US Vogue March 2023 : Erykah Badu by Jamie Hawkesworth

[justaguy]

I just came to thank Anna Wintour for helping me discover the music of Erykah Badu. I just listened to (what I believe to be) my first ever Erykah song and I fell in love instantly, I can't believe I never came across her music which is right up my alley. It almost feels blasphemous, but whatever, here we are. I have a new appreciation for this, but it's still not a good Vogue cover by my standard.

You MUST listen to "Next Life Time!" My fav song of hers.

 

[Bernie Flood]

I beg to disagree, when you have Nicole Kidman, Renee Zelweger and a few other members of 'Anna's club' getting mulktiple covers or Madona getting multiple Vogue covers while Janet Jackson, Whitney, Mariah who were just as big at their peak and a major fashion trendsetters not even getting one us not just about saying not everybody can be on the cover. I remember in the 2000s when the controversially named trend 'Ghetto fabulous' was all over and in the covers of vogue they talked about how the likes of Lil Kim, Mary J Blige and Lauryn Hill contributed to the trend but didnt have them on the cover. If someone can be on the cover 5 times then some other people can get a few of those covers .Agreed about other magazines of substance but in the 2000s when celebrities were mostly on the cover it was a very big deal and played a big part on someone's career. Obviously today's Vogue cover is very watered down (her own doing) with multiple appearances by nepo babies that arent even as talented but if she must use celebrities its nice to see variety with unexpected chioces like Erykah alongside the more commercial stars instead of 2 Adele covers ina year.

Yes, they even featured Lil Kim and Mary J in Vogue Sept. 98 issue. Its the beginning of the ghetto fabulous movement that Kate Betts had been trying to push in Vogue. But of course Anna Wintour was not a fan and even after the John Galliano Dior Lauryn Hill Blaxpotation millennium collection.

 

[Bernie Flood]

In hindsight though, what do Vogue covers mean for actresses?! At least for models, it’s like an award. A model is mentioned as a Vogue cover girl the same way a singer is mentioned as a Grammy winner or an Actress an Oscar winner. No one is ever going to introduce Nicole as Vogue Cover Girl Nicole Kidman!

And I remember how Vogue was pushing Gwyneth Paltrow. They even went shopping with her

 

[Urban Stylin]

Now that I look at the cover and ed again I realized that Anna missed an opportunity by shooting one of the most fashion fearless celebrities in a more safe editorial for the Big spring fashion issue. She creates trends and photographs like a model, they would have done a major editorial instead of this, no wonder we are focusing on everything but the cover content.
In Style beat Anna to it

photos instyle
Photographed by Ruth Ossai. Styled by Andrew Mukamal. Art direction by Erykah Badu. Hair: Chuck Amos for Jump Management. Hair: Yasmin Amira Davis. Makeup: Frankie Boyd for Streeters. Manicure: Yuko Wada for Atelier Management. Set design: Danielle Selig for The Magnet Agency.

 

[crmsn]

Tomorrowland
Photographed by Giseok Cho
Styled by Kate Phelan
Hair by Gabe Sin
Makeup by Seongseok Oh
With Yoon Young Bae, New Jeans, Chloe Oh, Bae Doo Na, Soo Joo Park, Gyo, Guemone Gim, Balming Tiger, Britney Kim, Jungle, Code Kunst, Soo Yeon, and Hyung Joon

Vogue

 

[Kimy Jo]

/\ Gorgeous!!
Hopefully it will be reprinted on Vogue Korea

 

[vogue28]

Adut Akech by Sean Thomas:

 

[aracic]

I hate to say that I'm positively shocked at the sight of such Asian presence in American Vogue. It's beautiful but it feels very out of place here, only a few years ago that would've been Caroline Trentini instead of Yoon Young Bae lol I guess redemption is a theme for America this March.

As for the editorial itself, the whole thing is far too disjointed for my liking but it's still one of the most interesting stories I've seen from American Vogue in recent memory. The first two images and the portraits with body paint are outstanding, there's several other shots I like and there's certain shots that make absolutely no sense to me. The final section feels like a filler, albeit lovely, editorial scrapped from W Korea.

Adut's preview by Sean Thomas feels much more like the classic US Vogue. Nothing groundbreaking, but it might make for a lovely little story. Looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

 

[Xone]

Tomowwoland looks intesting..yet nothing like Vogue US...Vogue is a mess....

 

[justaguy]

I would have liked these edits if I had seen them in Interview magazine.

 

[KoV]

I hate to say that I'm positively shocked at the sight of such Asian presence in American Vogue. It's beautiful but it feels very out of place here, only a few years ago that would've been Caroline Trentini instead of Yoon Young Bae lol I guess redemption is a theme for America this March.

I’d say Anna/American Vogue has been slightly ahead of the curve in terms of Asian representation in comparison to most, outside of Asia. Certainly it’s puzzling why your fav Edward hasn’t been more inclusive of Asian models given Britain’s relatively high Asian population (double that of any other ethnic minority group) and the huge cultural influence they have had on the Britain.

 

[THD96]

At least Edward doesn't wait for 30 years plus in his career to put an Asian model on his cover.
After neglected a wave of models in the 90s and early 2000s, Anna is doing the bare minimum and being praised for it.

This is shared content with Vogue Korea, so it's just another cost-cutting, page-filling strategy. Not something to be proud of.

 

[Summer Day]

I’d say Anna/American Vogue has been slightly ahead of the curve in terms of Asian representation in comparison to most, outside of Asia. Certainly it’s puzzling why your fav Edward hasn’t been more inclusive of Asian models given Britain’s relatively high Asian population (double that of any other ethnic minority group) and the huge cultural influence they have had on the Britain.

What are you talking about? Edward has featured Asian models/actors on the cover and also OG stories inside.

 

[aracic]

I’d say Anna/American Vogue has been slightly ahead of the curve in terms of Asian representation in comparison to most, outside of Asia. Certainly it’s puzzling why your fav Edward hasn’t been more inclusive of Asian models given Britain’s relatively high Asian population (double that of any other ethnic minority group) and the huge cultural influence they have had on the Britain.

Fair enough, but never like this. I'm honestly not one to track points for representation in magazines, that's not what interests me at all, but I can't say that this is the type of editorial I'd ever expect to see in US Vogue. Can you? It's so essentially Asian in its style and photography and so completely un-American that, as I stated, it feels shocking to see it published here.
It's a known fact that the only representation Enninful encourages is black. And that's fine, not every issue needs to look like the poster for UNICEF but when you promote yourself as this big, game-changing, boundary-breaking diversity revolutionary and your magazine's Asian representation is restricted to Trends section every six months, it's kind of laughable. Also he's so not my fav, far from it. All my liking for Enninful comes from his ties with Meisel, who is a fav. Although his magazine is admittedly the only 'main' edition of Vogue that still has any impact on me.

 

[KoV]

What are you talking about? Edward has featured Asian models/actors on the cover and also OG stories inside.

Did I say he never has? No. Obviously Asians have appeared in American Vogue as well. But I'm weary of American Vogue being the butt of the vast majority of complaints about representation, and I maintain that given the high Asian and British-Asian population in Britain, there is a solid argument to be made that they are underrepresented by magazine - and by extension the editorial team.

 

[Deleted member 141523]

His only East Asian/British cover star was Gemma Chan.

 

[Summer Day]

Did I say he never has? No. Obviously Asians have appeared in American Vogue as well. But I'm weary of American Vogue being the butt of the vast majority of complaints about representation, and I maintain that given the high Asian and British-Asian population in Britain, there is a solid argument to be made that they are underrepresented by magazine - and by extension the editorial team.

You implied he has not been inclusive, which is not accurate as well. There’s been Asian representation in Vogue UK throughout his tenure, arguably more compared to other editions, and not necessarily Vogue US.

 

[matheus_s]

any review review?

 

[KoV]

You implied he has not been inclusive, which is not accurate as well. There’s been Asian representation in Vogue UK throughout his tenure, arguably more compared to other editions, and not necessarily Vogue US.

Right, but like... Anna put Naomi on her first September cover ever for US Vogue, yet certainly it would be silly to claim the magazine was inclusive of Black women at that time. Tokenism isn't really a win for diversity. Edward giving Gemma Chan a cover no more proves his commitment to diversity than Anna giving HoYeon a cover. The comment I was responding to was about being shocked to see Asian presence in American Vogue. As is my MO, I had to defend, even it meant resorting to whataboutism - perhaps in this case a "tu quoque" logical fallacy, if ya fancy. But it's true!

I brought up British Vogue/Edward specifically for two reasons. One, my perception is that's Aracic's favorite so it would be a more effective counterpoint. Two, because generally Edward is heralded as the one person doing it right when it comes to diversity. And I'd argue no one person in the fashion industry was received more public criticism over lack of diversity in recent years than Anna. Thinking of the past 7 years of Edward at British Vogue compared to the last 7 years of American Vogue, is there a marked difference in Asian representation that favors British Vogue? I don't think so. Especially in this age of shared content. I guess my overall point is that I don't think it's shocking to see Asian representation in American Vogue and at this stage I don't think they're lacking in representation at all, really. And if one disagrees, maybe there's room for equal opportunity criticism directed at the folks across the pond.

 

[axiomatic]

236 pp

Review, in addition to what's been posted:

"Trial by Fire"
Photographer: Norman Jean Roy
Stylist: Max Ortega
Jodie Comer

"King Carlos"
Photographer: Dan Jackson
Stylist: Edward Bowleg III
Carlos Alcaraz

"Unfinished Business"
Photographer: Zoe Ghertner
Stylist: Alex Harrington
Kendall Jenner

"Two of a Kind"
Photographer: Tina Barney
Stylist: Max Ortega
Lila Moss, Stella Jones

"Just One Thing"
Photographer: Sean Thomas
Stylist: Tabitha Simmons
Adut Akech

Articles: Maxwell Frost, "the reinvention of a waterfront retreat," Laila and Nadia Gohar, Emily Adams Bode Aujla