Vogue Italia to release April issue with an empty white cover amid COVID-19 pandemic

Vogue Italia will be launching its April issue with an empty white blank page as its magazine cover for the first time in history amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

On their Instagram account, Vogue Italia announced they will be releasing the magazine on April 10, Friday.

"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," said Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Emanuele Farnet.

 

 

 

 

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The Vogue Italia April Issue will be out next Friday 10th. ???????????? “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. Just under two weeks ago, we were about to print an issue that we had been planning for some time, and which also involved L’Uomo Vogue in a twin project. But 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. Accordingly, we shelved our project and started from scratch. The decision to print a completely white cover for the first time in our history is not because there was any lack of images – quite the opposite. We chose it because white signifies many things at the same time. ???????????? 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. White is for those who are filling this empty time and space with ideas, thoughts, stories, lines of verse, music and care for others. White recalls when, after the crisis of 1929, this immaculate colour was adopted for clothes as an expression of purity in the present, and of hope in the future. 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.” #EmanueleFarneti @EFarneti #imagine #FarAwaySoClose #WhiteCanvas --- Read the full Editor’s letter via link in bio. Full credits: Editor in chief @Efarneti Creative director @FerdinandoVerderi

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Apr 7, 2020 at 10:00am PDT

The Vogue Italia team decided to shelve the project they have been planning for some time and start from scratch to emphasize a bold and hopeful statement by using a white blank page as its cover while the world battles COVID-19.

"Just under two weeks ago, we were about to print an issue that we had been planning for some time, and which also involved L’Uomo Vogue in a twin project."

"But 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," the statement read.

Vogue Italia said they decided to print a completely white cover "not because there was any lack of images" but because it symbolizes several things.

"White is first of all respect. White is rebirth, the light after darkness, the sum of all colours," the magazine said. "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. White is for those who are filling this empty time and space with ideas, thoughts, stories, lines of verse, music and care for others."

Vogue Italia said white it also recalls a time after the crisis of 1929, when white was adopted for clothes "as an expression of purity in the present, and hope in the future."

"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.”

According to the World Health Organization's situation report as of April 8, Italy has  135,586 cases with 17,129 deaths.

The country has the second highest number of COVID-19 infections in the European region.

On April 4, Spain overtook Italy for having the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. --Jannielyn Bigtas/MGP, GMA News