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Grazia, the leading 100% Italian fashion brand, available around the world in 20 international editions, has produced along with Instagram and extraordinary issue of the magazine dedicated to the values of freedom of expression, tolerance and inclusivity.

An exclusive collaboration that for the first time sees Eva Chen, head of fashion partnerships at Instagram, in the role of guest editor of the weekly, edited by Silvia Grilli, on newsstands on Thursday 3 September.

“I wanted to entrust Instagram with the creative direction of this issue of Grazia to underline how both print and digital media, in this case a power social media platform, can work together to support a civic battle such as that for freedom of expression,” declared Silvia Grilli, editor of Grazia. “This extraordinary issue, with a cover that you can animate and filters that you can use in your fashion stories, carries and important message for all of us: liberate your voice. In these complicated times, when the world is accelerating historic changes, we focus on how the language of freedom can take us towards a brighter future,” she concluded.

Eva Chen worked together with Silvia Grilli to produce the issue: from the fashion pages to interviews, from surveys on current affairs to beauty, and travel, with an inclusive and open eye on the latest trends, as well as interaction with the community.

“I want to dedicate this issue of Grazia to all those who on Instagram, with courage and audacity, are fighting for change. This special edition of Grazia celebrates authenticity, not perfection. It is a hymn to unity, not minorities, to a sense of community and to kindness. It wants to challenge the status quo regarding what is seen as beautiful, standard or normal,” declared Eva Chen, head of fashion partnerships at Instagram.

The cover, conceived and produced by the visual artist Marino Capitanio, uses graphic elements, such as mouths and cartoons, to illustrate the numerous first-hand accounts of freedom of expression featured in the magazine.

Thanks to the special filter ‘Liberate your voice’ the cover is animated and gives readers and Instagram uses the possibility of sharing this extraordinary project and their own thoughts. The filter is available from the Instagram account @grazia_it in the filters file (under highlighted stories). By opening it and capturing the cover with the frontal camera, it becomes animated. While using the selfie mode, the filter changes to allow users to share their message.

In this issue of Grazia we also hear form a number of protagonists: Elodie who describes her continuous search for freedom and the mission she has given herself: ”To speak for those who can’t express themselves.” Readers will also find a long interview with Mahmood, the singer from the suburbs of Milan who says that freedom is obtained by finding yourself and a commitment to giving a voice to your battles: “A multi-ethnic country is not the future,” he says. “For me and many young people it is the present.”

The magazine also features an account by Whoopi Goldberg, the American actress who has symbolised anti racism since she became a star thanks to the film The Color Purple. Today, in the United States, crippled by the pandemic, she is using the web and her popularity, to get African-Americans to register to vote: “At the upcoming elections,” she tells Grazia, “theirs must be the loudest voice.”

A big survey by Grazia highlights the 90-year-old influencers 90enni who are re-writing the rules of beauty and Italians of African origin who are fighting against hate. Instagram has already given freedom of expression to many who were not previously represented and who now have enormous: that of being able to change the world.

The new issue of Grazia also features inclusive and sustainable fashion. The augmented reality of the Instagram filters is transported by this project from digital to print, in a fashion photo shoot. Grazia photographed models and clothes, making them even more creative, using a range of filters that readers can use and share in their stories.

The issue’s creative concept and shooting was produced together with Facebook Creative Shop.

Today, in Italy, the communication platform of Grazia includes a total audience of 4.3 million people (Source: Media Impact Data Fusion based on Audiweb – Audipress data to December 2019), more than 350,000 Instagram followers and almost 1million followers on Facebook.

Around the world, the global multi-channel system Grazia International Network each month reaches an overall community of 15 million readers, with a monthly circulation of over 10 million copies, 35 million unique users and over 20 million followers on social media.

The launch of the new issue of Grazia is supported by an advertising campaign planned across print media, digital and outdoor.