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Eight different designers created an illustrated cover for Vogue Italia's January edition | Photo source Vogue Italia

Italian fashion magazine suspends photoshoots for a sustainable edition

Publishing & Media

Vogue Italia released an environmentally-friendly January edition, which harks back to its traditional, illustrated format

Spotted: Vogue Italia has marked its commitment to making the fashion and publishing industries more sustainable by covering its first edition of 2020 with illustrations instead of expensive and environmentally-damaging photoshoots. Before the era of photoshoots, Vogue was known for its beautifully illustrated covers, and Emanuele Farneti, the editor of Vogue Italia, sees a lot to be commercialised in the old tradition. 

As the January 2020 edition marks the start of not only a new year but a new fashion season, Vogue Italia’s move marks a bold commitment to a more sustainable future.

In the edition, Farneti describes to his readers with figures what their September 2019 issues had cost, both environmentally and financially: “One hundred and fifty people involved. About 20 flights and a dozen or so train journeys. Forty cars on standby. Sixty international deliveries. Lights switched on for at least ten hours non-stop, partly powered by gasoline-fuelled generators. Food waste from the catering services. Plastic to wrap the garments. Electricity to recharge phones, cameras….”

Eight illustrators were commissioned by Vogue Italia to portray all of the normal facets of a fashion magazine — the latest fashion trends, models and makeup — but without the damaging costs of the photoshoots. Amongst the illustrators included are Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano, artist and Kanye West-collaborator Vanessa Beecroft and comic book artist Milo Manara. 

This is not the only move towards sustainability pledged by Vogue Italia: the money saved by the January edition will go towards the restoration of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, which was damaged by the recent floods, and the magazine has also pledged to use fully compostable plastic packaging from now on.

Other bids by the media to aid a more sustainable future covered by Springwise include a media partnership that helped British communities clean up waterways and a library which posts Instagram versions of books. 

Website: vogue.it

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