Vogue Italia brings a heroic beauty and body positivity in the form of Veronica Yoko Plebani wearing Marni to the cover of its January 2022 issue. The Italian Paralympic athlete is lensed by Cho Gi-Seok [IG] in the surreal cover and interior pages fashion story created as a dreamlike and surreal tale.

To AOC, the artist Frida Kahlo has entered Giseok’s unconscious, challenging the cast in an engaging romp of running wild artistry. Vanessa Reid styles Veronica in Alberta Feretti, Dsquared2, Giorgio Armani, Max Mara./ Hair by Olivier Schwalader; makeup by Cecile Paravina; set design by Giulia Munari

The Photography of Cho Gi-Seok

Vogue Italia introduces us to the images of Cho Gi-Seok, explaining that much of his work is a refutation of decades of fashion photography grounded in a choreography of homogeneous bodies. Not only has an over-representation of thin, white model bodies dictated fashion imagery, with its resulting stereotypical formulas. Putting an obviously disabled, ‘imperfect’ body on the cover of Vogue Italia has been total heresy for a beauty and fashion industry in pursuit of ‘flawless’.

The January 2022 Vogue Italia cover story sets out to change this narrative in times that demand it. AOC offers on a private note, that the triumph of Veronica Yoko Plebani and the severe challenges that she has faced, reinforce our growing daily distaste for the constant barrage of self-absorbed narratives centered on the inner lives of models and sports figures.

Imagine waking up one day age 15 with the not-flawless body of Veronica Yoko Plebani. Now THAT is a real challenge, and one that the photographer has expressed in superb imagery.

‘Coexistence’ is Cho Gi-Seok’s first major exhibition on display at Fotografiska New York. Showcasing a range of his work taken between 2018-2020, the exhibition closes on February 6, 2022.

From his perspective, fueled by the complexity of Korean culture, everything around us – every flower, living being, place, and digital thing – is affected by everything else, and that is what constitutes our lives: humanity, nature, and even machines are all meant to live together, side by side.

Cho Gi-Seok is also fascinated with the ambiguity of beauty that comes from the harmony between opposites. [Yes, duality.] “It is something that I always try to express in my work, trying to keep the human and the technological, the modern and the ancient, the East and the West, the fantastic and the real, everything in the same image,” the photographer explains in Vogue Italia’s overview of his collaboration with Veronica Yoko Plebani.

Veronica Yoko Plebani’s Wakeup Call

In February 2019, Vogue’s Lauren Valenti shared Veronica Yoko Plebani’s story. Then age 23, Plebani spoke to having contracted an acute case of bacterial meningitis that left her body severely scarred. Not knowing her background, AOC thought that perhaps the paralympian had survived a horrible fire.

Devastated over her body being ravaged by the disease, and with the support of family and friends, the always athletic teenager came to terms with her body, joining the nearby Kayak Canoa Club Palazzolo in her Northern Italian hometown of Palazzolo sull'Oglio.

The result was a proud representation of Italy at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi and the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In 2017, Plebani took on yet another sport, paratriathlon, and earned a pair of gold medals, at the 2017 ITA Paratriathlon National Championships and the 2017 Besancon ITU Paratriathlon World Cup. Fast-forward, the paralympic role model took a bronze medal in triathlon in Tokyo last summer

Exercise as Treatment for Anxiety

Veronica Yoko Plebani is defined by a tremendous experience of triumph and transformation through sports. On the subject of women’s anxiety, the Harvard Medical School share the body of information on exercise as one of the best treatments for anxiety.

From Lauren Valenti’s Vogue 2019 interview:

"At first I wasn't so confident showing my 'new body' with all of these scars, but then I realized that it could help break prejudices and stereotypes," she explains. "When I shared photos of me in swimwear for the first time, I was shocked by all the positive messages." She proudly recalls one instance in which a fan confided that she had similar scarring, but had been afraid to let it be revealed in shorts or a bathing suit until she saw Plebani doing so. "With body positivity, social media is helping contribute to a more confident society," says Plebani adding that she's tapped into a community of incredible women and para-athletes on Instagram that inspire her to defy limits and prejudices, and live as healthy a lifestyle as possible.