Carine Roitfeld Breaks Ranks With Gigi & Halima Promoting UNICEF USA & Doing Good In CR Fashionbook #23
/Models Gigi Hadid and Halima Aden cover CR Fashion Book Issue 13, an issue dedicated to UNICEF USA, according to editor Carine Roitfeld. Carine broke away from the fashion pack with her fall issue, dedicated to doing good by raising awareness for the global children's relief organization with two of its newest ambassadors Hadid, the half Palestinian daughter of a Syrian refugee and Aden, a Somali refugee and prominent Muslim, hijab-wearing model.
“The state of fashion media is absolutely in flux so it was really important for me to use my existing platform for good,” Roitfeld told The Hollywood Reporter. Choosing to spotlight UNICEF USA was a response to the international news. According to the organization, “more children are on the move now than at any point since World War II,” notes Roitfeld, the editor of Vogue Paris for a decade before founding CR Fashion Book in 2012.
Reflecting on the state of magazines generally, Carine Roitfeld says: "It’s difficult for me to talk about the future because things are constantly changing. Over 15 years ago I was asked this question while everyone was going digital and no one knew what was going to happen. Print survived then and it’s still trying to survive now," she says. "Today we are up against social media, which is a blessing and curse. People have much more access in real time — they don’t want to wait until an issue hits stands to read something. I think maybe some magazines will stay but they have to be very beautiful, like a collector’s item. They have to feature people and topics that are unique, that stand out but also resonate globally.”
Gigi Hadid was in the Jamtoli Refugee Camp in Bangladesh days ago, telling the UNICEF story to her over 40 million Instagram followers. And Halima achieved her dream she discussed with Carine in December 2017 of becoming a UN Ambassador. Aden recently returned to her refugee camp in Kenya to launch a TEDX talk.