Paolo Zerbini was born in Mantova, Italy. He first picked up a camera during his travels on a year long trip around the U.S. at the age of 17. Paolo arrived in London aged 20 to study photography and soon after he started working alongside photographers. He had contributed to publications such as American Vogue, V Magazine, Numero, as well as having exposed his work at Milan Triennale, Marsel Art Gallery and Armani Silos. Selected commercial clients include Etro, Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci, Dolce&Gabbana. Two of his published books are distributed worldwide.
Ivan Ruberto is a fashion photographer also based in London who has shot for i-D, British Vogue, Twin Magazine, Beat magazine, Off-White, Fendi, Burberry, JW Anderson and Stella McCartney.
About ‘Cortina’ – words by Paolo Zerbini and Ivan Ruberto:
This new edition of Bellissimo has a very special place in the hearts of its founding fathers. The team started to work on it at a time of prosperity and joyful togetherness, consecrating this issue to a world of silly abundance. Bellissimo danced with abandon, made friends with the rich with fondness for the excesses of life. As a project devoted to people and characters, no one was ever intended to be left out, not even the rich and famous. With its kind approach to humans and its respectful frolic, Bellissimo was just in time to shoot scenes of carefree gatherings and plenitude. The glamour life of Cortina’s winter season, its most eccentric habitué and its most genuine inhabitants. Since then, the world has seen its tale twisted and its prosecco spilled. Not without complications, the founding fathers decided to keep going and challenge this period with their weapon of choice: passion. The passion to keep creating something enjoyable and funny, the passion to photograph and connect with people from all walks of life, the passion towards that huge fragrance campaign that will pay for our retirement. As always, we hope to delight you and amuse you, perhaps to inspire you a little and to confuse you.
The sparkle of snow merging with the sparkle of showy and almost gaudy jewels. The creaking of shoes on the ground covered with a soft white substance, soft as the fur that covers the boots of the ladies who walk the streets. Sunglasses, bulky hats that resemble living animals. Smiles, toasts, parties, and joys. Where money doesn’t matter, indeed it does count as the more you have the more you are conspicuous on the ski slopes. It seems like a competition to see who has the hairiest or most bulky suit or who has the most expensive Rolex. Italian holidays, those holidays that are told in millions of films, almost always with irony, allow the observer to make a study of society. That society to which you don’t belong but which fascinates you to the point of wanting to immortalize it in all its richness.
