US Vogue April 2008 : Gisele Bündchen & LeBron James by Annie Leibovitz

[*Kristina*]

Thanks for the photos!
I can't wait to receive this, the editorial looks better than the ones usually seen in US Vogue.

 

[tigerrouge]

I love the way we get the height and the weight of the sportsmen... but not the models, a very one-sided analysis of shape, I'll say. Overall, I do like what they've done here, this is certainly something different to what we usually see every month.

However, moving on, Caroline does looks nice in her two editorials, but for me, the repetition factor is to the forefront in this part of the magazine, and all my mind can see is "Trentini in couture again... Trentini jumping again..." no matter how lovely her hair is.

If only they had rounded off the issue with some straight fashion edit that was as equally good as the sports series, then I'd completely overlook the cover in my excitement. As it stands, it's a mixed bag of good and bad for me.

 

[espritDEcouture]

OMG. Apolo Anton Ohno - I just creamed my jeans.

 

[espritDEcouture]

Personally, I don't think this is offensive at all -- people are just really reading into a silly fashion magazine cover.



Is Vogue's LeBron Cover Offensive?

March 19, 2008 12:02 AM


LeBron James has stirred up almost as much commotion on the cover of Vogue as he does on the court.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ superstar is on the magazine’s April 2008 “shape” issue, mouth gaping, face twisted in a grimace, muscles bulging and arm slung around supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
They’re two of the most beautiful people on earth. But some say the Vogue photograph, shot by Annie Leibovitz, isn’t attractive at all because of the racial stereotype it purportedly evokes -- black beast clutching a white damsel in distress, reflected in French sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet’s 1887 statue “Gorilla Carrying Off a Woman,” and later, in the many incarnations of “King Kong.”
“Here you have an image of a black male athlete in an exceptionally aggressive stance, wide footed, bending over, clutching her with his arm,” said Jason Rosenfeld, professor of art history at Marymount Manhattan College. “It’s one thing to have an athlete in that kind of pose and with that kind of expression on a court after he or she has done something miraculous. It’s another thing to couple it with someone who is of an entirely different ilk and gender. That turns it into a racially charged image.”
Why the scrutiny? LeBron is the first black man, and only the third man in Vogue’s 115-year history, to grace the high fashion mag’s cover.
“When you’re for the first time putting a black man on the cover, and this is the way you’re depicting him, it means that you’re going nowhere,” Rosenfeld said. “Pose LeBron in the pose of a Greek God and pose her as a Venus -- then you’re upping the conversation.”
Rosenfeld, in case you’re wondering, is white. Robin Givhan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion editor of the Washington Post and a former associate editor at Vogue, is black. And she doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.
“It’s so exhausting that every time people see an image of a black person they work themselves into a tizzy that somehow it doesn’t adhere to the way in which they think a black person should be presented,” she said.
“I find it hard to say that Gisele looks like a damsel in distress. She’s 5’11 and quite sturdy,” she continued. “My initial reaction was, maybe the photograph is trying to capture his personality. Would Michael Jordan, James Blake or Tiger Woods have been photographed in the same way?”
True, it’s hard to picture cool and calm Tiger posing like anything reminiscent of his namesake. And Vogue, asked to react to the backlash, said it chose the louder LeBron photo (as opposed to calmer pictorials inside the mag) because it’s “expressive, fun and upbeat.”
“Needless to say, the intention from the beginning was only to depict LeBron and Gisele as superstars at the top of their game,” Vogue spokesperson Patrick O’Connell said. “The point about the entire issue is that it celebrates diversity. And I think that people need to look at the entire issue.”
But Givhan said the “entire issue” is the fact that Vogue depicts so little diversity on its covers. In November, Portfolio magazine pointed out that when Jennifer Hudson was on the magazine’s cover in March 2007, she was only the third black celebrity to appear there.
“The whole LeBron thing really comes down to … maybe Vogue should have more people of color on their cover, male and female,” she said. “Maybe then they won’t be so scrutinized when they do put a person of color on their cover.”
Sheila Marikar

source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/screenshots/2008/03/is-vogues-lebro.html

 

[Jacque Marcel]

this isn't the shape issue, it's the caroline trentini special issue...
i truly think anna wants caroline as her daughter and would trade in bee in a heartbeat.

thanks for preview

 

[ThiagoMello]

Very different from normal US Vogue and that's great! The flying dresses on Raquel's editorial reminds me of the Lanvin ad I really liked it, Raquel looks great And I love all the shots of the "Dream Tem" editorial!! But I gotta admit Doutzen's one iceskating is my favorite!

And I love Caroline's editorial on the beach! This is the best issue of Vogue US in a long time!

 

[rollagasper]

Raquel looks great in both of the editorials! Trentini also has the perfect body for the beach ed. This issue looks better than usual!

 

[Kanna]

I still don't like the cover but this issue looks very great. I love Raquel's ed most and the rest of the eds are interesting too. Thanks, 2Nova!

 

[Tinsley V]

This is an issue I'll definetly be buying! Everything is quite a surprise and very interesting.

 

[Starry]

Thank you so much, 2Nova!
This issue is interesting, I like Raquel's ed!

 

[iriswills]

...

Wow! 2Nova, thank you for taking the time to post up all of those pics! Your effort is much appreciated.

As for the issue, I'm getting 70s staleness, early 90s cheese, and general ennui. In a way I'm torn because I love Raquel to death, but I think I'll have to pass on the issue.

 

[Aja Mok]

Caroline Trentini 3 Editorials?? very great!!Thanks, 2Nova....

 

[Royal-Galliano]

i love all the editorials! the main one is the least appealing to me, though

 

[cynthiawood]

great eds!

 

[mikel]

great issue!

 

[mikel]

Marie Amlie Sauve is the fashion editor off Caroline's beachwear ed. Is this the first time she worked for US Vogue?

 

[flyingace]

my favourite ed is the one with the female athletes. Especially the third picture. The last of Caroline's eds is good too.
However I don't like the models-sportsmen ed.

 

[hfgl]

3 Caroline eds again!

 

[iluvjeisa]

Surprisingly good editorials. The only one that disappoints is Caroline's swimsuit ed. The body couldn't be better - but there are only a few of these images where she doesn't have the "Caroline's been told to jump" look.

Overall, I'd say being outdoors seems to work wonders for Vogue...interesting. Maybe the surprise factor is in this, or maybe it injects life into the imagery.

 

[simple_elegance]

ok, i'm gonna get this isue just for the eds. they're fantabulous!