir signed with L'Oréal, and has since appeared in their advertisements alongside Laetitia Casta and long-term model and actress Andie...

, Iman

Iman (model)

Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid , professionally known as Iman , is a Somali-American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur. A pioneer in the field of ethnic cosmetics, she is also noted for her charitable work. She is married to David Bowie.-Early life:Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Iman is the daughter...

, Liya Kebede

Liya Kebede

Liya Kebede is an Ethiopian model, maternal health advocate, clothing designer and actress who has appeared three times on the cover of US Vogue . According to Forbes, Kebede was eleventh-highest-paid top model in the world in 2007...

, Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks

Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...

 and Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...

, as well as contemporary models, including Jourdan Dunn

Jourdan Dunn

Jourdan Dunn is a British fashion model. She was discovered in Hammersmith Primark in 2006 and signed to Storm Management in London shortly thereafter. In 2008, she was the first black model to walk a Prada runway in over a decade...

, Chanel Iman

Chanel Iman

Chanel Iman Robinson , known professionally as Chanel Iman, is an American fashion model perhaps best known for her work for Victoria's Secret.-Early life:...

, Arlenis Sosa

Arlenis Sosa

Arlenis Sosa is an Dominican model. She is the current spokesmodel for Lancome and appeared in the 2008 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.-Early life and discovery:...

, and Sessilee Lopez

Sessilee Lopez

Sessilee Lopez is an American model. She has appeared in Vogue Italia and graced one of the four covers of its "All Black" issue, while Naomi Campbell, Liya Kebede, and Jourdan Dunn graced the alternative ones.-Career:...

. This specific issue also brought in Toccara Jones

Toccara Jones

Toccara Jones from Dayton, Ohio, is an American fashion model, occasional actress and television personality. Jones was a contestant on the third season of the UPN series America's Next Top Model, where she finished in seventh place....

, the first black plus-sized model to be in the pages of the high fashion magazine. Instead of the issue not selling, it became the highest selling issues of Italian Vogue ever, and had run out of print twice, which marked the first time in Condé Nast history that the magazine reprinted an issue to satisfy demand. The reprinted copies had the tag lines: "Most Wanted Issue Ever" and "First Reprint" banded across the front.

However, even though the advertising pages went up 30 percent, there was a "glaring lack of black models" in them. Meisel said: "I've asked my advertising clients so many times, 'Can we use a black girl?' They say no. Advertisers say black models don't sell."

External links

• Vogue Italia