UK Vogue December 2017 : Adwoa Aboah by Steven Meisel

[kewkaw]

Best cover for 2017!

 

[LastNight]

I keep coming back to have another look, the cover is so beautiful. I'm so excited to get home and hopefully see this on the doormat. I wonder if there have been any changes to paper stock or the magazine's size? I wonder how thick the issue is too.

I haven't been this interested in magazines and fashion in ages; the excitement of the start of a new era has really gotten to me, and it's only amplified by the beauty of the cover. I love the two inside shots posted as well, it's so exciting to have a quintessential Meisel shoot in UK Vogue!

 

[GinAndTonic]

I haven't been this interested in magazines and fashion in ages; the excitement of the start of a new era has really gotten to me, and it's only amplified by the beauty of the cover.

I feel exactly the same! It's really exciting. It's been years since I've last felt like that for a magazine

 

[Fiona3]

The first time I saw the cover, I was underwhelmed. But the more I look at it, the more I like it. Well done, Edward!

 

[artemovartem]

HQ Cover. Wearing Marc Jacobs S/S 2018.


news.phf.hu & vogue

 

[rubydon]

Giving me vintage yet shock of the new vibes similar to when Liz Tilberis and Fabien Baron remade Bazaar. Brilliant calling card for the new Edward era and brings a sorely missed power and glamour front and center at a time that we could all use some fantasy and fashion magic to lift us up. And Meisel @ Vogue UK ?! MAJOR ALL AROUND. Bravo

Agree completely.

 

[Les_Sucettes]

@ellastica I don't think Benn98 meant that they had used a specific cover and copied, but this could easily be a carbon copy of a "How to make a Vogue cover" recipe from the 60s-70s. The not-quite-white background, the position of the text, the model standing off-centre while posing sideways in colorful makeup & statement head-wear... It has all been done many many times before. When I first saw it on their website, I actually thought it was a vintage cover.

Exactly. I also thought it was a vintage cover at first, there is absolutely nothing current about it. It’s just template. Not surprised it is beautiful, it has always been beautiful, it’s a copy.
This trend of carbon copying the past always brings to my mind an elusive definition of Art by a professor of Aesthetics i had at Uni, (among other things) for something to be valid as Art it has to a reflection of the moment you are living, even if what you produce just relates exclusively to your own personal experience, because you are the Now, if you are slavishly copying the past even if you are a virtuoso, whatever you create is empty, because you are saying nothing and whatever you produce no matter how technically brilliant is meaningless. It is not your reality.

 

[tigerrouge]

A magazine is a glorified catalogue, and any artistic experience that we gain from it will always happen within the greater remit of selling us stuff.

Although I'd argue that successfully selling us stuff is an art in itself. The art of seduction, where the imagery appeals on such an instinctual level that you forget about the accountants and the spreadsheets that lie behind the decisions being made.

 

[Lola701]

It's a beautiful cover and i love that it gives a feeling of "fashion".
That being said, i'm not that excited about that.

One thing is sure, Enninful is confident about what he is offering and seems to have a clear and defined point of view unlike the new VI editor. The problem here is that actually, it looks like a VI cover...Even with the text in english.
For someone who had produced a lot of covers with Meisel at Vogue Italia, i expected more from him.

We all know the influence or the outcome of a new Vogue in the industry. Through a new Vogue, you can see the state of fashion.

Carine on her cover had a top model on a up-and-coming designer dress (Nicolas Ghesquiere) with a vision of modernity and future.
Fashion in that decade (from 2001 to 2011) was bold, creative a looking forward.

Emmanuelle's cover was safer but still said a lot of what has been fashion for the last 6 years. She had Gisele in Dolce & Gabbana, looking very natural and "safe". What has been fashion about lately? Familiar faces, big brands and quite safe and mainstream-appeal worthy clothes.

So with this obviously vintage cover, what this new Vogue says to me? That fashion is done looking forward? Adwoa is a beautiful girl but not a typical model. She is a social media personality above all.
Am I happy about it? I don't know but let's wait and see...

I have to sa that while i'm excited about Meisel working at UK Vogue, i hope they will push him harder.
I love what he can do with Benjamin Bruno and this is what i want from him. I'm not afraid of changes as long as it push fashion forward.

 

[tigerrouge]

It's a sad reflection to say it, but just seeing a non-white face on the front of UK Vogue is already pushing fashion forward in this edition to a much greater degree than what went before.

 

[8eight]

It's in the shops now.

Inside, it doesn't feel very different. Its VERY visual.
I think like everyone, i was expecting him to revolutionise the magazine.
Bruce Weber and Juergen have shoots. Slightly different fonts that don't feel new.

His editors letter is So cringey.

Obviously Edward has styled the cover. Is that his job?

It is PACKED with google 'partnerships'... Lots of google mentions and plugs throughout the issue.

WHY IS NOBODY COMMENTING ON HOW WHITE ADWOAH LOOKS.

 

[Lola701]

It's in the shops now.

Inside, it doesn't feel very different. Its VERY visual.
I think like everyone, i was expecting him to revolutionise the magazine.
Bruce Weber and Juergen have shoots. Slightly different fonts that don't feel new.

His editors letter is So cringey.

Obviously Edward has styled the cover. Is that his job?

It is PACKED with google 'partnerships'... Lots of google mentions and plugs throughout the issue.

WHY IS NOBODY COMMENTING ON HOW WHITE ADWOAH LOOKS.

Maybe because it's slightly obvious that the lighting has more to do with it than an atempt to make her look white.

Even I as a darkskin girl wouldn't look like my exact shade with a white background and flashes all around me. Even more when doing a close-up...

But if you want to start a controversy, then do it...

 

[8eight]

its more that her skin is VERY freckly in real life. shame to cover that up.

 

[eugenius]

I'm not so sure about this. The image itself is nothing new, and I'm sure they didn't need an industry giant like Stephen Meisel to recreate this look. Pretty, but that's about it.

If anything, the cover makes me want to invest in a new lipstick color for winter..not look at pictures of clothes.

Regardless, it's what's inside that counts. Isn't there a phrase about not judging a magazine by its covermodel?

 

[Benn98]

Where's Honeycombchild and Vogue28? Waiting to hear their thoughts....

It's in the shops now.
I think like everyone, i was expecting him to revolutionise the magazine.
Bruce Weber and Juergen have shoots. Slightly different fonts that don't feel new.

Obviously Edward has styled the cover. Is that his job?

WHY IS NOBODY COMMENTING ON HOW WHITE ADWOAH LOOKS.

So the issue is out on newsstands but none of the subscribers received theirs? Odd. Perhaps it's only out in London.

Oh God, not that these two!! I know Bruce had shoots under Alexandra but they were far and few in between. And anyway, perverts deserve no traction in Vogue.

I think perhaps he will style his own covers from now onwards, like Carine did. I can see that happening.

Re Adwoa's skin, yes I noticed that too, almost instantly. Purely speculation of course, but I think the reason she looks so racially ambiguous may be that he's trying to toe a safe line. People need to understand that Vogue is magazine with an existing audience, perhaps not the most diverse. If you'd want to introduce diversity in this case it must be done gradually. The way I see it both Alexandra and her readers (some of us on here) are responsible for the lack of diversity in the magazine. Alexandra, because she never actually bothered to implement it, and the readers, for inadvertently establishing a sales chart which kept the magazine fixated on a certain 'cover recipe' for decades.

 

[eizhowa]

^I think the cover would make more sense if the model could not pass for white. A very dark skinned model in the traditional 1960s format would be much more of a statement. But using a black girl who looks white-ish is its own statement, I suppose...

 

[muglerette]

love the cover....the whole team....but why did they put marc jacobs on the cover of the "great britain" issue?????????????

 

[vogue28]

Where's Honeycombchild and Vogue28? Waiting to hear their thoughts....

So the issue is out on newsstands but none of the subscribers received theirs? Odd. Perhaps it's only out in London.

I'm here, I'm here! I just had to gather myself having opted to digest the cover overnight.

Quite frankly - I love it. I fully understand Edward's choice to make Adwoa Aboah his first cover girl (even though I wouldn't of used her myself), in order to get the word around that he means business. The cover image itself is faultless. Meisel and Edward have done a wonderful job at capturing something that British Vogue has been missing for years. Yeah, one could argue the cover resembles the magazine's archives but I love that. Edward won't completely throw everything out - just adding new elements to the mix and this cover reflects that. I can only hope that Meisel continues to work with the magazine on a VERY regular basis.

My subscription shamefully hasn't arrived today but I cannot wait to see what else the issue has to offer (even though I wasn't keen from the issue's trailer).

 

[Lola701]

Where's Honeycombchild and Vogue28? Waiting to hear their thoughts....



So the issue is out on newsstands but none of the subscribers received theirs? Odd. Perhaps it's only out in London.

Oh God, not that these two!! I know Bruce had shoots under Alexandra but they were far and few in between. And anyway, perverts deserve no traction in Vogue.

I think perhaps he will style his own covers from now onwards, like Carine did. I can see that happening.

Re Adwoa's skin, yes I noticed that too, almost instantly. Purely speculation of course, but I think the reason she looks so racially ambiguous may be that he's trying to toe a safe line. People need to understand that Vogue is magazine with an existing audience, perhaps not the most diverse. If you'd want to introduce diversity in this case it must be done gradually. The way I see it both Alexandra and her readers (some of us on here) are responsible for the lack of diversity in the magazine. Alexandra, because she never actually bothered to implement it, and the readers, for inadvertently establishing a sales chart which kept the magazine fixated on a certain 'cover recipe' for decades.

Do you really feel that way?

At first, for me 8eight was kind of overreacting but you are quite a few to feel the same way.

I mean, what you just said for me kinda tied into the decision of featuring a mixed, lightskin girl on the cover than the issue on her skin being whiter...

 

[bluestar]

Tbh I don't know what I was expecting from Edward but I got to say, I loooove this cover! Obviously it looks vintage but I think they pulled it off in a great way, as it still looks fresh. Steven Meisel performed his magic here (thankfully, I hope he continue to works with UK Vogue in the future) and Adwoa, while not my favourite model, looks great on the cover and in the previews. I'm very happy with this debut cover and I hope this isn't just a one off by Edward.