A model photographed for the front cover of Vogue Italia.

Gulf Today Report

Vogue Italia has announced that the front cover of its April issue will be blank in a tribute to those who have died from coronavirus.

Editor-in-chief Emanuele Farneti said the special edition would feature a totally white cover to also honour those working on the frontline in the battle against the disease.

Announcing the move on Instagram, Mr Farenti said in a statement: “White is, first and foremost, respect. White is rebirth, light after the darkness, the sum of all the colours.

“White is the uniforms of those who have saved lives while risking their own. It’s time and space for thinking. And for staying silent too.”

Following the Great Depression of the 1930s, Farneti said people in Italy commonly wore white as symbol of “purity and hope”.

Vogue said it hopes the cover, designed by creative director Ferdinando Verderi, will invoke similar feelings and give people a sense of hope during the Covid-19 crisis.

“White is for people who are filling this time and space with ideas, thoughts, stories, verses, music and kindness to others,” Mr Farneti said.

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“It’s a reminder that after the crisis in 1929, clothes turned white, a color chosen to express purity in the present and hope for the future.

“And above all, white is not surrender; it’s a blank page to be filled, the frontispiece of a new story about to begin.”

In recent weeks, the fashion industry has been doing its bit to provide relief during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Leading fashion designers Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo last week pledged to donate $3 million (£2.5m) to hospitals and health clinics in their respective cities.