For the British fashion title, Kamara’s appointment as editor-in-chief heralded a new era. From London to China and Lagos to Brazil, the Sierra Leone-born creative takes us behind the scenes of the summer issue’s seven cover shoots — six of which he styled himself
”The best thing I will bring with me from 2020 is knowing that there is power and beauty in being openly vulnerable,” says Chiara Bardelli Nonino, as she shares her highlights of 2020.
This is Image Noise, a new column by Crack Magazine on the British Journal of Photography, spotlighting the most exciting image makers working in and around the music industry
Michael Bailey-Gates, Paolo Roversi, Marie Tomanova, Kacey Jeffers, and Nina Manandhar respond to the theme transgression through image and text
Presenting the first instalment of an ongoing photo-conversation, with images and words by Aaron Schuman, Vanessa Winship, Clint Woodside, Ed Templeton and Todd Hido
The photo editor of Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue shares her insight on commissioning fashion photography
“There’s a Juliet in every woman, and I will never stop looking for her,” says Roversi, who invited nine women, including Emma Watson, Claire Foy and his daughter, to present their version of the ideal heroine
Diversity has never been hotter in the fashion industry. This year, more non-white, plus-sized, and transgender models have walked the runway than ever before, and a record number of black women have appeared on the covers of glossies worldwide. Alessia Glaviano, senior picture editor at Vogue Italia and director of the Photo Vogue Festival thinks we owe it to the internet. “I believe that nothing would have happened, or not this fast, in terms of inclusivity, if it wasn’t for social media,” she says. “It’s a progressive platform for talking about race, identity, sexuality, and disability.”
But diversity isn’t just a trend, it’s a reality. Years before #diversity began to take off, forward-thinking publications such as Vogue Italia were already poking holes in the industry’s representation problem, with initiatives such as the July 2008 “all black” issue. Vogue Italia is known for being adventurous, for setting a standard for cutting-edge fashion photography. Over the years has given artistic freedom to commissioned photographers such as Steve Meisel, Ellen von Unwerth and Miles Aldridge, who have shot stories unlikely to be seen elsewhere, engaging with themes such as plastic surgery and domestic violence.
“It’s been in our DNA since the beginning,” says Glaviano. “We’ve always been really engaged and committed to this part of fashion that can be very strong and influential.
“I’ve never believed in boundaries and labelling things,” she adds. “No one cares that Michelangelo was commissioned to create the Sistine Chapel. What they care about is the final result.”
“The first time my American agent came here, she said ‘I can’t believe you do all these pictures in this little room’,” laughs Paolo Roversi as he looks around the modest space he’s used as his studio for more than three decades. The Italian remains one of the world’s most sought-after fashion photographers, having forged his reputation during the mid-1980s shooting inspired catalogues for designers such as Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto, in an age when creatives were given unparalleled freedom of expression. Yet his studio is just a room in an unremarkable building in a nondescript arrondissement of southern Paris, furnished with battered chairs and old blankets. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“The main issues in fashion currently are gender and identity, and a more inclusive image…
