Vogue Italia november issue. Letter from the Editor

A small revolution

It was in the 1990s when a group of photographers, stylists, hair stylists and make-up artists selected a series of ordinary people

from the streets of London, and by including them in their fashion shoots, they transformed them into heroes. They were sowing the seeds of a small revolution: fashion and its magazines – an elitist world par excellence – realised that by inserting a short circuit (today we’d call it a glitch) into their portrayals of beauty, which until then had been decidedly traditional and Apollonian, they were obtaining an electrical charge that would inject fresh energy into the sector and open up endless possibilities – both political and, why not, commercial.

Thirty years later, this issue tries to take stock of the effects of that intuition, with which fashion has fostered a change of perception that today, fortunately, doesn’t just concern experts in the field, but also the collective sentiment.
The question is both simple and extremely complex: what is beautiful, and what is ugly today?

This industry, and with it the entire world, has taken giant steps along the road towards acceptance. Sensitivity to diversity has become a source of inspiration for the work of designers, photographers and magazine editors – as has been the case at Vogue Italia for a long time.

And yet, precisely because the concept of inclusive and democratic beauty is precious and should never be taken for granted, we have decided to challenge it. Are we sure, we asked, that the idea of beauty still makes sense if everything and everyone is beautiful? Anyone, a hundred thousand, and therefore no one?

On the following pages, you’ll read about people who have learnt to celebrate their different bodies.
You’ll find others who have changed their bodies yet are still searching for happiness. And there are some who, through their own disabilities, are using fashion to make the world a better place.
You’ll encounter people who know where beauty is hidden. And others who cannot see it, but can feel it better than many.

So you won’t find the answer to the question, because nobody has. Instead, you’ll discover small and great stories of small and great conquests. Because in a world that now more than ever needs beauty, and shared beauty, happiness can only start from learning to love ourselves – always and no matter what. My beauty is mine.

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