Everything inspires me. It could be a movie. It could be a book. It could be a house. It could be one word - I'll think for hours and hours about one word sometimes. It could be anything.
I like to be risky every day, changing minds every day. I'm not reliable at all in my ideas. I can change my ideas three times a day. I change different things, the parts of the content. But I never change the content of who I am. So my challenge every day is to change and to take risks.
Fashion is a mirror of the era in which we live. Why should the magazine be disconnected from reality? It's not like in the past.
Giving back is the new luxury.
I don't like fashionistas. They only wear the brand. You want to become a fashionista? Easy! Spend money.
I think I just do what I feel is good to do. Everybody can give me their suggestions, but at the end, the final risk is mine because it's my name on the magazine. So I only do what I really feel. Everybody tries to influence you, of course: "Oh, this is the right moment to do this" and "This is the right photographer to choose," and "This is the right model to have . . ." I listen, but I must go my own way. When you take risks, it means that you know every month people are there to judge you.
I feel what is in the air. I go with my instinct.
I don't think when you work you have to please everybody - you make a choice. It's not like everybody who is in front of you has to become your best friend.
My view is not just to find young talents, it's to support them too.
Do you know when you go to a very boring dinner and you sit down and you have the chance to talk with somebody and it's so interesting that you learn so much that night that you go back and say, "Oh, finally, I met someone who inspired me"? I love that.
Think of Instagram. Journalism will continue to exist, but communication is now visual.
Bloggers now have no concept. They are given things; they put them on, take pictures, and then just disappear from sight. Who cares?
I try to renew and create something new every time.
Today it's normal. Photos used to be a support to the text, but we turned things around, reducing the words to a minimum.
Social media are fundamental to communicate and understand what happens in the world. It's a point of view and an immediate commentary.
The only time I was really surprised was the reaction to the [shoot dedicated to the] BP oil [spill in 2010]. I didn't expect it at all. It was for the August issue, perhaps one of the less relevant months, but there was so much buzz. It was picked up all over the American television, but I defended my position. I don't understand those that say that a magazine such as Vogue should not talk about these things.
Vogue is not a practical magazine, it provides sensations, feeling, moods, you like the photos.
Credibility is a must. Think of all those bloggers that kill us with photos outside the shows - there will be a selection there, too. Not because some are less good, but those that do not impose a style will have fewer requests.
I think the future fashion will be more and more separated-like, on one side would be big distribution, and on the other side there will be high-level prêt-à-porter and couture. I mean, the prêt-à-porter is already couture in a way for the prices and the way that it's made. The big distribution will allow people to dress in a fashionable way, so this could be for everybody. This part of the big distribution will be stronger and stronger, but the other part we are coming up on is more and more rich people, because we are always thinking about Europe and about America.
This is a choice I made 26 years ago when I joined the magazine. Vogue was in Italian but I wanted to speak to everyone so I thought of creating images that were made to talk.
In “Curvy,” they are superhappy with their sizes. We help them dress fashionably. We say: It’s pointless for you to buy leggings, take this because this will look good on you. We help them choose. We don’t talk about diets because they don’t want to be on a diet, but it’s not a ghetto. Why should these women slim down? Many of the women who have a few extra kilos are especially beautiful and also more feminine.
What worries me is that now, communication is virtual.
As for Instagram, I follow about 100 people, but I am not interested in what a designer is doing or what a friend of a friend is doing. I upload my photos on Instagram.
I started entering in a series of problems I had never occupied myself with - water, production, employment. I am learning. You can do so many things. However, I don't feel guilty for living well here.
I didn't need to get married again. It's great to be in a situation in which you're happy. But, you know, I'm not tortured by love. I'm not tortured by chagrin d'amour. I'm old now.
