La Grande Bellezza: A Conversation with Carla Sozzani

During our afternoon in Milan, we’re momentarily blessed with sunshine. A few beams even come through the window into Carla Sozzani’s office, but otherwise, the place is in the shade. The moment you enter, though, you forget what was going on outside, and I immediately notice a kind of ‘block’ in me, as though I were reading someone’s diary. As I try to have a good look around while I wait for Carla, Vogue Italia’s former editor and founder of the city’s exclusive 10 Corso Como art and fashion store, I feel timid – reverent, almost. The faces of her family and friends and their handwritten messages become caught in my gaze. My instinct tells me to wait for her before I can move about the place freely. I can already sense that I’ll need her to take me through everything because everything seems to be imbued with her spirit. 

When we meet face to face, she extends both hands to welcome me. It’s a small gesture, but I immediately feel more relaxed. All the questions I meant to ask are suddenly thrown overboard. This meeting is about getting to know her, and getting to know someone is always a moment of absolute authenticity.

SLEEK: Carla, I’ve brought you a small gift. Whenever I tell my granddaughter I’m off to meet someone on my travels, she wants to know what the person looks like. So I showed her a photo of you, and she drew you. Here’s the picture.

Carla Sozzani: How old is she?

S: She’s just started school. 

CS: Thank you so much for the portrait! [Carla laughs and holds the picture up beside her face]. I have a daughter too. That’s us there, look. [She points at one of the photos on the wall]. I sometimes think it must be time by now to collaborate with her.

S: That would be nice, I’m sure! Where do you get your strength and the capacity to do what you believe in?

CS: Oh, good question! As kids, we learn from our parents. We learn to observe, step by step, right from childhood. And of course, we also look for integrity. Perhaps we learn to follow what we believe is good. 

I think my own life has been about finding my own way, without compromise, and that’s probably something you are more likely to learn when you are still very young. Sometimes I think it takes time for us to go our own way. And only after that do we reach the period when our memories start.

S: Yes. Recently I’ve been thinking about my grandma a lot. I remember how, whenever there was a problem, she would always start to sing. I didn’t realise that at the time, of course, but it recently came back to me because I find myself doing the same thing. Have you ever had that kind of experience?

CS: Yes. I think about my father a lot. He was a very composed man, very strict and extremely free. In the Seventies he travelled to Africa – to Egypt, actually – and he only started to work for real much later. But I don’t think he was a very good role model for my sister and me. Our mother comes from the generation where women had to learn to be strong. [Carla points to a photo]. Look, that’s her on the day she turned 100. She was on the phone the entire day. There were two things my father would always say, which I’ll never forget: “Never say you don’t have time” and “never say you feel tired”. 

S: And you stick to what he said?

CS: Yes, I do. There’s always time for the things you really want. You might not feel like it or have the energy right now, but there are always other ways of getting to do them.

S: It’s a different way of thinking, right? When we were kids, we used to go walking in the woods. My mother would say, “Let’s take the small trails through the coppice and then find our way back to the main path.” I now realise that she actually meant more than just the pathways: she was teaching me a different way to think.

CS: Yes, exactly. And then that idea gets into your head and grows there because it’s actually about much more.

S: Do you think young women who are just starting out need our stories to be inspired by a different way of living? To know that you don’t always have to start things by looking at the rules and only doing what other people expect?

CS: First of all, you have to find the confidence and have faith in yourself. You have to find out who you are and believe in what you do – no fears, no barriers. Sometimes people come up to me and thank me. I think it’s nice to thank people. And if we don’t find what we’re looking for in one place, we just have to move on to the next. To me, that’s the only way of learning. It’s so important to understand your passions, feelings and perceptions, and it’s not until you realise it’s all about you that it actually works and you feel really in touch with yourself. This place, this room is where you can really get in touch with me. I feel comfortable and happy here, and I have no reason to be unhappy when it’s time to leave. 

S: Artists, designers and creative people often have the power of intuition. Does that create the opportunity for a kind of freedom?

CS: It’s a special way of leading your own life and something you can teach other people. Young people who are just starting out at work should be encouraged to follow their intuition. If they don’t and can’t express any of what’s inside them, I find it really sad. But if you have something to say, you should be listened to and taken seriously, and you should carry on believing in it. Someone like Margiela, for example, believed in what he was doing, and that’s how he came to be so great. It’s also the reason I still meet him regularly. He’s such a positive, life-affirming person.

S: How can we adopt this attitude to life? 

CS: By being together, irrespective of age, united by our curiosity and inner freedom and independence. We’re social animals. It’s what we were made for. But unfortunately, we’re not together often enough. And for older people it’s more complicated too, as their minds have to be stimulated. At 101, my mother was still learning a poem by heart every day because she felt she wanted to keep her mind active.

I’ve always liked to be independent, and that’s why I never got married. I always wanted to be free. Our parents wanted us kids to lead a simple, middle class life. But for some reason, my sister and I loved the idea of being independent women. When we were kids, my father made us wear the same clothes. At school we had school uniforms – a blue dress and a white dress – and at home we would wear grey skirts and pale blue pullovers. We weren’t supposed to change anything about the way we were dressed, but we found that difficult to accept. So we came to an arrangement with our father: if we were good at school, he would give us money so we could buy our own clothes. If we did badly at school, we had to give the money back. That was the deal [laughs]. So we were star pupils, of course! That was probably when we learned to be independent in every respect, be it in relationships or in life more generally.

S: Gaining that independence is quite a journey and pretty hard work. Today I feel incredibly free and able to live by myself. It’s good for love, too.

CS: That’s great, and yet not everybody manages to achieve it. My own independence means an awful lot to me. I know how fantastic it feels, too, because it taught me how to deal with problems. I can handle dark times and loss, but also good times. It’s important to enjoy the good times, and we can learn how to enjoy them every time they come along. Some people don’t even know how to enjoy a moment. Or perhaps they don’t even notice the moment.

S: And then there’s hope, too. 

CS: Oh yes. Hope. We’re just organising an exhibition about that [Carla gestures to the next room, where the exhibition is just being set up]. It’s going to be about the hope of sustainability, the future and the different facets of hope. To me, hope is a positive feeling every day.

S: And it can help us through difficult times as well.

CS: It’s one of life’s laws: whenever one door closes, another one opens. And the new one is probably better than the old one. I find it important to believe that. Facing up to difficult times is not always easy, but it’s incredibly important. And those moments are different for every one of us. We can assume it’s all a part of life.

S: This space here – your space – surely that’s an element of hope, too? I notice I don’t even need to take in every item that’s in here to know that all these stories, photos and artworks refer to and interconnect with each other through one common element: you. That’s hope in the most beautiful sense of the word.

CS: I love the way you described that. A lot of people who are here for the first time tell me they felt uncomfortable afterwards, that they found it a little depressing. But then, the more they come here, the more comfortable they start to feel. And to me, that’s the greatest compliment of all. It’s a bit like being at home. I can offer someone a place where they feel safe. This place here is a kind of home to me, a second home [laughs]. I think the reason we’re all alive is so we can give something to other people. And yes, if you can share a piece of yourself or a positive moment, then it’s probably the nicest compliment anyone can have.

S: Does your success mean you’ve made it?

CS: Success … Well, yes and no. I would define success more as having conversations with other people who share my values. I like that a lot.

S: I love your definition of success. But sometimes when you try to communicate things, people don’t get the message.

CS: I think communication has to be natural. It has to come from the heart, and then it works. Conversely, if you’re communicating to achieve a particular goal, I’m sure it doesn’t work.

S: What do you think of the idea of power?

CS: I find one’s will is very important because it takes discipline. A few years ago, I was talking to someone who had been on an icebreaker. His perspective alone was a real eye-opener. Your will to win has to be stronger than your fear of failure. To me, it seems impossible to exist without my own will. Your will is what makes things possible. To me, it’s the key to everything. That’s my attitude and formula.

S: Before we wrap up, I’d like to ask you a question I’ve borrowed from Pina Bausch. Is there a colour that you love?

CS: Clever question [laughs]! Pompeii Red.

S: [I look at the wall behind her. I bet she knows which photo or picture has this shade of red.] Carla, thank you so much. 

CS: Thank you! It’s been a pleasure to meet you.

Interview featured in SLEEK 71 – POWER

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