The month of March is one of the most important months for fashion. As a milestone in its history, ELLE magazine wanted this time, March, to leave room to be a celebration of women. He has done it (and achieved it) with a special number they have called ‘ELLE x ELLAS’. An edition of the magazine that, for the first time, has been created solely by womenwho have been both in front of and behind the cameras.

Chosen as a ‘Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain’ In the Media category in this tenth edition, Benedetta Poletti is the woman at the head of ELLE Spain for more than 20 years. Since 2016, she has also been editorial director of the Hearst group.

In our goal of making female talent visible, at magasIN we wanted to congratulate you on this very special issue. The director of ELLE answers us on the other end of the phone, who, fun, kind and, always, passionate, She tells us what it has been like to carry out the challenge of creating, from start to finish, an issue exclusively with women.

As she herself explains in the magazine’s editorial, “175 women have worked on ‘ELLE x ELLAS’; 15 photographers, 25 journalists, 9 stylists, 12 makeup artists…” and so on until the entire issue is covered. To which Poletti adds: “It has been difficult for us, we must admit it.”

The woman behind the suit

A phrase by Yves Saint Laurent has served as mantra for Poletti during his time at the helm of the magazine: “Over the years I have learned that the most important thing about a suit is the woman behind it”. Because “ELLE is a fashion magazine, but we always say that it is much more than fashion because it is a way of life. Behind ELLE is the woman.” And showing this has been the objective of this very symbolic number.

Make women visible, because, as the director of ELLE explains to us, “it may seem like a lie, but also in the world of fashion there is little female gaze. It is the male gaze that, if we look back, has portrayed history, society and images, and this has also happened in fashion.

X ALL

‘ELLE X ELLAS’ has a clear and, apparently, simple objective: that of “generate spaces so that our struggles, our triumphs and also our setbacks are known”as its director states in the editorial.

For it, The pages of this March issue have been filled with leading women since its cover, a special one, which is three. In the first Cindy Bruna represents activism; Maria Grazia Chiuri, the creation; and finally, Roberta Metsola appears as an image of commitment.

The director of ELLE Spain explains, passionate as she is, that “Maria Grazia Chiuri “It is the one that has inspired us the most in the world of fashion due to its coherent message.” The creative designer of Dior, says Poletti, “has always wanted to collaborate with female artists and has also always asked to give visibility to these women.”

And she adds: “Just as those who photograph her and her collections are female photographers because, it may seem like a lie, but in the world of fashion, photographers are mainly men. Which is very good, but in the end a different look “.

Cindy Bruna, a French activist and model of Kenyan and Italian descent, was the first black model to walk exclusively for Calvin Klein. In 2014, she was the third black model to participate in a Prada campaign, after Naomi Campbell and Malaika Firth. She is currently on the models.com list of “Money Girls”, that is, the highest paid models in the industry.

Roberta Metsolapresident of the European Parliament because “an institutional leg is needed to change things too. Therefore, it is a very important position to change the situation a little and to be able to raise the voice that together we have to change things,” she says. .

Inside, examples of women who are “real examples to be inspired by, because you can’t dream of being someone you’ve never seen”Poletti is clear. From the legendary feminist Gloria Steinem to the writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, passing through the astronaut and molecular biologist, Sara García.

Also Joana Vasconcelos, who in the words of the magazine’s director “is a woman who breaks and tears. Super powerful, super strong, who truly always makes an ode to women and the magic of everyday life through her art.” Or the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, because as Poletti assures, “the great change is made through education. You change society with young people and with how we educate young people. Therefore, it seemed super important to also have your message”.

‘The Top 10 Exterior’ of this edition, the film director Carla Simon “We know that he has only women on his team and that he has made a short film for Miu Miu created only by women,” he explains. Or ‘The Top 100’ Carmen ArtigasSecretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, who serves as a reference in the “crusade we have for more girls to choose STEM subjects, because technology also has a male bias. It is neither good nor bad, but it is good that there is equality “, account.

Together (and together)

Beyond this March special, this knock on the table to make visible so many women who are the reference that so many others need, Benedetta Poletti concludes by saying that “we wanted to make a chain of women, although we know, obviously, that To achieve change we need to change men. We make change together“.

But women’s chains work and are necessary, something that we also claim from magasIN and from ‘The top 100 Women Leaders in Spain’. And we join Poletti’s words by saying that this is “a celebration of female talent, because We are convinced that the chain of sorority can help change society“.

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