Unexpected celebrity deaths — whether because of age, circumstance or the public’s failure to grasp that an icon could one day not be around — always sadden and shock fans, but 2016 was a particularly heartbreaking year, with so many legends leaving us.
The most shocking losses came paired together in the year’s final days, when the long-time Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani on the 22nd of December, an ageless 66.
Ms Sozzani is celebrated in Ugandan fashion circles but oil tycoon and city businessman Charles Mbire was hurt the most by her death.
We’re told Mr Mbire was last week devastated by news of her passing and being the superstitious Mukiga did not make the trip to Italy for her burial.
Here’s a head-scratcher: Ms. Sozzani in 2011 told The Huffington Post that she preferred being called single but was in an international relationship .. a year latter, Ugandan newspapers published exclusives about her being a mistress to Mr Mbiire. The papers identified Sozzani as Mbire’s wife and the party as a lavish “birthday bash” that Mbire threw for Sozzani, his spouse.
That can’t be true, right? To our knowledge, Mbire with an estimated net worth exceeding US$200 million has enjoyed being divorced from Nadia Kabahita’s mother, but that’s the most we know about his love life is his affection for his mother Tereza commonly known as Mama Mbiire.
FYI, Mbire and Ms. Sozzani were so close that in 2012 when she was in Uganda, the filthy rich man from Kabale hosted a very expensive dinner and a fashion show at his home that collected the who-is-who in Kampala and neighboring countries.
Then Ms Sozzani was preparing to publish a special issue of Vogue Italia (L’Uomo Vogue), which would be dedicated to African fashion and featured local designers Santa Anzo and Xenson Ssenkaaba.
• Franca (Francesca) Sozzani, fashion journalist, born 20 January 1950; died 22 December 2016 and here is her obituary.
