Vogue Australia September 2023 : Tarlisa Gaykamangu by Robbie Fimmano

[callmejaeden]

 

[caioherrero]

This is depressing.

 

[DK92]

JESUS… Tragic!

 

[matheus_s]

The new vogue Brazil kkkkk low after low

i Love the Orange and just that…

“her Bottega moment…”’on the cover but shes wearing MIU MIU.wtf

 

[OllieJE]

Is it the first cover featuring an aboriginal model?

 

[blueorchid]

No, Elaine George was for September 1993.

 

[Benn98]

Is it the first cover featuring an aboriginal model?

Charlee Fraser is an indigenous model and appeared on at least 3 group covers, but I suppose this girl is the first to get a cover on her own.

I don’t hate it. But the faint ‘Australia’ on the masthead makes it look like she’s wearing a lace front. There are some issues with the pose, it’s just a bit too slouchy and meh for a fashion cover. Maybe some of her hair flipped back, add a gold necklace or bracelet that would look lovely on her, and just more presence overall. It’s September after all.

I will say this is one of Vogue Australia’s first September cover in years that’s actually relevant to Aussies, because they’re actually heading into spring not autumn. So the dress makes sense to me. In the past they used to do straight up winter styling on September covers probably to stay in step with the rest of the fashion world.

Hope Christine will support this girl just as Edwina supported Adut and Charlee. Enough of the Kendall/Gigi/Bella/Hailey set.

 

[Benn98]

No, Elaine George was for September 1993.

The 'risky' Vogue cover that made history but almost never happened

By Melissa Singer
SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

Every photographer dreams of scouting "The One". But finding the next Claudia, Naomi or Elle often comes down to chance; a matter of right place, right time. For veteran photographer Grant Good, his moment of serendipity came in the most unlikely place – the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast.

The year was 1993. The Piano was the film on everyone's lips and in September, Sydney would be named as the host of the 2000 Olympics. There was a lot to be excited about. And in December, just four days before Christmas, Federal Parliament would pass the Native Title Act, which recognised the traditional rights and interests of Indigenous peoples over land and water.

But even as Aboriginal Australians reached greater prominence on the sporting and cultural stages, the fashion industry was yet to elevate an Indigenous model to the front page of a glossy magazine.

Elaine Tanaka (nee George) today, with the Vogue cover from 1993.CREDIT:GRANT GOOD

Good recalls how in the early '90s, he counted just two Australians, both white, on the cover of Vogue over a 12-month period. He took his observation to Vogue's editor at the time, Nancy Pilcher. "Nancy ... suggested that if ever I come across anyone that might be suitable for a cover to please send down some test shots," he recalls.

That was on a Monday. Four days later, Good was at Dreamworld with his partner, Diana Finke, and their children, when they spotted 17-year-old Elaine George in the line for a ride. "[Elaine] was about 30 metres from us," Good remembers. "I said to Diana, 'Look, there’s a Vogue cover right there, and she’s Aboriginal, you can’t get any more Australian than that'."

The short version of this story is George went from unknown to becoming the first Indigenous woman on the cover of Vogue Australia, and in her very first professional modelling job. It would be another 17 years before it would happen again: Samantha Harris in 2010.


"It drew a lot of interest and controversy," recalls Pilcher, who edited Vogue from 1989-97. "I was being interviewed by the newspapers and radio – they were all interested. Whether they liked it or not were two different stories; most were positive." The Age saw fit to run 400 words on page three with an image of the historic cover.

Elaine told the newspaper her cover was "good for Aboriginal people. I don't go around promoting myself as Aboriginal, though I do regard myself as one. I just hope people simply take me as the person I am".

In the years since, Vogue Australia, which celebrated its 60th birthday in December, has regularly championed the work of Indigenous artists and designers. This month, part of a global initiative spearheaded by US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Vogue Australia commissioned artist Betty Muffler, an Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara woman from remote South Australia, to create an artwork on the theme of "Hope" called Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country).

A long way from home
For Elaine George, now Elaine Tanaka, 44, being scouted for a fashion magazine was in stark contrast to growing up in a housing commission in Inala, south-west of Brisbane. Elaine's mother is descended from the Arakwal people, near Byron Bay, and her father is Australian with German ancestry.

As a child, Elaine was a tomboy who had short nails and liked sport, and had never even heard of Vogue. "We had no magazines ... our haircuts were done by family members," she recalls. "We weren't allowed make-up, we weren't allowed to wear bodysuits. We had to be very conservative."

The family didn't have much but Elaine saved her pocket money to take her sister, Anita, to Dreamworld that fateful day in 1993. She remembers Finke following the sisters around the park, which made her nervous. "I said to [Anita], 'We may have to report this.' I was about to yell at [Finke]."

After approaching Elaine and assuring her it was not a prank, Finke scrawled her details on a napkin. After hearing about the encounter, Elaine's mother agreed Elaine could go to Good's home for some test shots.

For someone who "didn't know how to look at a camera", Good says Elaine was a natural. "She took direction extremely well and it was very difficult to take a non-useable image of her. [She was] one of my favourite models of all time ... She had no idea of just how gorgeous she was, that made her even more outstanding."

Some time passed after the shoot, then, "out of the blue", Elaine received a call from Good, saying Pilcher wanted to fly them to Sydney to sit for Vogue. "It was a free trip to Sydney," says Elaine. "I’d never been out of the state, never been on a plane."

I wanted to make sure I represented my people in the best way … it was like bringing the rest of Australia on a journey.

Elaine Tanaka (nee George)
Elaine's first experience being on a set, with hair and make-up artists, stylists and lighting "all fussing over me" was a blur. The art director decided to straighten Elaine's naturally curly hair, something she found exciting at the time even though her sisters teased her.


The following day, Elaine returned home and went back to her receptionist's job. Some time after, Grant called to tell her she had the Vogue cover, and not just any cover. Elaine had booked the highly-prized September issue.

Advice from an icon

In contrast with the highly stylised, contoured and airbrushed photos common on magazine covers today, Good's cover shot of Elaine, wearing a white top by Sydney designer Susan Nurmsalu, was refreshingly natural. The coverlines included, "Australia's ten best beaches", "Help! What am I going to wear to work?", and a feature on local talent, which included Elaine alongside iconic label Morrissey Edmiston, and model Emma Balfour.

Elaine wasn't prepared for the attention her cover generated. "I went to the shop to get some milk or something for Mum, and the newsagent ... there was my face on the magazine."

Despite not yet having an agent, the work offers rolled in. Elaine did the celebrity race at the Adelaide Grand Prix, sharing a room with her idol, Cathy Freeman, and swimmer Hayley Lewis. She featured on The Price is Right as a game-show model, and appeared in shoots in Dolly, FHM and New Idea, to name a few.

Fame sat awkwardly for Elaine but it was Freeman who offered some sage advice. "[Cathy said] 'Everybody will be fascinated with you being Aboriginal. This is an opportunity for you to show the Aboriginal side of Australia and how we represent our people'.

Elaine adds: "I wanted to make sure I represented my people in the best way … it was like bringing the rest of Australia on a journey. I had that opportunity to make way for the next young Aboriginal model."

Samantha Harris, who was just three when Elaine's cover hit stands, says that although it was a "little disheartening" that it took so long between Elaine's cover and her own, it was still a massive milestone when she, at age 19, got the surprise gig.

She says Elaine's cover, and to an extent her own, reflected shifting social norms. "Twenty years earlier, that would never have happened. It wouldn't have been a thought in anyone’s mind [to feature an Aboriginal model]."

After moving to Sydney and signing with the Chadwick modelling agency, Elaine went to the US to try her luck. But after a couple of months, she returned to Australia for a job in Cairns. It was here she met her husband and for the second time, a chance meeting changed her life.

'You may look pretty on the outside'

Following the birth of her children, in 1998 and 1999, Elaine did the odd editorial job but modelling slowly faded into the background. Looking back, Elaine would never define her life by what happened in Vogue, although she has come to appreciate its significance.

"Nancy Pilcher took a chance and if Vogue didn't have her, I don't think we [Indigenous models] would have had a Vogue cover for a while. I knew it was risky for her."

For her part, Pilcher dealt with a minority of critics, including those who accused the magazine of lightening Elaine's skin during editing. "We didn't have retouching budgets!" says Pilcher, dismissing any suggestion of image manipulation.

Pilcher says she was willing to take a risk on Elaine because first, she was beautiful, and second, "anything that created interest on a Vogue cover was something you aimed for".

"When you do something like that, it’s a risk. My job was to sell as many magazines as I could. One of my old bosses used to say, 'Nancy, just jump off the bridge ... so I took the chance that she would be successful."

Pilcher says Elaine could have had a stellar modelling career but understood her reasons for stepping away. "She was going to be 'The One" – and all the attention would have been put on her to do interviews, appearances – that’s a lot."

As for Elaine, who returned to her first passion of becoming a child protection officer, everything worked out as it was meant to. "It’s not like I grew up wanting to be a model ... I kind of just fell in to it," she says. "My family’s saying is, 'You may look pretty on the outside but what counts is what’s on the inside.' My children ask, do I ever regret it? No way."

The Sydney Herald

 

[oaklee91]

Like a high school project

 

[Bertrando3]

NOPE! You look at this and you feel sad, tired, and it's soooooo depressing: from her eyes, to the pose, to the gloomy colors : it's so NOT a good cover and even worse choice for september.
Then again these days it's either:
- nepotism with the daughter of so and so
- tokenism with the first woman / man / color / disabled / bla bla bla
- stupid influencer who has bought 38874 K of followers
- a bland person who is a singer / actor / ACTIVIST ahahaahhah or some other s**t.

But no magazine anymore wants to focus on BEAUTY or models because it's not ''trendy'' anymore and apparently it's bad to ''just look good'' you have to also have a sad story and lots of brains to ''impress' readers and editors = lol what an awful era for all of us da**ed !

 

[Deleted member 1957]

One of my favourite things about visiting NY used to be to go through that store with Vogues and other magazines from around the world. Now I dont even look at the magazines at Giant or even the airport and its for good reason. The industry just doesnt give a damn anymore. How on earth would one fail to create a good cover with such a striking model? Also looking through her portfolio its evident that she's still very new to the eindustry and needs more experience to be able to carry a September issue. If they werent more into tokenism than actuak representation they would have researched and found a more experienced Aboriginal model who would have produced a better cover.

 

[Benn98]

..you have to also have a sad story and lots of brains to ''impress' readers and editors...

This made me laugh out loud because I get what you mean, lol.

But the reason why we are here is because society right now prefers substance over the superficiality of the old guard. If you're in a position where you drive culture, you must use it responsibly and be inclusive.

That said, it doesn't mean there's no call for beauty. Otherwise influencers wouldn't be as big as they are.

If they werent more into tokenism than actuak representation they would have researched and found a more experienced Aboriginal model who would have produced a better cover.

Charlee!

 

[Bertrando3]

This made me laugh out loud because I get what you mean, lol.

But the reason why we are here is because society right now prefers substance over the superficiality of the old guard. If you're in a position where you drive culture, you must use it responsibly and be inclusive.

That said, it doesn't mean there's no call for beauty. Otherwise influencers wouldn't be as big as they are.

Charlee!

Totally. To me though this inclusivity era is a lot of crap and BS. I want to explain it from my POV, sorry if I digress a bit in my explanation but stay with me, you'll get my point:

As a mixed raced man or light-skin-brazilian-born-french man or black man or whatever people want to see me as or call me as or refer to me as, I have never ever felt the need to ''feel'' represented in media:
- in the first part of my life living in France, I've been watching japanese and korean tv shows my whole life and never asked why my skin wasn't represented in these shows or if they were racists towards other races or skin colors or tones from other countries.
- I have also been immersed, like every single one of us, in the americanisation of the world, by simply watching countless tv series and movies from the US where the entire cast was white and not a single extra was black or asian or mixed raced and it didn't shock me or made me mad or made me feel any sort of way because I obviously had core family values and enough confidence in myself and my skin and my other life interests, to know that the color or someone skin in a tv show or in life has absolutely nothing to do with who and what they are and the value each human being possess.
- I've been living in Spain now for almost 15 years and in the capital you see very very veryyy few african american people : in schools or in the business centre. It does baffle me that in ''real life'' there aren't more diverse skin tones, but the same could be said about South Korea and Sweden and so on.
- I've been an avid consumer of fashion magazines for 25 years and I have always been excited to see my favorite models but it never made me mad to not see ''more'' black models or ''more'' asian models. Did I want to see more? Sure, yes, because visually speaking it's pleasing to the eye to see other races of models or other skin tones and it's important to get a certain quota so every person who reads a magazine can see themselves but does it have to be mandatory to do so for magazine editors and groups? I don't think so. We should not hire (in fashion or in other spheres of life) someone because of their skin color but because of their skills, likewise for actors in tv series.

Now, granted, many people are racists in the world and I am obviously aware of white supremacy group and all of that and many conservative people would never want to see a black model in an ad or a tv series and so on but does this truly mean that the entire fashion industry is racist?

Now, granted that inclusivity, in theory, could and should be a ''perfect'' world where women are paid equally the same (as they obviously should) where sex genders and preferences and LGBTQ+ people' sex should be overlooked and not taken into consideration for job opportunities (since otherwise it's clear discrimination) and people of different ages and sizes could be doing every single job and every etc. However, sorry to break it to many people, this isn't Barbieland, the reald world is harsh, it's hard, it's no near perfect, not every person can be a flying attendant (because of their height), not everybody can become a firefighter (because of obvious physical aptitudes) and I can go forever. Is it bad? Perhaps, is it fair? No. Is life fair anyways and should be because we want it to? I don't know. Nevertheless of what the majority of people from Gen Z and people who want that ''perfect' pink world where we all love each other and where there shouldn't be any discrimination at any level'' it will never happen. Mankind isn't perfect and it will never be.

Magazines, in theory, could also try to protect us all from that harsh world and could erase the barriers that our world makes us face daily but this isn't a dream, this is our real life and real world with real problems (Wars anyone???). Edward Enningful tried to have this inclusivity /wokeness / we're together whoever we are and everyone can become anything but do you all honestly believe it is possible in today's world with today's mindset ??? Besides magazines are a superficial way to represent the world, I think people who save lives and whose mission is to make the world safer are more important than just featuring the ''token --------- model of the month'' on a cover so people from Gen Z could think ''yes we made it, it's a small step but it will happen one day : our dream of a perfect world''.

 

[YourMonster]

For context, there will be a referendum next month where we will be voting about recognising indigenous Australians in the Australian constitution and implementing an indigenous voice to Parliament so the timing of this cover in particular is very poignant.

 

[Xone]

Instead of trying to make her ¨pose¨ the best would have been to catch her own natural movement and guide her because the result is flat as Miu Miu's ballerinas...why people do half their job?....

 

[blueorchid]

Magazines, in theory, could also try to protect us all from that harsh world and could erase the barriers that our world makes us face daily but this isn't a dream, this is our real life and real world with real problems (Wars anyone???). Edward Enningful tried to have this inclusivity /wokeness / we're together whoever we are and everyone can become anything but do you all honestly believe it is possible in today's world with today's mindset ??? Besides magazines are a superficial way to represent the world, I think people who save lives and whose mission is to make the world safer are more important than just featuring the ''token --------- model of the month'' on a cover so people from Gen Z could think ''yes we made it, it's a small step but it will happen one day : our dream of a perfect world''.

The idea of magazines, commercial products, trying to "protect us" from the harsh world is just as idiotic as most of the ~*~*~WoKe~*~* stuff people on this very forum complain about. Yikes.

 

[Bertrando3]

The idea of magazines, commercial products, trying to "protect us" from the harsh world is just as idiotic as most of the ~*~*~WoKe~*~* stuff people on this very forum complain about. Yikes.

Absolutely, I agree, hence when I said ''could try'' but not ''should try''.
In fact that's what many magazines, like Vogue, think their new core mission is all about nowadays.
Vogue tries to be National Geographic or Time. Magazines are products which showcase a vision and sell products to readers.

 

[avonlea002]

Everything about it screams amateur

 

[NYLA22]

NOPE! You look at this and you feel sad, tired, and it's soooooo depressing: from her eyes, to the pose, to the gloomy colors : it's so NOT a good cover and even worse choice for september.
Then again these days it's either:
- nepotism with the daughter of so and so
- tokenism with the first woman / man / color / disabled / bla bla bla
- stupid influencer who has bought 38874 K of followers
- a bland person who is a singer / actor / ACTIVIST ahahaahhah or some other s**t.

But no magazine anymore wants to focus on BEAUTY or models because it's not ''trendy'' anymore and apparently it's bad to ''just look good'' you have to also have a sad story and lots of brains to ''impress' readers and editors = lol what an awful era for all of us da**ed !

Exactly. Elegance, glamour, beauty is out of style. It makes reading magazines a tedious and -- frankly -- boring experience. I have a subscription to The NY Times, and I can read all about the world's woes in there. It's not what I want from Vogue.

 

[Simera]

Why is the photo so dark? Like she posed with a light behind her, not in front. Because I see the light on her shoulder, just not her face or the rest of her body. Just the shoulder.