US Vogue March 2007 : Jennifer Hudson by Annie Leibovitz

[eternitygoddess]

what's high fashion and elite about britney spears, who has had a vogue cover?
and what was high fashion about renee zellweger before andre leon talley got a hold of her...

and let's think about the theme of the issue: it's the power issue...
natalie portman, angelina jolie, sandra bullock, julianne moore, gwyneth paltrow and penelope cruz have been on the cover since it was started in march 2001...

all have had an oscar or golden globe nomination and all were considered "on the rise" or following a wave of momentum into their cover...
this role has catapulted hudson into stardom, through acting and singing...

looking at the list of oscar nominees, no one else could have really appeared on this cover...
penelope cruz has already done the power cover...
judi dench, meryl streep, and helen mirren would probably be considered out of the demographic...
andriana barrazza and rinko are unknowns and abigail breslin is too young...
kate winslet is already in a position of power, having been nominated multiple times, and was also on a cover not long ago (she isn't in the same league as nicole, cate, sjp, etc. who can repeat covers without cause)...

i think it is a bold choice on anna's part, yes, and i too would rather see a model, but if i had my choice between another actress who has been on vogue before and a fresh, new choice, i'd choose jennifer...

At the time of her cover, Britney Spears was nothing like what she is today. At that time she was still the clean-cut pop princess. Natalie, Penelope, Sandra, etc. have all done multiple films. Jennifer Hudson is a NEW face. Very very very new. Too new to land the cover of Vogue. Maybe as she progresses later on she could be on the Cover, but right now, she hasn't had the length required for people to 'connect' with her acting or fashion sense.

Actresses like Naomi Watts deserve this FAR more than she does.

I simply cannot relate Jennifer Hudson with Vogue.

 

[honeyisle]

^Uh Kate Hudson was a NEW ***ed face when she did her cover. The fact that you can't relate Jennifer Hudson with Vogue is exactly what's wrong with our society...

 

[honeyisle]

do you guys ever think that Anna Wintour is kind of racist? I know there are black models, Asian models, etc., and I know that Anna tends to repeat models again and again and again...but it's always Liya in there, plus a bevy of Caucasian models. Like, every once in a while she'll throw in an Oluchi or a Lilliane Ferrarezi, but otherwise the magazine is filled with with white chicks. I do love Caroline Trentini and Isabeli (or does she count as Hispanic, being Brazilian), but it seems so...narrow.

It took J.Lo a while to get on the cover...and considering how fast Kirsten Dunst landed on it, plus other random Hollywood starlets too insignificant to remember, that really does say something. J.Lo, however tacky you might think her, had a big influence on fashion in a way (that Versace dress, sweat suits ), and was much more famous than a lot of the girls on Vogue.

I stopped following American Vogue because it became repetitive after a few years, but this is one of the things I've noticed.

I like the choice, if the rumours are true.

I agree. It's like more than one black model cannot appear in the magazine or it will implode(or Anna's head will). Jennifer Lopez should have gotten that cover much sooner. Like her or not, she has influenced fashion and beauty. who didn't want that bronzed golden look she had going on? and the woman can work a look and commit to it like no other...

 

[eternitygoddess]

^That's your opinion.

 

[fouroclock]

What if the powers that be are honoring an amateur for doing tremendously well in her first movie role?

 

[honeyisle]

^That's your opinion.

Well, we don't have to agree.

 

[octoberchild]

Firstly, I want to say ITA with Kimair and ShanaLucas's above posts. They were both spot on. Secondly, I do not post in the forums but after reading this thread, (and my desire to not start writing my paper, lol) and some of the posts has caused me to want to post. I am a young African American woman from Chicago's South Side and I am now a freshman at Northwestern University. I do not know Jennifer Hudson personally, but I went to an elementary school steps away from Dunbar Vocational High School, the school she attended. I have grown up in the neighborhood my entire life, and while it is not nearly as economically disadvantaged as other neighborhoods in Chicago, life is not always easy for the people that live in the neighborhood, and I would certainly know this. Nonetheless, I am very proud of Jennifer and her success and it is very exciting to see someone from where I am from do so well for herself on such a visible stage.

I have read Vogue for years and I get very excited when I see African Americans featured in its pages. In fact, I still have the cover with Liya on it and that has been the only magazine I have bought since. Although Jennifer might not be "high fashion" she looked lovey during the Dreamgirls promotional tour and the awards season. Further more, in a society where African American women are often made to feel less attractive than other American women, it is wonderful to see her on the cover of Vogue, a magazine that often epitomizes beauty in the minds of many Americans.

As I said previously, while Jennifer might not be as "high fashion" or accomplished as other actresses that have graced Vogue's covers, I find it inspirational to see a young women from where I am from leaving her mark on the world, just as I am in the process of trying to leave my mark on the world as well. Although some people would prefer her to not be on the cover, I think that it is fantastic and I am SO buying the issue. Go Jennifer!!

 

[kimair]

I'm sorry but Jennifer Hudson is absolutely NOT on the same plate as those actresses. To compare her talent with Natalie Portman - who has been an actress since childhood - is just a travesty.

Jennifer Hudson is an American Idol turned actress. She does not even compare to actresses who have been working all their lives.

i bet jennifer has been working just as hard her whole life to break into acting/singing...
she has been singing for years...it's not like she just started when she appeared on american idol...
i mean, britney spears was on star search...other people have appeared on talent shows...
i think we're too hung up on that...
people do whatever they can to get a break in this business...
how many people that can sing or act get to hollywood or make a record, let alone get nominated for an oscar?

to say she hasn't worked hard is a travesty...

THIS role. That is exactly the point. Hudson has only one role and people automatically perceive her as being a 'star'. I'm sorry but since when did acting in one movie constitute being 'catapulted into stardom'.

kate hudson's first major movie was almost famous, and she was on vogue soon after...
look at her now...and she's not the first...
and honestly, i don't think kate hudson is "high fashion" either...

when the women i listed appeared on the POWER issue, they were coming into their own or had reached a pinnacle...
when penelope cruz appeared on the cover, all the movies she had been in were spanish...she had just nabbed her first english speaking role in "blow"...

that was my point...
and i agree shanalucas...this thread is very enlightening...
i'm sure next month everyone will be cursing that the same old person is on vogue again...

 

[Faith Akiyama]

Firstly, I want to say ITA with Kimair and ShanaLucas's above posts. They were both spot on. Secondly, I do not post in the forums but after reading this thread, (and my desire to not start writing my paper, lol) and some of the posts has caused me to want to post. I am a young African American woman from Chicago's South Side and I am now a freshman at Northwestern University. I do not know Jennifer Hudson personally, but I went to an elementary school steps away from Dunbar Vocational High School, the school she attended. I have grown up in the neighborhood my entire life, and while it is not nearly as economically disadvantaged as other neighborhoods in Chicago, life is not always easy for the people that live in the neighborhood, and I would certainly know this. Nonetheless, I am very proud of Jennifer and her success and it is very exciting to see someone from where I am from do so well for herself on such a visible stage.

I have read Vogue for years and I get very excited when I see African Americans featured in its pages. In fact, I still have the cover with Liya on it and that has been the only magazine I have bought since. Although Jennifer might not be "high fashion" she looked lovey during the Dreamgirls promotional tour and the awards season. Further more, in a society where African American women are often made to feel less attractive than other American women, it is wonderful to see her on the cover of Vogue, a magazine that often epitomizes beauty in the minds of many Americans.

As I said previously, while Jennifer might not be as "high fashion" or accomplished as other actresses that have graced Vogue's covers, I find it inspirational to see a young women from where I am from leaving her mark on the world, just as I am in the process of trying to leave my mark on the world as well. Although some people would prefer her to not be on the cover, I think that it is fantastic and I am SO buying the issue. Go Jennifer!!

Sensational post - thank you for sharing

 

[KhaoticKharma]

Actresses like Naomi Watts deserve this FAR more than she does.

I have to really disagree... Naomi may be talented, but she will always be the poor man's Nicole Kidman, like it or not. Jennifer has a much better chance of reaching A-List status, similar to Sienna Miller and Keira Knightly on the covers before her. Jennifer is also an amazing beat-the-odds story, and who doesn't like one of those?

 

[bismarck]

I'm sorry I don't quite understand what you're saying. You contradict yourself in the above paragraph.

If you're saying that there isn't enough black models in US Vogue because Anna Wintour is racist, then I have to disagree.

Anna puts things in her magazine that are 'in' and 'fashionable' etc... Liya Kebede was very 'in' and therefore she was featured in US Vogue. The absence of black/asian models is not a conscious decision. It just so happens that there isn't a definitive black/asian model that embodies the look right now.

Liya has been in heavy rotation for a while, since I started picking up Vogue in 2002 to the present, I believe. Her presence in American Vogue doesn't match the number of appearances out of it, both in ad campaigns and other magazines. She's a beautiful model, but hardly "in" like Daria Werbowy or Gemma Ward are/were "in", when they were featured extensively in American Vogue.

I phrased myself poorly. It just seemed to me that Anna leaned towards a certain racial preference, although it was not an absolute, automatic judgment. Not that she was a hater, just that she preferred...white people.

The absence of black/asian models is not a conscious decision. It just so happens that there isn't a definitive black/asian model that embodies the look right now.

Will there ever be?

I don't want to be the agitator, and trust me, I don't fixate this much on these type of issues at all in my real life. I think celebrities at their best are beautiful, which is why I'm interested in them (well, at least I admit it ), and they don't need to be a certain race to be beautiful.

 

[iriswills]

my humble opinion...

1.) I used to think cover stars needed to deserve to be on Vogue but consider Vogue's history: I remember being ticked off that Karolina Kurkova was on the cover so soon...same with Kate Hudson, Gwen Stefani, Reese Witherspoon, etc. And I know there have been plenty of cover stars that have been around forever but were on Vogue at seemingly nonsensical times (Uma, Sandra, etc). Deserving or not, this Jennifer business is nothing new.

2.) How many people on this forum usually buy the huge special March issues, regardless of the cover star? I'm kind of feeling sorry for Jennifer Hudson. She isn't really carrying a big, important issue. She is carrying a Vogue issue that many fashionistas pretty much HAVE to buy. It's the March bible. Maybe this isn't such a greay thing for Jennifer after all? But then again, a gillion American Idol people will probably support the issue, good for her on that front.

3.) I don't get why the Vogue cover is still so coveted by so many stars (ie Beyonce). The idea of a celebrity getting the "Vogue treatment" (the glam, the gowns, the glitzy makeover) is so dead. Before it felt like an actress stepping into the Vogue world, and now celebrities ARE the Vogue world.


Just saying is all. ha ha.

 

[sepia]

Anna is taking a huge gamble on Jennifer Hudson and I applaud her for it. Do you want to see more blacks on the cover of US Vogue? Buy the issue. This is the best way to help change the public's perception on what's appropriate -- and marketable -- for a Vogue cover in the US.

Absolutely! B)

 

[Jacque Marcel]

What would be more shocking than Jennifer Hudson gracing the cover?
A Trentini less issue.

 

[bluedolphin]

hi ,everyone,
Halle Berry was on the vogue us cover?

she's my black beauty

 

[|PerfectTonight|]

Can we stop with the Afro-American/black theories going on in here and enjoy something different for a second. There have been too many covers to mention that have had repeated characters on them, boring. Jennifer Hudson has a great style and I love this selection Anna did for Vogue. It will definitely pay off.

for JHud!

 

[Deleted member 45369]

I'm starting to doubt she'll be on the cover. Remember when we were all certain Angelina was going to be on the Dec. cover and out of nowhere we got Nicole instead. I'm thinking if Jennifer gets the cover it will be for their April Shape issue.

 

[sepia]

Oh yeah, that would make more *sense*.

But here's to hoping it's indeed the March issue!

 

[jpymon]

I hate that the fact that JHud is allegedly on the cover is being treated so politically. When people hate that Witherspoon is on the cover, they say it, and no one is going all bla-bla-bla-it's-your-fault on them. and the fact that people don't like JHud doesn't make them dislike the fact that African Americans or blacks get the cover (I for one loved Liya). BUT HONESTLY, SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT IS FASHIONABLE ABOUT JENNIFER'S PERSONAL STYLE?? NO NO! WAIT... WHAT IS JENNIFER'S PERSONAL STYLE!!??!!?

Damn Anna, I want a Selma Blair cover now!

And also, RIP Anna Nicole.

 

[eternitygoddess]

^DITTO on everything!!!