Vogue Germany September 2020 : Nicole Atieno by Stefan Heinrichs

[Piet Retief]

 

[Benn98]

Happy for Nicole, it's a pretty simple cover and at least it looks seasonally appropriate. But why the flowers? Seems so unnecessary to cover her face, why not lower it or something. Nicole is known for her personal style so they've missed on an opportunity to capitalise on that to actually show her face.

Pity that Arp had to wait for people to protest until she gave Nicole a cover, who was was one of UK Harper's Women of the Year in 2018.

 

[MON]

What's the point of giving someone a cover if you'll actively cover their face? You don't have to be a Harvard graduate to realize how st*pid that is.

The only thing I hope for after seeing this is the hope for a better VG EIC. Vogue Germany has been lost for years now. Time for a grand shake up.

Does Arp think she's being hip/trendy with these covers? At this point, everything's a joke. I've had it.

 

[mikel]

I've had it.

Officially!

It’s not a bad cover, even if it feels a bit like something Vogue Nippon would’ve done 11 years ago. But it doesn’t feel right that half her face is covered. Even if it’s with flowers.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

How DARE they do this BS!!! Shame on them!!

 

[San Marco]

The last time I saw Hope for Vogue Germany was, when Daniel Jackson was shooting the covers in 2018.

Ever since it’s a downfall.

The type of flowers look like they were picked quickly in the Biergarten nearby, when the editor realized that flowers represent Hope, keeping in mind the US Vogue Rose issue.

 

[KoV]

There’s something off about the lighting or contrast. You can’t see the texture of what Nicole is wearing, and the large bright text and bright white background are overwhelming the dimly lit image. And the flowers, a concept I like, obscure a little too much of Nicole’s face. This is perhaps an unfair reading - given their consistent recent history of bad covers it could just be good old-fashioned ineptitude - but it almost feels like they gave a cover to a Black woman to escape criticism, but then did everything they could to obscure her. Hopefully the editorial photos are better.

 

[Srdjan]

I don't think the cover is that tragic. It's cute overall.

 

[Benn98]

..... but it almost feels like they gave a cover to a Black woman to escape criticism, but then did everything they could to obscure her.

That's what I get from it as well. I'll give her a cover, but begrudgingly.
They'd have been better off not doing it at all instead of this.

 

[MagFan]

She gave september cover to Adut last year
More shocking to see new photographer's name. Is she ok? She was one of those lazy editors who booked Sgura and Murenu every time

 

[LustforFashion]

Finally she’s on the cover of German Vogue.

 

[Benn98]

She gave september cover to Adut last year.

But shared, with Rebecca Leigh Longendyke.

 

[Mercury6181]

I am happy for Nicole and I generally like the simplistic green color scheme and I think the flowers are a good prop, they add some color and excitement to the image. However, I can’t say I love the cover or even like it a lot because the flowers blocking her face just ruins it for me. This would be a great editorial image but not for a main cover. If she moved the flowers to the side of her face or down a bit then the cover a
would be 100x better

 

[liberty33r1b]

German Vogue is just tragic these days

 

[aracic]

If this is our ''one hope'', then God help us all. What's this peekaboo situation? It's borderline disturbing.
I'm also wondering what they're trying to sell here. Are we selling flowers now? Cause the last thing I noticed was the jacket - no wonder, cause that big ol' green text is doing a very good job in covering it almost entirely. That is, of course, if your eye manages to wander from those flowers in the first place. What's the point? What was Stefan Heinrichs thinking when he gave Nicole instructions to do this for the cover? What were the editors thinking when they decided that this is cover appropriate? What were they all thinking?? I'm genuinely curious.

Then again, I shouldn't be surprised at all. Just remember that ungodly January cover with the neon squirt... thing. They made it obvious from the start that 2020 would be a rough year for Vogue Germany. Shame, really. They used to be quite good once...

 

[Urban Stylin]

Interesting cover love the colours but I wish she was more visible

 

[GivenchyHomme]

Here's the actual conversation between Nicole and Vogue Germany:

"We have good news! You're going to be on the cover, but we're gonna block your beautiful face with flowers. Oh, and we're going to cover your body with a big itchy coat. I hope you're okay with that!"

 

[Srdjan]

I do agree that it is always fair to have the model's face clearly shown on a magazine cover, but people are seeing bad intentions in everything now. German Vogue already had the face of that artist obscurely shown on the January cover.

I really doubt Arp was sitting there in her (home) office laughing and thinking ''I screwed the black girl and hid her face behind the flowers''. If they are racists, they are racists on a much higher, corporate level.

 

[Benn98]

I really doubt Arp was sitting there in her (home) office laughing and thinking ''I screwed the black girl and hid her face behind the flowers''. If they are racists, they are racists on a much higher, corporate level.

And yet at the same time, it's her duty as EIC of Vogue to put some thought into covers before she publishes it. Especially if she wants to make a statement, especially in the current climate, and especially with her magazine's track record with black people in mind. Not to even mention her country's history with black people *cough* the ongoing spat with the Namibians *cough*. You want to talk acceptance and institutional racism (as per the IG blurb) yet your cover features a black model's face obscured with flowers? Tone-deaf is putting it lightly.

Once again, as with UK Vogue, I'm just of the opinion that Vogue should stay out of social issues because they don't do it any justice. Their entire structure is not set up to deal with it nor are the people putting the magazine together.

 

[FashionMuseDior]

Yeah I don't think it's a good idea to cover her face like that, it's low key problematic