US Vogue August 2020 : Simone Biles by Annie Leibovitz

[Benn98]

Why do her features look so pronounced??? Her facial features, her back muscles, the arms.
And yes, I know what she looks like. These covers are unflattering, sorry. The garish backdrop on the first one, but pale colours of her bathing suit? The second one is somewhat better, but the pose looks photoshopped.

It looks like they'll never be able to top the Marion Jones cover, without a doubt the best way an athlete has been depicted in a fashion magazine. Because they didn't make her look bionic!

 

[MON]

It looks like they'll never be able to top the Marion Jones cover, without a doubt the best way an athlete has been depicted in a fashion magazine. Because they didn't make her look bionic!

I think the difference lies in the fact that they weren't trying to be literal on the Marion cover. They portrayed her as an ordinary Vogue cover star. However, with this cover, you can see that they wanted to highlight the fact that she's an athlete thus the overemphasis on the muscles/body and the power pose. Simone Biles has a wonderful and insane body. Her Teen Vogue and Glamour covers showed that Simone can have a cover without the body being intimidating. Compare this with Serena's last Vogue cover (the one with her daughter) where the focus was on her motherhood and not on the fact that she's an athlete. In sum, it all boils down on what they want to highlight.

 

[dodencebt]

It's very.. yellow? I like that Annie kept it real, and I also like that Anna chose an athlete other than Serena for the cover, but it is so. damn. yellow.

 

[Lola701]

Why do her features look so pronounced??? Her facial features, her back muscles, the arms.
And yes, I know what she looks like. These covers are unflattering, sorry. The garish backdrop on the first one, but pale colours of her bathing suit? The second one is somewhat better, but the pose looks photoshopped.

It looks like they'll never be able to top the Marion Jones cover, without a doubt the best way an athlete has been depicted in a fashion magazine. Because they didn't make her look bionic!

The question is: Why is Annie the ones who always shoot Athletes?
I’m most of the time horrified by her photoshopping!

 

[MON]

It's very.. yellow? I like that Annie kept it real, and I also like that Anna chose an athlete other than Serena for the cover, but it is so. damn. yellow.

The color scheme reminds me of Priyanka Chopra by Annie Leibovitz for US Vogue January 2019:

vogue.com​

This also reminds me of this:

cnn.com​

 

[dodencebt]

The color scheme reminds me of Priyanka Chopra by Annie Leibovitz for US Vogue January 2019:

Thanks for reminding me of this! Those cover and editorial shots of Priyanka also seem to have a yellow filter on top of the gold backdrop, I wonder what's up with that.

 

[mepps]

The first cover is not very flattering, imo.
The digital one, is far superior, and more interesting.
I have zero interest in gymnastics, but I'm happy for Simone.

 

[vogue28]

I wish people would go out and buy this though. Show the suits that Black and POC women are newsstand hits too. Otherwise, it's a vicious cycle.

Let's put our money where our mouths are.

This. It's all fine and well everyone raving, retweeting and reposting their love for the cover - then not going out to make the purchase. The love for the cover and its subject has to translate into sales in order for the editors and suits to understand. Kudos to Anna for going with this!

The first cover is beautiful, extremely powerful in its simplicity with the strong pose from Simone and the use of the Bottega Veneta bodysuit. It's a glorious image for a Vogue cover, certainly very memorable and arresting. The digital cover, however, pales in stark comparison.

 

[caioherrero]

The Olympics would've started on July 23rd so I think this was always the August cover.

I think it was June or July issue.

 

[avonlea002]

As expected both covers are very unflattering. She looks horrible. Leibovitz is the biggest offender when it comes to bad photoshop work.
I know its US Vogue but I am sick of all the celebrity covers. I want to see fashion.

 

[kenndale]

I read they shot this in March, prepping for the Olympics.

Simone is amazing but as many said...where’s the fashion? They had an opportunity to do something unexpected but this feels lazy.

 

[Sensation]

Great to see Simone on the cover. She looks great in both shots.

 

[YohjiAddict]

Difficult colour, yellow… very tricky

 

[bluestar]

Not fashion-ey but Simone looks strong and powerful. Hopefully her ed + the other content is decent.

 

[Fiercification]

Great choice. I thought she was great on the Gentlewoman a few years ago.

Her features do look rather pronounced in the first cover, but it's a strong cover. Particularly for these times. Annie did a good job, but you can really see Phyllis' sharp editing eye on that first image. Second one doesn't work for me at all in terms of a cover shot (or even editorial image).

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Typical Vogue/Leibovitz combo, and I love it.

 

[octoberchild]

Same old, same old. Colonial Broad strikes again, with only choosing black cover subjects who achieve extraordinary accomplishments in their respective fields. With this cover CB looks incapable of meeting the moment - Lauren Underwood, a nurse and congressperson, on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar during the middle of a pandemic does a much better job than this. Impatiently waiting for Samira’s first issue.

Simone looks beautiful and all this talk about her body is not a good look, but you all don’t care about that.

 

[dodencebt]

Read a lot of comments on Twitter and Instagram about Annie not knowing how to light dark skin and I couldn’t agree more after seeing the two additional editorial shots. Maybe that’s why the cover has that yellow tint, she thinks it’s flattering???

 

[Urban Stylin]

Love both covers very powerful! At least Anna wasnt predictable

 

[KoV]

Same old, same old. Colonial Broad strikes again, with only choosing black cover subjects who achieve extraordinary accomplishments in their respective fields. With this cover CB looks incapable of meeting the moment - Lauren Underwood, a nurse and congressperson, on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar during the middle of a pandemic does a much better job than this..

What? Are you faulting Anna for putting Black women on the cover because they’re too successful? Pretty much everyone on the cover of Vogue has reached a high level of success in their respective fields, that’s a major part of why they’re chosen.

As for Lauren Underwood, yes she got a cover along with a whole group of other women, but we all know they printed more copies of Christy (and probably Ashley) than the other women. In fact, the shot they used of Rep. Underwood is so low-resolution and sloppy looking compared to the others, I think it’s borderline insulting. Besides, Lauren Underwood has also achieved extraordinary accomplishments in her field, so I still don’t quite get how that’s an issue.