Welcome to The Scoop, a weekly email series in which I quiz fashion insiders on the stories of the week.

This week’s guest is Francesca Ragazzi, head of editorial content at Vogue Italia. Shortly after graduating from Sorbonne University in 2010, Francesca landed an internship at the Paris bureau of Vogue Italia.

She’s been in vogue ever since, having also worked in New York as fashion market editor for Vogue US, before returning to Milan first as fashion market editor for Vogue Italia and then finally taking on her current head of editorial content role in 2021.

This Tuesday, Vogue World is taking place in Milan, which Francesca says is something the Vogue Italia team has been wanting to make happen ever since its first edition in New York in 2022. I called her up to get the scoop.

Hi Francesca, what’s the scoop?

Vogue World will feature a special ballet performance by Roberto Bolle, who is the principal dancer étoile at La Scala. It was just announced that he will be receiving a star on the Hollywood Hall of Fame, by the way too.

The performance at Vogue World is such a special moment for us at Vogue Italia because it really represents Milan’s timeless tradition of elegance and beauty but also how the human body can be turned into art. It will be choreographed by Laccio.

How did this collaboration come together?

Roberto was one of the first people I thought to approach. The challenge of Vogue World is telling a local story in a global way that can speak to everyone, including the girl sitting next to you in the bus. Roberto is an internationally recognized artist but very, very local. He lives in Milan as a very normal citizen, you will see him grabbing a coffee or taking public transport.

Fashion has been quite interested in ballet lately.

We have the most incredible ballet writer at Vogue Italia, Valentina Bonelli. She is obsessed with ballet and knows everything about it. She interviewed Roberto for our cover story, which we are releasing today, photographed by Szilveszter Makó.

When it comes to storytelling, there is a growing need for editors and contributors with a very strong passion for a specific niche that can tell those stories with real empathy. For example, I asked Valentina to include the first time that she ever interviewed Roberto Bolle in her piece. How was he then, and how is he now? We need to be approaching stories from a very personal and human point of view.

And, of course, the theme this year is “craftsmanship and the human touch in the age of technology”, which is a variation on that.

We have looked at centuries of history from the Renaissance all through to the present day. The Renaissance in Italy was a revolution itself because it put beauty and what you could do with your craft at the center of culture.

Then came the Industrial Revolution, when the hand started making the machine, which intensified the production rhythm, and then the arrival of the big screen and TV. Screens have affected our perception of fashion so much.

And of course, that will be an incredible moment when you will see a lot of Italian celebrities. Finally, we are looking at the technological revolution and then the future, through the lens of human imagination.

And AI is a topic you can’t avoid, however divisive it may be.

Technology is progressing and becoming a bigger part of our lives. AI is a tool that could expand our creativity, and our creativity is intrinsically based on human relationships, exchanges, and empathy. The teaser we did with Vittoria [Ceretti], directed by the brilliant mind of filmmaker Bardia [Zeinali], is meant to communicate just that: you can replicate almost anything, but you cannot replicate intuition or taste.

We are also learning about AI as we go. We don’t know what will happen, but we want to have a welcoming approach.

We can’t be afraid of the future and innovation, because innovation is part of being human. We know that people were scared by the Industrial Revolution, and the radio was afraid of the screen.

Vogue World Milan is taking place at a very particular moment in time, and we just want to have the conversation. I think fashion is a great language to use in this case too because it combines creativity and technology.

And the event will take place in the Galleria, which is where the Milanese interact.

Tell me about why you chose Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II as the venue.

We were so inspired by the crowded, chaotic, and so authentic Milanese life taking place in the Galleria. One never gets tired of it. You see so many characters — international, local, hyperlocal — because literally the shopkeepers are there all the time.

It’s also a story of proximity. One of the oldest shopping arcades in the world is in the center of Milan, a stone’s throw from the Duomo and 50 meters away from La Scala. So you have religion, culture and commerce. It’s important to note the architecture of the city in this sense.

What is Vogue World? Is it a fashion show, as some think?

It’s an editorial story from the pages of Vogue coming to life. There is a runway, but it’s only a part of this live cultural show, which has so many other elements. From the music to the light to the Galleria, which, in itself, is the protagonist.

Is a fashion show worth the investment these days?

We are in a much more fluid moment, where brands should do what makes sense for their business. But I do also think that there is nothing like a live performance that creates a moment of theater for your brand. So generally I am on the side of yes to fashion shows.

New York just finished. London is starting. Do you have any predictions for trends we are about to see on the catwalks?

I think we will see a lot more conversations between the past and the present. Only yesterday we were at the opening of the refurbished Prada store in the Galleria, which is an incredible story in itself.

But from a fashion trend point of view, I think we will see a wardrobe mix of new items and pieces you already have. And I think our style choices will become more polarized — it will be either sensorial maximalism, with patterns and embroideries and materials mixing, or complete minimalism. I feel people want to be dressed up again as a form of resilience, because everyone is saying it’s the end of the world.

My Instagram algorithm certainly says so. What are you most excited to see or do during MFW besides Vogue World?

I’m excited to see Moschino because I love those boys [Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo, the new co-creative directors], and I think they can bring the sense of sophisticated irony back to the brand. I’m also very fond of what Meryll Rogge has been doing at Marni.

It’s only going to be her second collection, so she still has a lot to prove and to show us. And I’m inspired by her; she’s a mother, she has businesses, interests.

And of course, we are very excited to be hosting Cinemoda for the third time, with an incredible lineup of films including The Philadelphia Story, Belle de Jour, Marc by Sofia, Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino’s version), and Paris, Texas. This will run September 25 and 26 at Cineteca Milano Arlecchino.

We are also running Vogue Café at Palazzo Giureconsulti from September 24 to 26, and this season we will unveil a whole new brand identity for it.

Catch up with last week’s Scoop with Nordic Poetry’s Ameli Lindgren here.