In a climate of immigration bans and building walls, the biggest names in 2017 make the case that there isn’t just one type of American girl—nor has there ever been.
By MAYA SINGER
What is a woman supposed to look like? Agnolo Firenzuola was certain he knew. In his influential 1548 treatise A Dialogue on the Beauty of Women, Firenzuola detailed the female ideal, specifying, for instance, the correct distance between the tip of the nose and the bow of the lip. “The true and right color for hair,” he wrote, “is a fair yellow.” As for ears, “a middle size is to be desired, with the shell finely turned.”
Firenzuola’s wonkish beauty decrees read as comical now. And yet: Has there ever been an era in which some beauty ideal hasn’t loomed large? In 1900, the paradigm was the Gibson girl, with her corseted wasp waist and waterfall of curls. A century later, women were flocking to salons for pin-straight blowouts and sweating through hot-yoga classes in pursuit of sinewy limbs and snake hips. The rules change, but there are always rules. What would happen if society threw the rule book away? What is beauty when no standard measure applies?
The cover of this magazine answers that question. One fine, brisk day, a stretch of private beach in Malibu finds an eclectic group of models posing together on the sand: Adwoa Aboah, Liu Wen, Ashley Graham, Vittoria Ceretti, Imaan Hammam, Gigi Hadid, and Kendall Jenner, who ducks briefly out of the view of a stray paparazzo and takes the opportunity to stretch her legs and muse. “This is my second Vogue cover, and to be sharing that not only with one of my best friends, but with all of these amazing women, is very meaningful for me,” she says. “With all that’s going on in the world, this cover makes such an important statement. It’s like, hey, we’ve got our differences, but those differences are beautiful. Everyone is beautiful.”
Each of these cover girls proudly inhabits her own particular gorgeousness in her own particular way. Together they represent a seismic social shift: The new beauty norm is no norm. And fashion, the industry that—yes—has historically done much to enforce beauty codes, is joining the movement. ¡Viva la revolución! All are welcome. Anything goes.
