Photo Vogue Festival: Celebrating the bond between fashion and photography

Chaired by Vogue Italia Editor-in-Chief, Franca Sozzani, and directed by Senior Photo Editor, Alessia Glaviano, the inaugural Photo Vogue Festival celebrates the magazine’s bond between fashion and photography through a unique event incorporating lectures, conferences and exhibitions throughout the city of Milan.

Highlights of the festival include a solo exhibition by Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft, and two group shows, The Female Gaze, displaying the work of female photographers who have revolutionised the way the female body and sexuality is represented through fashion photography, and PhotoVogue/inFashion, showcasing the works of photographers selected through PhotoVogue platform.

Vanessa's exhibition brings together rare, blown-up polaroids and sculptures by the Los-Angeles based photographer. Renowned for her innovative performances and unconventional approach to image creation, her provoking work has often served as a vehicle for social critique. As part of her ongoing investigation into female identity, Vanessa has developed her work to explore topics such as the gaze, desire and alienation through sophisticated performances, drawings, photography, video art and sculpture.

Throughout the history of art, women have often been relegated to the role of inspiring muses: loved, admired and revered but almost always in a passive role. The Female Gaze exhibition, co-curated by Alessia Glaviano and Chiara Bardelli Nonino, is a chronological, themed investigation into the importance of subverting the notion of the ‘male gaze’ into the ‘female gaze’ and celebrating the photographers who have been part of this revolution.

Launched in April 2011, PhotoVogue is Vogue, is a platform dedicated to the new wave of photography talents. A unique community that reached over 125,000 users, under the curatorial direction of Alessia Glaviano, the support of Chiara Bardelli Nonino and Francesca Marani, the platform is in partnership with the acclaimed New York agency Art+Commerce.

To discover more about these three exhibitions and the Photo Vogue Festival, visit www.vogue.it.