MILAN — As a fashion editor for several magazines, Franca Sozzani has shaken things up for some time. Sozanni has used her publications to advocate against the slave trade, environmental pollution, racism and violence against women. Soon, her focus will be on ending world hunger.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) named Sozzani the Global Ambassador Against Hunger earlier this May 2014. Sozzani spoke with Devex regarding the relationship between fashion and food. She stated, “When we talk about food and fashion we talk about style of life… everything is complementary.” After visiting with the World Food Programme, Sozanni’s eyes were opened to the tragic reality that is global hunger.
The WFP estimates that the number of individuals suffering from hunger is greater than the populations of the United States, European Union and Canada combined. One out of every eight people in the world go to sleep hungry.
There is hope, however: since 1990, severe hunger has decreased by 17 percent, and during the past 20 years, the population of undernourished people has decreased by 50 percent. Ending world hunger has become a realistic goal.
It would take $30 billion annually to end world hunger. This is the equivalent of approximately 6 percent of the annual U.S. military budget. The World Food Programme’s annual budget is $4 billion. While fashion czar Franca Sozanni may not herself have $30 billion, she does have her publications and status, which she hasn’t hesitated to use before for worthy causes.
As a main layout for Vogue Italia in August 2010, Franca Sozanni portrayed model Kristen McMenamy covered in oil on a polluted beach in an effort to bring awareness to the BP oil disaster. Currently, Sozanni intends to use Conde Nast Italy’s various publications to promote the causes of the WFP. Sozanni provided an example to Women’s Wear Daily, citing the food magazine Cucina Italia as a possible tool to increase awareness of food-related issues such as world hunger.
Sozanni empathizes strongly with the focuses of the WFP, which include helping women become more independent through education in addition to ending world hunger. The WFP estimates that if female farmers had access to the same resources as male farmers, the number of hungry people in the world would decrease by 150 million. Sozanni will be focusing on international child education for the WFP, and she will begin July 2014 with a trip to Rwanda.
Too often issues such as world hunger or global poverty are seen as too large a problem to ever be solved. This is simply not the case. Ending world hunger is accomplished person by person. These combined efforts make solving such an immense problem a possibility.
Franca Sozzani’s innovative uses of her publications bring a sense of purpose to her art. Her use of fashion as an advocacy tool is an inspiration to the industry. Whether Sozzani is fighting against anorexia, pollution, racism or world hunger, she truly is part of a larger solution. Without a doubt, she is “fashion’s rebel with a cause.”
Sources: Devex, Fashion Times, Women’s Wear Daily, TIME, WFP, The Borgen Project, New York Mag
Photo: Stedan Kocev