Vanity Fair celebrates desire, love and life beyond this difficult moment and does so by putting on the cover a character who has chosen to stop the usual clothes to dress those of those who have no intention of resigning themselves to the roughness: a Cristina D'Avena shining, proud, mistress of her own erotic, human, emotional potential.

The singer and actress – who made her debut at the age of 3 at the Zecchino d'oro and then sang the theme songs of all the most loved cartoons for several generations – reveals her sexy (and unprecedented) side in the Vanity Fair issue on newsstands from Wednesday 4th November. In the role of Dita Von Teese she poses for this special issue because, as she says, "In these uncertain times, the only way to exorcise fear is to cultivate and practice desire".

"The real problem is that we have lost our innocence: in March, when the first lockdown began, there was hope at the end of the tunnel, everything will be fine, the songs on the balconies, the batches of cakes, the live Instagram. All confined, some alone, others in company, however all convinced that something had to be sacrificed to get everything back ", writes the editor in his editorial Simone Marchetti. “But here we are: more disappointed, angrier, perhaps even more afraid than before. Because it is not just the virus and the prospect of yet another collapse of work, the economy and security that frighten us: it makes us anxious not to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the end of this terribly memorable year. And here comes this new, provocative issue of Vanity Fair: we designed a newspaper to celebrate desire, love, life, our body and that of others, our sexuality, that of those we love and those we desire, as well as this difficult moment .

In the pages of the issue, Cristina D’Avena interviewed by Marchetti tells us that only two things are valid for her at this moment: tolerance and hope. «The tolerance that is being lost due to the bias of social media and so much contemporary politics is fundamental to understand everything: others, what doesn't work, what works, how to adapt. And hope is a consequence of it: hope is the virtue of those who can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is an exercise in strength .

How does he manage to exorcise fear? Living the power of the moments we still have. "We must love, embrace who we can, make love when we can, take advantage of every single second as if it were a gift. Don't think I'm superficial. I think my life and career have taught me to cultivate a healthy dose of childhood. And going back to being a child doesn't mean being superficial. It means, on the other hand, to be more positive because children know how to be light, great gift, and they know how to live better with difficult times because they have the carefree nature of reinventing themselves .

Her role as a child woman and a child woman makes men and women love her indiscriminately because she embodies the light-heartedness of childhood and the sensual chiaroscuro of adulthood, because it is reassuring and it seems to have always known her. Cristina D'Avena admits that she likes to awaken desire, to be a source of attraction and when the director asks her how it was to change her image so much for this cover she replies: "It's a provocation, an invitation to melt, to tolerate, to love more, to hope. I really think this is to be lived as a testing moment. And in moments of trial you have to do one thing above all: resist. And never lose faith. In the meantime, I recommend closing the doors of the house, turning off social media, cutting out everything and everyone. And love. We ourselves, who is close to us, who loves us. Because if you forget to love, you forget everything .

The number of in-depth studies dedicated to the theme of desire: sex over 60 told by the writer complete the number Lidia Ravera; the second eros Barbara Alberti; the testimonies of the children of hard movie stars or Leonardo Tano (son of Rocco Siffredi) e Mercédesz Henger (daughter of Éva Henger and Riccardo Schicchi); the designer is also the protagonist Betony Vernon considered the queen of erotic jewelry e Violeta Benini the "disseminator" who has over one hundred thousand followers on Instagram; cybersex is also explored at the time of lockdown and social distancing and Tinder, the dating app that in the time of Covid has become one of the few places to meet. Finally, the Vanity Fair editorial team went to visit Fabrizio Corona under house arrest.

This week, the Vanity Fair site and the Instagram profile will turn red with a series of live shows, interviews and specials to discuss desire, sexuality and the body beyond the difficult moment and beyond stereotypes.