US Vogue February 2021 : Kamala Harris by Tyler Mitchell

[Rigida]

It's from the "In Vogue: The Editor's Eye" documentary.

Ah yes! Its from the documentary, i just rewatched it again

I mean, if Anna really wants to make people “sit up, thinking, confused, angry and cancelling their subscription”, she succeeded with this cover.

But tbh i think this cover is another success for US Vogue. No matter how divisive the reaction to the cover is, people are talking about it.

 

[vogue28]

I very much doubt that even if Annie Leibovitz had photographed this, that we would've received a glam Kamala Harris cover. However, the mention of Leibovitz, just made me revisit Michelle Obama's beautiful and utterly charming December 2016 cover! This certainly pails in comparison.

 

[avonlea002]

Don't care for those two, they're shady.

how so?

 

[axiomatic]

Harris team says it was blindsided by VP-elect's Vogue cover

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has landed on the cover of the February issue of Vogue magazine, but her team says there’s a problem: the shot of the country’s soon-to-be No. 2 leader isn’t what both sides had agreed upon, her team says.

Instead of the powder blue power suit Harris wore for her cover shoot, the first African American woman elected vice president is instead seen in more casual attire and wearing Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers, which she sometimes wore on the campaign trail.

Harris’ team was unaware that the cover photo had been switched until images leaked late Saturday, according to a person involved in the negotiations over how Harris would be featured on the cover. Harris’ office declined comment and the person spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity.

In a statement, Vogue said it went with the more informal image of Harris for the cover because the photo captured her “authentic, approachable nature, which we feel is one of the hallmarks of the Biden-Harris administration.”

But the magazine said it released both images as digital magazine covers to “respond to the seriousness of this moment in history, and the role she has to play leading our country forward.”

Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, posed in the light blue suit in front of a gold backdrop for the magazine’s cover. She also posed, more casually dressed in slacks, a blazer and sneakers in front of a pink and green background, for photos that were planned for inside the magazine, the person said. Pink and green are the colors of Harris’ college sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Vogue has released both images online, but the photo of a sneaker-clad Harris is the one that will grace the cover of the fashion bible’s print edition.


The person with knowledge of the negotiations said Harris’ team has expressed to Vogue its disappointment over the magazine’s decision.

The cover also generated outrage on social media as posters expressed disappointment in how the magazine decided to present the nation’s first female vice president on its cover.

Harris is set to be sworn in as vice president on Jan. 20

 

[Xone]

Harris team says it was blindsided by VP-elect's Vogue cover

Problems for Vogue...this is not the buzz Anna wished the cover got. Also i think was very idiotic to change covers...not this time Anna...

 

[JPineapple]

Kamala Harris: “What Anna did was very uncool”

 

[Srdjan]

Everything about this is so hilarious, from Anna sucking up to democrats this whole time and then not even having Harris bother to shoot a decent accompanying photo shoot/editorial, to this colossal public outcry and the staff members being ashamed to post the actual cover, to everyone now trying to wash their hands from this.

 

[StylishCynic]

Vogue got too familiar, too fast

By
Robin Givhan
Senior critic-at-large
Jan. 10, 2021 at 9:11 p.m. CST

The nation’s first female vice president-elect has been photographed for the cover of February’s Vogue magazine, and a vocal chorus on social media is displeased with the images. In the midst of a pandemic, in the aftermath of a riot at the Capitol and during the lead-up to a historic transfer of power that has become violent, what should have been a blissfully distracting, glossy celebration of a barrier-breaking moment has become a cause for disappointment. Not because of what was in the frame, but because of what was absent.

The cover did not give Kamala D. Harris due respect. It was overly familiar. It was a cover image that, in effect, called Harris by her first name without invitation.

She is captured in two different portraits — one that’s considered a digital cover and another that will be on newsstands and sent to subscribers. The digital cover shows Harris looking directly into the camera dressed in a pale blue blazer and matching trousers by Michael Kors. She has her arms folded across her chest, an American flag pin on her lapel and a genial smile on her face. It’s very much the political portrait. The backdrop is a medley of fabrics in shades of yellow from butter to saffron and quietly suggests optimism. Harris looks both traditionally authoritative and singularly pretty.

It’s the print cover, however, that has stirred the most conversation, in part because it’s the version that will become a souvenir, the one that might be saved for a grandchild. In that image, Harris is wearing an espresso-colored blazer by Donald Deal, black pants and Converse sneakers — a brand that she regularly wore while campaigning and that endeared her to some supporters. Indeed, she looks more like a political candidate than someone who is soon to be the second-highest-ranking federal official in the land.

The image has the feel of a test shot. Of a Polaroid. That’s not necessarily a flaw. The picture lacks the hyper perfection that is so often associated with fashion imagery. If one looks closely, it’s possible to see an errant strand of hair, a laugh line. The humanity hasn’t been airbrushed away, and that gives it a patina of emotion.

Her hands are folded at her waist and it’s a far more casual image. She isn’t draped in the typical accoutrements of politics. It’s a flag-free zone. Instead, she looks approachable. This informal picture, against a backdrop of pink and green fabric that alludes to the colors of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, lacks any of the signifiers of authority and grandeur. Her history-making rise is not telegraphed by a formal setting, a business suit or a confrontational stance. The only thing that announces the importance of the picture is the woman in it.

It also doesn’t give the viewer any of the expected tropes about shattering barriers or reaching a mountaintop. Power isn’t glamorized. Instead, it’s humanized. The picture reminds us that this incoming administration alone cannot save us. The people leading it are only human.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this picture. In some ways, it’s an audacious way of depicting this new political era and its break with the past. The problem is that it’s on the cover. The picture isn’t juxtaposed with one of constituents or staff or family. She’s a woman alone in sneakers sharing space with the Vogue brand.

Both photographs were taken by Tyler Mitchell, who made fashion history when, in 2018, he became the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover with his portraits of Beyoncé. The editor in charge of the Harris shoot, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, is also Black, as is Alexis Okeowo, the author of the accompanying story.

Harris styled herself. She chose her ensembles. But it was ultimately Vogue and its editor in chief, Anna Wintour, that selected the cover. In using the more informal image for the print edition of the magazine, Vogue robbed Harris of her roses. Despite its freighted history of racial insensitivity and recent accusations of disrespect and promises to be more inclusive, Vogue as an institution hasn’t fully grasped the role that humility plays in finding the path forward. A bit of awe would have served the magazine well in its cover decisions. Nothing about the cover said, “Wow.” And sometimes, that’s all Black women want, an admiring and celebratory “wow” over what they have accomplished.

These are not official portraits, but neither are they glamour shots or journalistic ones. They exist in the in-between. They mark history and capture the woman who breathes life into the title of vice president. But these pictures also help to craft a mythology — in this case, about a Black woman and power in America.

The story that Vogue was so eager to tell is the fact that this American daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother is now breathing in the most rarefied air of all. The formalities — every last one of them — apply to her. Why the urge to dispense with them so quickly?

Vogue overstepped. It got too chummy too fast. Harris made history. She may be a different kind of vice president. But don’t call her Kamala.

 

[fakeawake]

Wait so this was a LARP as the kids say.

I sensed it from the pic - we all sensed something was odd.


That’s wild.

 

[TomFordforGucci]

"this hobo on the cover trying to be relatable in a magazine"
"I'm gonna bet the issue will focus on United Colors of Benetton casts of nobodies"

This community and its thinly-veiled comments...

I wish she would've worn her Timbz again, R*p*bl*c*ns would implode. Second cover should've been the only option, that image is a moment.

 

[Benn98]

Maybe all this media outrage will actually help people connect with magazines again. I've seen some outlets being all shock and horror about why the newsstand cover being so awful is such a big deal because 'some will want to preserve the physical hard copy for years but it's unfortunate that she's wearing Chucks on the cover of Vogue'. So what you're saying is that you care about Vogue? LOL.

I'm surprised Kamala's team is pushing back on the cover considering she is all about breaking rules. You'd think she'd embrace the boldness despite it not being to everyone's taste. And anyway, since she selected her clothes why act all surprised to see the end result. Spare us the tears, please.

 

[MON]

I'm surprised Kamala's team is pushing back on the cover considering she is all about breaking rules. You'd think she'd embrace the boldness despite it not being to everyone's taste. And anyway, since she selected her clothes why act all surprised to see the end result. Spare us the tears, please.

Period

“Harris’ office declined to comment”. Please.

They knew that there won’t be an editorial. Both looks were pegged for the cover, and now they’re acting surprised. And she was mocked by the right for campaigning while wearing sneakers. You’d think this was her big eff you.

I don’t think Anna is that powerful to even dare piss off her connections. Do you honestly think Anna would blind-side the Vice President of the United States, the most powerful woman in the United States, after YEARS of pandering to the Democratic party? Do you honestly think that Vogue did not pitch their idea?

And what exactly is their problem with the cover? Is it the alleged white-washing? Didn’t see them say that. Is it the fact that it wasn’t “Vogue worthy?” Blame that to the VP herself who picked her own ensemble.

Things are clear now, at least for me. This was planned, but they didn’t expect the backlash. Now they’re crying foul.

I expected more from MVP and her team since they campaigned on accountability. You effed up? Own it. Also, it’s pathetic how the media is allowing this to happen instead of asking the right questions. Love her, but all this is truly disappointing.

 

[mikel]

Kamala might have picked out her own outfits and they may have been too simple, not glamorous (and to some boho-ish or looking like an old piece of toast apparently ), but the creative team behind it is to blame for the actual end result. A good photographer can make someone in a literal trash bag look glamorous and like a million bucks. This photographer obviously failed.

 

[reesewu]

Of all the things Kamala Harris needs to be held accountable for (e.g. her soft-on-police past, being supported by Big Pharma), a bad Vogue cover that seemingly blames Anna based on Twitter’s echo chamber is one of them? Lol give me a break. Vogue will still be making money from the conversations because their traffic is guaranteed to be top tier due to this cover. No one at Conde Nast, including the precious Anna will be out of job just because the Madam VP-elect refuses to comment. It’s not like Anna hasn’t been through worse. All the supposed backlashes about her sidelining and tokenizing POC at Conde Nast have never cost her to be dethroned from her god status in the company. Just like eevrything else, this will all blow over.

 

[Benn98]

But the likes of NY Times, Us Weekly and NBC and others are legitimising Twitter outrage by using their rants as source material to build articles around. You'll notice not a single famous person spoke on it. All these headlines started because of tweets.

I guess America truly is a democracy, lol.

 

[reesewu]

But the likes of NY Times, Us Weekly and NBC and others are legitimising Twitter outrage by using their rants as source material to build articles around. You'll notice not a single famous person spoke on it. All these headlines started because of tweets.

I guess America truly is a democracy, lol.

But at what point will this supposed outrage jeopardize Anna or US Vogue’s brand? The most jeopardizing thing that could happen is some people viewing US Vogue as no longer being an avatar of taste which has been achieved long before this cover ever came to fruition. The internet’s consensus—or in this case Twitter and Instagram’—is never that consistent. Some days they can hate Anna for this cover, some days they can defend Anna for the likes of Harry Styles dressing in ball gowns. I agree that it’s shady and unfair how Tyler Mitchell gets away from being called out for political reasons, but social media would’ve been even angrier if he got the blame. So in the end, it’s a catch-22. Let’s just hope Anna starts giving more chances to other POC photographers instead of bombarding Mitchell with all the gigs after this catastrophe.

 

[TaylorBinque]

It's a bad cover and I will stand by this. I really resonate with Robin Givhan's comment. This is the moment of celebration. She has broken the glass ceiling and pushed the boundaries. Yet, they gave us mediocrity. And people know it.

Also, please put a rest on Tyler Mitchell. He's so basic I can't even.

 

[Flamingjune]

Anna Wintour defends Kamala Harris' controversial Vogue cover | Daily Mail Online

Apparently Anna responded. Just saw this on DailyMail.

Anna Wintour defends Kamala Harris' Vogue cover, insisting magazine did not 'intend to diminish importance of VP-elect's victory' but denies claims that they 'formally agreed' to use a specific photo

• Wintour, 71, responded to the backlash over Harris' cover in a statement released on Tuesday morning
• She denied claims that Harris' team approved a specific cover image, insisting that there was never a 'formal agreement' over which photo would be used
• The VP-elect's Vogue cover sparked outrage when it was leaked online over the weekend, with social media users branding it 'lazy' and 'disrespectful'
• Others claimed that the 56-year-old's skin had been 'lightened' in the photo, and questioned why she was photographed in a casual outfit and Converse sneakers
• In the wake of the backlash, Vogue released a second cover for the digital issue featuring a more formal photo of Harris wearing a blue suit
• A source told DailyMail.com that this was the image she and her team chose
• The controversy comes just seven months after Wintour admitted to allowing 'hurtful and intolerant' behavior during her time at Vogue
• She also confessed that she has not done enough to champion black staffers and designers in a mea culpa issued in a company-wide memo in June
• The latest upset has reignited calls for Wintour's resignation

 

[axiomatic]

Interesting that AW hedges somewhat by saying there was no 'formal' agreement.

 

[Benn98]

For those who do not wish to click on a Daily Mail link, it's actually a statement from her podcast interview with NY Times this morning.

Opinion | Anna Wintour on the Kamala Harris Cover

The podcast is worth listening to!:

The February cover of Vogue featuring Vice President-elect Kamala Harris kicked off a controversy involving the most powerful woman in fashion and the soon-to-be most powerful woman in the White House. In a multiday social media maelstrom, a leaked cover photo that Anna Wintour originally described as “joyful,” “casual” and “accessible” was deemed “disrespectful” by Twitter. According to people familiar with the matter on both sides, although there had been no contractual cover approval agreement in place, the cover image was not what the vice president-elect’s team had expected. The day after the first photo leaked, a second — more formal — digital exclusive cover was also released.

Ms. Wintour said in a follow-up statement to “Sway,” “Obviously we have heard and understood the reaction to the print cover and I just want to reiterate that it was absolutely not our intention to, in any way, diminish the importance of the vice president-elect’s incredible victory.”

In an exclusive interview on this episode of “Sway,” Ms. Wintour discusses the magazine cover, diversity concerns at Condé Nast, the future of the fashion industry — and whether Jeff Bezos could be the next Anna Wintour.

New York Times