The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the entire world from Asia, to Europe to the Americas. Daily routine has been lost, and what we consider to be “normal” is now a thing of the past. In this time of staying home in quarantine, we have an opportunity to work on ourselves, to grow and to explore this concept of a “rebirth.”
Italy has been one of the hardest hit areas during this pandemic. As of April 15, there were over 165,000 confirmed cases in the European nation, and over 20,000 deaths. Instead of ignoring these statistics and the bravery of Italian medical professionals, Vogue Italia chose to spread awareness.
Vogue has been around for hundreds of years, always being a trusted source of the latest fashion news and trends. But for the first time in history, this issue’s cover doesn’t feature a model or a celebrity, but rather a blank white page.
“In its long history stretching back over a hundred years, Vogue has come through wars, crises, acts of terrorism. Its noblest tradition is never to look the other way,” Editor-in-Chief Emanuele Farneti wrote in his editor’s letter, explaining that with the current pandemic and severe situation in Italy, it didn’t feel right to put anything else on the cover for this month.
The magazine had plans for a cover aligning with their L’Uomo Vogue project, but with something as severe as the coronavirus pandemic going on, Vogue Italia couldn’t sit back and ignore that.
“To speak of anything else — while people are dying, doctors and nurses are risking their lives and the world is changing forever — is not the DNA of Vogue Italia,” Farneti wrote.
“White is first of all respect. White is rebirth, the light after darkness, the sum of all colours. White is the colour of the uniforms worn by those who put their own lives on the line to save ours. It represents space and time to think, as well as to stay silent. Above all: white is not surrender, but a blank sheet waiting to be written, the title page of a new story that is about to begin,” Farneti expressed in his commentary.
Italy has been one of the hardest hit nations from COVID-19, but Italians are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. According to the World Health Organization, Italy’s reported new cases are going down each day.
While hospitals are still dealing with remaining cases, there is finally hope across Italy and much of Europe that one day, the pandemic will be behind us.
