Anna Dello Russo might just be one of my favourite people ever. No other
word can describe her love of fashion other than the highly overused and
slightly pretentious term of 'fashionista'. Some may say that word was
invented just for Anna. Or we can call her a 'fashion maniac' - as Helmut
Newton once famously said! She has become a street style star in her own right,
with fashion bloggers such as The Sartorialist and Tommy Ton going absolutely
nuts for this Italian whirlwind of fun. There are no other editors like her.
She is in my opinion: fashion.
For those of you who don't know who Anna dello Russo is, there is no doubt
you've seen pictures of her before. She is the one who turns heads at every
fashion show and creates such a mad scrum of eager photographers awaiting her
arrival, some may wonder why even watch a fashion show when you've got the
likes of Anna. Let's just say, she is like the Lady Gaga of the fashion industry. She does have a job besides all this fun and laughter, as editor
in chief of Vogue Japan, a position she has held for almost 10 years. She
is as well a self proclaimed collector of clothes, collecting couture and ready-to-wear for 20 years, and has amassed a huge social
media following on Instagram and Twitter - she has a million followers on the
former and 175,000 on the latter.
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| Fabulous in Fendi |
Yet Anna wasn’t always this mad fashionista who lived and died for clothes.
Born in Bari, southern Italy, on April 16th 1962, Anna dello Russo grew up
like any normal Italian child, with plenty of sun, good Mediterranean food and
a loving family. It was when she got to the age of 12 that she realized a love
of fashion, especially getting dressed up. She once recalled a conversation she
had with her father in regard to her unique way of styling an outfit. "My
father said, 'Where do you go with this umbrella? It's not raining!' (I
come from the South of Italy.) I told him, 'I'm going to school!' And he
said, 'With your umbrella?' I answered, 'Yes! This is part of the look."
After she finished her MA in Italian Literature and Art History, she went on
to spend 18 years at Vogue Italia as fashion editor, and then editor of L'Uomo
Vogue from 2000-2006. She went on to the respected role she holds now, as
editor of Vogue Japan or Vogue Nippon, yet still has her base in Italy. Anna
even has two apartments in Milan, one for her and one just for her wardrobe -
that is how immense it is! What I love about Anna is that she is so different
to all the other prim and proper editors who you rarely see crack a smile.
Could you imagine Anna Wintour wearing head to toe Fendi playing up to the
cameras outside a Dior show? Or Emmanuelle Alt laughing and giggling her way
into fashion after parties? No way! But Anna doesn't care and literally lives to
have a good time, wherever she is.
I have regularly featured editorials from Vogue Japan on this blog, which
highlight Anna's talent as a successful stylist. This woman knows how to dress,
and this eccentric, beautiful way of dressing is conveyed in the
shoots she styles for the magazine. She is above all a stylist, not so much a journalist,
and would rather touch and feel the clothes (and probably wear them!) rather
than write about them. She has tried her hand at designing too. In 2012, she
released an accessories collection for H&M, which sold out extremely
quickly.
So who are Anna's go to designers? Well she loves her Italian brands of
course, and serves as muse to Dolce and Gabbana whom she's often seen hanging
out with - check her Instagram feed. Fendi fur coats, Prada shoes, Tom Ford
dresses and Versace jewellery would serve as a classic 'Anna' outfit. She
has fun with her clothes, with clashing prints, layers of accessories, loads of
colours and super high heels. Of course, her slim, long legs and tanned
frame helps to make any outfit look amazing on her. Not bad for a 52 year old. I
loved the Moschino red and yellow McDonalds dress she wore from their
autumn/winter 2014 collection as well as that amazing patchwork Fendi coat she
wore to Paris Fashion Week.
I'm not going to lie, there’s a part of me that
wishes I was in Anna's shoes - and who wouldn't want to play dress up every day
of the week (or sometimes even 3 times a day, she once revealed.) To finish off
in
Anna’s own words, 'I don't want to be
cool. I want to be fashion.'
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| Out and about at Paris/Milan Fashion Weeks, wearing Prada, D&G, Versace and Philip Tracey |
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| All Dolce and Gabbana... |
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| From Moschino, Balenciaga and Fendi, Anna will wear it all. |
