FASHION MAGAZINE CLOSES. WHEN FASHION STORIES END, STORYTELLER SILENCES.

With this message, one of the most iconic and prestigious magazines that have covered the world of fashion for fifty years has closed its doors with immediate effect:

“Dear readers, we close with sadness, but also with great gratitude to those who have read us throughout their lives, those who recently discovered us, those who supported us, and those who challenged us. Every glance at these pages has brought us to life.” When there are no more stories to tell, storytellers close. Period.

Fashion hasn’t just covered fashion. It’s been an integral part of it. And when a voice of this weight goes out of print, it’s not just a publication that disappears: it’s a privileged vantage point on an entire ecosystem, a cultural hub capable of interpreting the industry from the inside, with expertise, memory, and vision.

The decision to close the publishing group’s Italian branch with immediate effect comes as a seemingly paradoxical result. Because numbers alone are no longer enough. A magazine can grow its audience, increase traffic, multiply clicks and subscribers, and yet fail. Attention isn’t enough if substance is lacking. The audience isn’t enough if the event isn’t there. The flow isn’t enough if what truly deserves to be told is exhausted.

Big brands produce less storytelling, the wealthy are buying more cautiously, and young people are moving away from the traditional model. And in this global landscape, marked by economic tensions, geopolitical instability, and profound cultural shifts, there are also fewer events to cover, fewer stories to capture, and fewer visions to translate into narratives. Fashion continues to generate revenue and remains a central sector for the Italian economy, but it’s a system that has long been experiencing a structural crisis. A crisis that affects not only production and retail, but also cascades down to its storytellers. When the system slows down, when innovation becomes timid and risk is avoided, even those who tell stories are left without material.

This is why Fashion’s closure isn’t just editorial news. It’s a weighty signal. And precisely for this reason, it’s revealing. Because it reveals better than any analysis the true state of fashion today: an industry struggling to generate meaning even before it produces a product. And when meaning fades, even the most authoritative voices, sooner or later, are forced into silence.

Fashion has written the history of fashion.