“If I weren’t in fashion, I would have gone into real estate or architecture. I love talking to architects.” —Franca Sozzani
On December 22, 2016, as the AD staff was finishing up this issue and vacating our New York offices for the holiday week, we received the sad news of the untimely passing of Franca Sozzani, the legendary and longtime editor of Italian Vogue and our colleague at Condé Nast. We had included Franca’s Paris townhouse in this, our Star Power issue, because she embodied the word star—she was magnetic, powerful, luminous, rare. Franca’s beloved son, Francesco Carrozzini, who this past fall debuted his touching documentary Franca: Chaos and Creation, with his mother at his side on the international red carpets, encouraged us to publish the home as a tribute to her great passion for architecture and design. And so we offer fans of Franca—along with readers who may be unfamiliar with her—this personal glimpse of the last property she bought, one her son says was very special to her. It is indeed a privilege when public figures welcome us into their private worlds, and we are honored that among the other notables featured this month are Tommy and Dee Hilfiger, whose splendid ivy-covered castle in Greenwich, Connecticut, boasts lush interiors by Martyn Lawrence Bullard and gardens by Miranda Brooks; Beastie Boy Mike D, relaxing at home with his kids in Malibu; celebrated antiques dealer Jill Dienst, in her masterful John Pawson–designed apartment in New York; and author Andrew Solomon, who writes about his own richly layered, Robert Couturier–decorated Manhattan townhouse. Don’t miss articles on fascinating design-world movers and shakers Virgil Abloh and Faye Toogood, major-league landscaper Jinny Blom, and Japanese floral artist Azuma Makoto. Rock stars one and all.
Tommy and Dee Hilfiger‘s Connecticut estate, Round Hill.
A Manhattan terrace designed by John Pawson.
The late Franca Sozzani, photographed at her Paris home by Emily Weiss.
The late Franca Sozzani, captured in a painting by Julian Schnabel.
