Porter #32 Summer 2019 : Yara Shahidi by Cass Bird

Hate this cover. Looks like a catalogue

 

I appreciate the cover choice but this is the most pedestrian Porter has ever been.

 

Amen! Cass Bird is such a boring photographer.

 

As if any Porter readers know or care about Yara.

 

Why is EVERYONE an "activist?"

 

It suddenly sounds very infantile, with the same ra-ra about all the teenagers that are going to change the world that you can get from any other magazine.

According to their media kit, the average age of the Net-a-Porter customer is 38.

 

Who is she?
I mean, I know...but who is she?

 

She is absolutely stunning, whip-smart, and from what I've seen fairly talented. That said, when someone is propositioned in such an organized, publicist-reeking way as The Future, Activist Extraordinaire, Voice Of A Generation, etc. it automatically makes me want to push back. Her image is just a little too perfect. As impressive and lovely a human being as she likely is, her PR team is dropping the ball when it comes to authenticity.

Photography here is super boring, styling is super boring.

Also ffs why are we pushing the idea of actors as presidents?!?!

 

It's interesting that the same team who shot covers under Lucy is now turning out subpar, dare I say cheap-looking work. She was actually one of the first editors to support Cass Bird's entry into the mainstream fashion realm. The power of the editor's eye!
And while her tenure certainly had its fair share of awkward covers, she mostly managed to select a cover image which looked creative enough and appealed to her readers at the same time.
Besides, I'm definitely not in the mood to read another puff piece on this celebrity.

Probably because it happened once already, lol.

 

Because now we’ve had Trump, literally absolutely anything is a step up?

 

I actually meant Ronald Reagan, but I hear you.

 

Touché, but the idea of suggesting presidency for a 19-year-old wealthy celebrity with no political experience on the cover of a magazine for adults when we're in an actual tooth-and-nail fight to reclaim the presidency from a wealthy celebrity with no political experience... it just feels misguided at best. On top of that, as flattering as it probably is to be described in those terms, should Oprah, this magazine, or anyone be putting that kind of pressure of expectations on a teenager? I don't want current circumstances (Trump) to reframe the notion of presidency as the ultimate position of power and influence that anyone with fame, money, and media clout should try to achieve. I would like any influencers to help reaffirm the idea that it's a position of service and ultimate responsibility earned by a whole lot of unglamorous hard work. That's certainly not the message here.

 

I like Yara a lot (she photographs very well and makes a lot of phenomenal choices on the red carpet), but what a disappointing cover. All of the text is especially awful!

 

Not to mention that most adults in Porter's age range know that (a) a teenage celebrity will be very lucky to end up leading a normal life, let alone one full of shining achievement, given that so many stars crash and burn along the decades, and (b) in real life, the sort of compromises many politicians end up making would probably meet most people's definition of being "morally bankrupt" which is not exactly something to aim for in life.

 

I prefer the subscribers cover by default because there's less text, but wish her hair wasn't covering her eye. Ends up looking a bit i-D wannabe.

 

^Thank you for the review as always Vogue28!

Looking forward to seeing the content.