US Vogue June 2013 : Kate Upton by Mario Testino

[thiago:)]

Lovely cover! I'm happy for her. She managed to make it. That's still a huge deal being on the Vogue cover.

 

[CitizenChic]

Lovely cover! I'm happy for her. She managed to make it. That's still a huge deal being on the Vogue cover.

Has she really "made" it though? Having a million magazine covers and zero relevant ad campaigns to show for it does not a "made it" make...
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Fotoholic24]

Kate Upton shows off her fit figure in a bikini as she graces the cover of Vogue‘s June 2013 issue, on newsstands May 21.

Here’s what the 20-year-old model and actress had to share with the mag:

On social media: “It’s just me sharing my life, I like it if it’s authentic and in the moment and happening. Growing up, I didn’t buy the magazines that had models on the covers, because I didn’t know them. So I think it kind of gives me, as a model, a personality that people can connect with.”

On her critics: “The things that they’re rejecting are things that I can’t change. I can’t change my bra size. They’re natural! I can work out and I can stay healthy and motivated, but I can’t change some things. I really just live my life. I love my body. It’s what God gave me! I feel confident with myself, and if that inspires other women to feel confident with their bodies, great.”

On her career: “I always had career goals. And I figured out a path I wanted to take to accomplish those goals. If that meant calling the best modeling agency in the world, that’s what it meant.”

Justjared.com

 

[Tinsley V]

she looks so so pretty on this cover and the editorial is great for june. great job to her, she's made it big in the industry!

 

[Deleted member 1957]

I don't even understand the haters in this case coz even a child can see that this cover and ed are beyond stunning! This cover should tell allt hose that doubted her that she is not a 1 hit wonder, she does actually produce results!

 

[Sweet rus]

I like the cover actually and I don't mind Kate at all but I share the sentiments of lepetitcouturier. I don't get this supermodel term as she has done nothing in fashion except for a few editorials and SI (which is not high fashion in any way). Hence I don't think she deserves to be on the cover of US Vogue, I am ok with any other Vogue but not American issue which doesn't use models anymore and makes rare model covers like once a year or two. So you have to be very special and have an amazing career to deserve this spot which Kate can't boast of. I think it's very unfair to use Kate when there are so many more successful models who have been in the business forever and have done amazing things but still don't get their cover, leave alone only girl cover.

 

[kokobombon]

^the thing with US Vogue using models is that they don´t just put any model on the cover... please correct me if I´m wrong but the only models on recent covers were Gisele and Kate Moss who at this point have celebrity status. There are lots of more successful and deserving models out there and they do get tons of covers, just not US Vogue´s. And -imo- unless Vogue changes direction or the models change status they will never get a cover... because US Vogue it´s on a league of its own.

 

[jessica909]

I love it.I think she looks amazing.yes,they maybe used to much photoshop,but it still looks amazing.
And i'm also happy to see some model on cover of US Vogue,i don't remember when was the last time US Vogue had model on their cover.I think Kate Moss was the latest model on their cover in September 2011.

 

[loladonna]

^the thing with US Vogue using models is that they don´t just put any model on the cover... please correct me if I´m wrong but the only models on recent covers were Gisele and Kate Moss who at this point have celebrity status. There are lots of more successful and deserving models out there and they do get tons of covers, just not US Vogue´s. And -imo- unless Vogue changes direction or the models change status they will never get a cover... because US Vogue it´s on a league of its own.

^I agree. One of the reasons US Vogue's cover is most coveted is because they rarely use models so if a model appears you know she's made it. Vogue Italia puts such random-- and at times untested- models on their covers that scoring a VI cover could mean fading to obscurity.

 

[fee de foret]

Really, look at the models who are popular right now. They are bland boring and forgettable. Is Kate Upton a super skilled model? No, and I think most people realize that. But put her up against today's top models and vogue us favorites-karlie Joan cara just to name a few- and honestly she can hold her own against them. People act like models today are as good as they were in the 90s, hell even the early 2000s but they just aren't.

 

[iriswills]

Okay, apart from the slight lack of warmth in her expression (I don't like that her lips are parted) and that there is too much text by her face on the right, that is one helluva cover image! It's something new for Vogue and it's perfect for the season. I like Kate and her editorial is quite classy and endearing. Good job, Vogue!

 

[JesseDillon]

I can't with this. Ugh. Last time I checked straight men aren't buying Vogue so I really don't see the point in putting a glorified underwear model on the cover. She isn't high fashion, she never will be. Would it be too much to ask to put a model on who is high fashion and has worked her way to the top of the industry like Karlie as opposed to someone who is famous for shaking her big t*ts in online videos?

Okay, even assuming the majority of US Vogue buyers are women. Most women here in the US don't give a **** about high fashion models. This isn't Europe, It's America. Kate Upton is far more relate-able to the women here, than Kate Moss, Gisele, etc.

 

[Deleted member 1957]

Hottest supermodel in the world is the number 2 trending topic on yahoo

http://search.yahoo.com/search?cs=bz&p=Hottest%20Supermodel%20on%20Earth&fr=fp-tts-747&fr2=ps

 

[kab348]

I like the cover. It looks like a throwback to the 80s early 90s.

I've been rooting for Kate since that Victoria's Secret director made those rude remarks about her. Now that woman is looking rather foolish since Kate has been embraced by everyone in high fashion.

Vogue s not everyone in high fashion and I heard meisel is not happy she got a cover.

 

[RomanXII]

I love this cover and I love Kate! Honestly I don't think calling her a "supermodel" is much of a stretch. She's a recognizable name and atypical to the **edited** European models that for the most part - blend into one another and fail to display any kind of celebrity status.

And besides I'd gladly take an entire year of Miss Upton on the cover of US Vogue over one cover of bores like Sarah Jessica Parker or Blake Lively.

 

[LagerfeldBoy]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
It baffles me that there are countless of other deserving models that deserve to be in Kate's place. Yes, she has such a strong presence in the media and most people know her rather than say Natasha Poly or Abbey Lee, but seriously this is a huge step back for Vogue.
Sigh, it's a lovely cover. Whatever.

 

[LagerfeldBoy]

Okay, even assuming the majority of US Vogue buyers are women. Most women here in the US don't give a **** about high fashion models. This isn't Europe, It's America. Kate Upton is far more relate-able to the women here, than Kate Moss, Gisele, etc.

How is Kate Upton far more relatable? I mean physically, most women in America don't even look like Kate Upton, so I find it hard comprehending how they relate to her.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

^ She's no more relatable than any other cover star Vogue has, though. Most women don't look like Sarah Jessica Parker or Michelle Obama, either.

I actually really like this cover, it's fresh and colourful. I'm just glad when Anna uses a new face, to be honest.

However, I am sort of sick of the fashion industry's (recent) obsession with "supermodels," I don't think they're ever going to come back to the level they had in the early 90s and that's okay. They need to let it go and move on.

 

[Legolas]

How is Kate Upton far more relatable? I mean physically, most women in America don't even look like Kate Upton, so I find it hard comprehending how they relate to her.

Well, you can bet most of them relate (and want to relate) to her more than to Karlie Kloss or any Russian deserving the cover... that's for sure, and I'm trying not to take into consideration fashion junkies when I say this, cause most of them like to play the counterpart (even though most of them want it too, very deep inside... you can tell, they just keep coming back for more )

 

[phenobarbie]

Full Vogue Interview (Vogue.com & MissLimaVlza @bz)

What does it take to be America’s favorite bombshell? Killer curves, of course, but Kate Upton has much more: old-fashioned ambition, digital-age savvy, and personality to burn.
It’s 11:00 a.m., and Kate Upton is staring down a green rubber stability ball at David Kirsch’s private gym across from Madison Square Park in Manhattan. Kirsch, a celebrity trainer who looks a little bit like Mr. Clean, is putting Upton through a series of moves designed to “blast the three As,” he says. “Arms, abs, and ***.”
Upton is more clothed than most of us are used to seeing her: tight black Nike T-shirt; black Under Armour leggings; gray Nike sneakers with hot-pink trim; small diamond stud earrings. She takes Kirsch’s orders with equanimity, her face slightly flushed, her blonde hair in a loose bun. “He only has five days,” she explains—before she jets to Uruguay for her Vogue shoot. “So when he yells at me, I know it’s for me. It’s not for him.”

Kirsch orders her on top of the ball, and she dives into position with an “Uh!” Keeping it beneath her feet and her arms locked, she proceeds to “tuck,” bending her knees toward her chin and rolling the ball forward to achieve something like an upside-down crunch. Kirsch begins to chant: “Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!” After 20 reps, the cheerful expression has drained from Upton’s face. Kirsch barks, “Hold the last one!” and Upton seems to lose her resolve. “Wait,” she says. “I can’t.”
“Hips up higher, please!”
She steadies her plank position.
“Feel that in your belly?”
She nods, her stomach tense, a bit of sweat on her forehead, a look of determination on her face.
“Good,” he says. “Now do another set.”

It’s official: Being Kate Upton is hard work. If you’ve come anywhere near a newsstand in the last year—or a Super Bowl telecast or a late-night talk show—you know that the curvaceous, effervescent blonde has propelled herself from obscure Florida swimsuit model to viral video star to bona fide cultural phenomenon of the kind that brings to mind the models we’ve gotten to know on a first-name basis: Gisele, Kate, Naomi.

The fact that Upton has become our Girl of the Moment is all the more remarkable given that she’s done it in her own digital-age way. She wasn’t championed, early on, by a photographer like Steven Meisel or David Sims. Riccardo Tisci didn’t put her on the runway at Givenchy à la Joan Smalls. She even bypassed the Victoria’s Secret runway show—which has proved to be a launching pad for the likes of Candice Swanepoel and Miranda Kerr. Instead, Upton has accumulated Sports Illustrated covers and buzzy television ads and—above all—has made canny use of social media.

The Upton legend begins on YouTube. She broke out in 2011, dancing to Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How to Dougie” in footage shot by a friend at a Clippers game—her appeal a mix of blonde bombshell and homespun girl next door. (The video has two million views and counting.) A subsequent clip was more risqué: Upton dancing the Cat Daddy in a skimpy bikini for Terry Richardson—and yet here, too, she’s goofy, disarming, improbably wholesome (that video has nearly sixteen million hits). Meanwhile she’s a regular on Twitter (more than 900,000 followers), and was an early adopter of the video-sharing app Vine. “It’s just me sharing my life,” she says about tweeting. “I like it if it’s authentic and in the moment and happening.” Growing up, she adds, “I didn’t buy the magazines that had models on the covers, because I didn’t know them. So I think this kind of gives me, as a model, a personality that people can connect with.” It seems to be working. In 2012, she was the fourth-most-popular search on Yahoo—just behind Election, iPhone5, and Kim Kardashian.

What makes the Kate Upton era so unlikely is that the things we love about her—those curves! that personality!—defy what the word model has come to mean, at least on the runway: a seemingly endless procession of lanky, expressionless wraiths. That is most certainly not Upton’s profile. (Descriptions of her figure tend to involve euphemisms for a single word: breasts.) And yet Upton’s body has sparked debate. This year’s Sports Illustrated cover—a shot of her in Antarctica, parka open to reveal a stunning breadth of cleavage—set off a fresh round of “Is she fat?” conversations across the Internet. “It was hard at first,” she admits of hearing such rumblings. “You sit there and you’re like ‘Is something wrong with me?’ ” But she’s learned to ignore her critics—and come to regard her healthy body as a point of pride. “The things that they’re rejecting are things that I can’t change. I can’t change my bra size. They’re natural! I can work out and I can stay healthy and motivated, but I can’t change some things. I really just live my life. I love my body. It’s what God gave me! I feel confident with myself, and if that inspires other women to feel confident with their bodies, great.”

It doesn’t hurt, by the way, that Upton has a sense of humor about this subject. She deadpans, “It’s kind of funny to think, Oh, wow, the news is talking about whether I’m fat or not.”

Upton has retained a cheerful ambivalence about runway modeling. “I’ve always loved fashion,” she says, “but it’s not what I set out to do.” And while she may never be embraced as the darling of the fashion cognoscenti, there are designers who are taking her appeal to heart. To Michael Kors, for instance, who hosted Upton at last year’s Met ball, she conjures an earlier era—when a model’s healthy shape went hand in hand with her sexiness. “When I look at Kate’s figure I think, This is a person who’s enjoying life,” Kors says. “It harks back to the seventies, when we first had models like Patti Hansen and Christie Brinkley. They were sexy, but they were also athletic. And I think that Kate is very much that. You see her, and her skin is glowing; she’s got a gorgeous smile. It’s optimistic. It’s not about a sad girl on the corner. It’s about a girl who’s enjoying herself.”

“Listen, she’s extremely sexy,” says Diane von Furstenberg, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Von Furstenberg calls Upton the perfect role model, representing the idea that you should “embrace who you are”—curves included. “Two things are extremely attractive,” she says. “Health is beauty, and confidence is beauty.”
Upton first considered modeling when a scout from an agency approached her at a horse show. She was twelve at the time, living with her ultra-active parents, sisters, and brother on five acres in Melbourne, Florida—a kind of Olympic-training center (basketball hoop, trampoline, swimming pool, arena for horseback riding)—where competition was constant. Kate’s older sister, Christie, and her younger brother, David, gravitated toward team sports, while Kate and her middle sister, Laura, focused on riding. (Kate won five American Paint Horse Association world championships before the age of seventeen.) On weekends, the whole family hung out at the beach.

As a girl “she was stick-thin and flat for the longest time,” her sister Christie recalls. “Sometimes she’d stuff her bra. We all did—with tissue paper or socks.” Then, according to Upton, “it all came at once,” right before she turned fifteen. In a few months that year she grew several inches—to five feet ten—and filled out. Not long after, Kate signed with a modeling agent in Miami, and immediately began getting so much work that she moved there. The city’s beach culture made her feel confident about her shape. “In Miami, boobs are fantastic,” she says. “I was so proud of them. I was so excited. Are you kidding? I’m in Florida, and I’m constantly in bikinis. I was like, Yes! Killing it! All the girls on the beach are gonna be so jealous!”

By eighteen she had decamped to New York, where, after a year with the modeling agency Elite, she decided she wasn’t moving fast enough toward her goal: the cover of Sports Illustrated. She cold-called the front desk at IMG—and did enough persuasive talking to arrange a meeting with a scout, who introduced her to the agency’s senior vice president, Ivan Bart. Upton says she was successful because she had a plan. “I always had career goals. And I figured out a path I wanted to take to accomplish those goals. If that meant calling the best modeling agency in the world, that’s what it meant.”

Upton won Bart over immediately. “She shook my hand. She looked me in the eye. She was like, ‘I really want to be with your company.’ ” He adds, “I think a lot of her success is about her confidence and her ambition. Not to mention charm and wit. Kate actually wanted to be known by a large audience. She said, ‘If I’m going to make it as a model, I’ve got to be a celebrity.’ That’s what makes her a twenty-first-century model.”

A few weeks after her workout session, I’m meeting Upton for a meal at her favorite restaurant, Nobu, in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. In the dusky light of the restaurant, Upton seems much more glamorous than she did at the gym. She is dressed, once again, in all black: Her blonde hair is loose, and she’s wearing Rag & Bone jeans, Sam Edelman boots, and a black Emilio Pucci top with a jagged slit across the chest. She doesn’t have the alien air that many models have when you see them up close. In fact, it’s hard not to be struck by the notion that Upton looks like a regular person, a version—if an exceptionally pretty one—of the type of girl you might see walking down the street. Perhaps because she has her back to the crowd, she doesn’t turn any heads. Without looking at the menu, she asks the waiter: “Can we order the new-style salmon and three black-cod lettuce wraps?”

When it comes to meals, “I’m not, like, a robot,” Upton says. “I have different rules at different times.” Following Kirsch’s advice to eat “anything that flies or swims,” she sticks to chicken or fish, plus veggies. Which means that famous commercial of her sensually devouring a Carl’s Jr. cheeseburger? “No,” she says, shaking her head. “I can’t do that.”
The gossip pages regularly buzz with rumors about Upton’s love life, but she tells me she’s single: “My work seems to be my priority at this point in my life.” She just moved out of her apartment in the Flatiron district (“my lease was up”), and is currently a nomad in New York, staying at a hotel, with most of her stuff in storage.

So, where does Kate Upton go from here? “I never set out to be on the runway,” she says, but she would like to secure another major fashion campaign (having recently landed one with David Yurman ) as well as a cosmetics contract . “I feel like I trust my career path,” she says, which has already made her a face for clients like Guess, Skullcandy, and Mercedes-Benz. And then there are the sideline attractions: “I would love to have my own lingerie line,” she says. Building on her fledgling movie career (she’s had small parts in The Three Stooges andTower Heist), she is set to join a Nick Cassavetes comedy, The Other Woman, alongside Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann. “Acting I’m very interested in,” she acknowledges and laughs. “I’m American—more is more!”