Arts
Anna Dello Russo is a fashion force of nature. To the uneducated, she is the eternal star of the concrete catwalk. The colorful, upbeat and sometimes outrageous outfits she wears to the fashion weeks she attends are always the must get shots for the photographers that stalk the streets outside the show venues. But for those who know Anna, she is much more than a fabulous clothes horse. She is one of the industry’s leading stylists and art directors. After getting a master’s degree in fashion at the Domus Academy in Milan, Anna had the good fortune, right at the start of her career, to cut her teeth at Vogue Italia under the watchful eye of its longtime editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani. There she spent 18 years honing her skills and worked alongside all of the biggest photographers of the 80s and 90s. Then in the year 2000, she was tapped to become the creative director of L’Uomo Vogue before going out on her own as a creative consultant in 2006. She is also currently the fashion editor-at-large for Vogue Japan, creating one iconic cover image after another for the magazine. Throughout her career, Anna has been paying forward the generosity and mentorship she received from Sozzanni to up and coming stylists. Many of her former assistants have gone on to their own successful careers in the industry after being trained up by Anna. And three years ago she took the concept of giving back even further by becoming the international brand ambassador of the Istituto Marangoni, teaching its students from around the world about how to telegraph their sartorial ideas through visual storytelling that both grabs the viewers’ attention and makes them dream. Full disclosure, I have known Anna for years and she is hands down one of the most positive, heartful, and generous people working in fashion today. You can always count on Anna to find a way to make any situation fun and unforgettable.