For Carla Sozzani and Sara Maino Sozzani, finding new creative talent has been lifelong work. For Carla, it began when she worked at Vogue Italia with her sister and legendary editor Franca Sozzani in the 1980s, introducing readers to the concept of ready-to-wear from modern labels like Valentino and Prada. It continued when she struck out on her own to launch Italian Elle in 1987, and later, in 1991, when she opened concept store 10 Corso Como, where she proudly stocked up-and-coming labels alongside established ones such as Balenciaga and Comme des Garçons.
“Of course, Martin Margiela was ‘up and coming’ then,” Carla smiles. “It was a different time. But supporting new talents was always one of the most important points of my research; finding something new that people have not seen.”
Today, decades on, Carla and her daughter, Sara, are propelling a new generation of creatives in Milan, via the non-profit organisation Fondazione Sozzani, which they founded in 2016, the same year Franca tragically passed away. Sara had spent her early working life with her aunt Franca at Vogue, where they founded the Vogue Talents initiative together to spotlight new photographers, designers and creatives in the magazine, later supporting them to grow their brands. So it made sense that she and her mother reunite and form a new project.
In the early days of Fondazione Sozzani, the duo focused on spotlighting photographers and artists at Galleria Sozzani, a gallery space within the building that was soon to house 10 Corso Como which she opened a year later. Sozzani used both spaces as a platform to propel young brands and artists. In 2018, Fondazione opened a Paris space in the 19th arrondissement, and in 2021, the Sozzanis expanded to a site on Milan’s Via Enrico Tazzoli, with a view to creating a space that would champion Italian aesthetics and cultural intersections of fashion and art. Finally, in 2023, they expanded further with a much bigger location at Via Bovisasca 87, in an industrial estate, which has become the main base. Today, they support several of city’s most exciting young names, including Federico Cina and Francesco Murano, both of whom are on the official Milan Fashion Week calendar for Spring/Summer 2026, as well as Niccolò Pasqualetti, who has shown in Paris for several seasons and was an LVMH Prize finalist in 2024.
Their work feels particularly necessary in Milan, where previous iterations of the fashion week have hosted fewer young brands, compared to London, Paris and New York. In recent seasons, the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) has made incubating talent a priority, to give the event fresh energy between legacy brands. And when discussing who to watch, editors and buyers always look to Fondazione-supported shows, events and presentations.
“I always say I didn’t choose fashion, fashion chose me. But there was really a struggle for the new generation to come out; not just in Italy, but elsewhere,” Sara says. “So that’s how Vogue Talents came naturally, because obviously Franca, with the vision she had for Italian Vogue, was to nurture creatives across art, photography and fashion.”
I manage to catch the pair at Via Enrico Tazzoli, during their first event of Milan Fashion Week: Fashion Philippines, which invites 11 Filipino designers, each employing traditional, artisanal techniques, to present collections in the gallery space and meet the public, press and buyers. As guests sip wine and eat traditional Filipino sinigang (fried rice) in the courtyard before and after browsing the clothes, we sneak upstairs for the interview, to a room filled with exquisite framed fashion photos and rails on rails of clothes, marked “Carla” and “Franca”. This isn’t even the actual archive, Sozzani tells me as I admire my surroundings. The archive is at Via Bovisasca, where she often invites students and designers they are working with to browse, so they can see and feel the techniques of the likes of Comme des Garçons or Alaïa up close.
Azzedine Alaïa was a personal friend of Carla’s. And while she has watched the careers of many of fashion’s greats from the sidelines, she says it’s a different environment today than it was when Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Versace or Prada were born, following the dawn of ready-to-wear in the late ’70s. Today, it’s incredibly difficult for young talents, in Milan or otherwise, to even build a brand, nevermind create a major house that competes in the big leagues. “To have a structure, to have a big company today, is more difficult. The world became so much larger when ready-to-wear started. Today, for somebody new to build up a business where you deliver all over the world and sell all over the world and also online, it s more complicated. The system needs to be renewed,” Carla tells me.
Rethinking the system
Fondazione Sozzani aims to help designers navigate this renewal. The main challenge for designers today is sales, which are currently “impossible” for those in Italy and beyond, Sara explains. In response, Fondazione is working to help brands scale their direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses. During Milan Fashion Week, they launched the Waves project, inviting eight designers to sell their collections, archival pieces and vintage at the foundation’s Via Bovisasca space.
“As we know right now, retail stores are not investing in designers. And if they are investing, they’re asking for consignment, which is impossible,” Sara says. “I think the old fashion [retail] system is fundamental, but it’s not the aim anymore. It’s very important for the new generation to understand that. But you don’t have to be part of it to be successful. You can be successful in many ways.” Unlike other incubators, which focus heavily on sales, or just invest and expect growth, Fondazione Sozzani is laser focused on mentoring designers for the long term — and the goal doesn’t have to be big business.
“It’s our responsibility as an older generation with more experience, to give young designers the chance to be spotlighted and grow. It’s like the project that we’re doing today with Filipino designers,” Sara continues. “I mean, just think about the heritage and culture and craftsmanship that you can have in different countries, like the Philippines. It’s really to create awareness and at the same time to create synergies.”
The day before the Fashion Philippines showcase, and our interview, Carla and Sara completed a 10-hour mentorship session with the designers taking part, bringing in Italian retail experts, stylists and visual artists to run sessions to help them develop their brands. “It’s about selling, but it’s also about constructing a project that is not just about beautiful pictures or the red carpet. We want them to go back with an education and culture of how to construct a business,” Sara says.
Like the Waves project, the mentorship takes place at the Via Bovisasca site, which Fondazione Sozzani has developed as a hub for sharing ideas. The duo were inspired by Southern Italian town squares, where people gather to play cards and talk. “We want to make the foundation work like that,” says Sara. So when Carla found the Via Bovisasca 87 site in the oldest industrial area of Milan, close to Bocconi University, having space for events and connection was a priority.
“When I started the gallery and the stores, there was no internet, there was no communication, there was no Instagram. It’s only 35 years ago, but nothing existed. So I wanted to create a place where people could meet, talk, exchange opinions, even fight,” Carla says, “and you learn a lot when you exchange. In a strange way today, it’s even more valuable than then.”
10 Corso Como, Sozzani’s first project alongside the Galleria, blended fashion, art and photography, with a wide range of products for sale. It birthed the term concept store, after philosopher Francesco Morace visited the space and coined the term in 1991.
“What we do at 10 Corso Como became a natural way of expressing [products]. But now, people think that it is enough to put a candle with a shoe, and then you have a concept,” Carla jokes. “We all need to live an experience always. We don’t need to buy another jacket.”
While Foundation Sozzani is often credited with spearheading new talent initiatives in Milan, Sara rightly gives credit to the many other initiatives that people should be paying attention to across the city, including the CNMI fashion hub, a showroom that showcases the work of new designers during Milan Fashion Week, which she helps to curate. There’s also the Future Threads: Italy’s New Wave initiative, focused on ‘Made in Italy’ brands including Durazzi Milano, Federico Cina, Francesco Murano, Institution by Galib Gassanoff, Magliano and Niccolò Pasqualetti. And New-Gen, New Ethos, a series of presentations highlighting those redefining the values of design, fashion and culture, including Cascinelli, Chelsea Jean Lamm, Liwen Liang and Victor Weinsanto, alongside Afro Fashion Association designers Cute-Saint, Kathiana Saincy Couture and And Zineb Hazim.
“The foundation is something open to everyone, and the idea is to work with everyone. We don’t want to have exclusivity. We work with all the fashion schools,” Carla says. “Obviously, maybe we don’t do the same projects, but we want to be inclusive — we don’t want to be the ‘chosen ones’.”
The work goes way beyond fashion week, Carla is keen to point out. “We worked on Green Week in Milan a few weeks ago with some of our designers, for example. We are always also adapting,” she says. And while spotlighting international artisanship is crucial, the aim is also to give back to Fondazione’s home city. “Carla is in love with Milan,” Sara says of her mother. “It’s about giving back to the city that gave you possibilities.”
When asked about their ambitions for the future of the foundation, Carla replies quickly: “We have a lot, a whole list.”
Sara adds: “And while we do have that list, I think it’s very important to continue the work we are doing. We want to create a place for the young generation that they feel welcomed and to share their creativity. As Carla was saying, there’s a lot to do, obviously. My hope is that in 40 or 50 years time becomes even more of a place where people feel home and free to share their values and their messages.”
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