VOGUE FACED BACKLASH OVER KAMALA HARRIS COVER
Vogue magazine faced major backlash for publishing a lusterless cover featuring Madam Vice President Kamala Harris and will issue a new limited edition. Kamala Harris became the first minority woman to be sworn in as vice president of the United States at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 2o, 2021.
Vogue’s February cover was supposed to be a celebration of Harris’ historical achievement, but it became an internet terror. The internet was not impressed with how the Harris was styled for the cover of the print edition. Fans had a lot to say about the casual cover photo for such an accomplished woman, with Harris in sneakers and standing in front of a disorderly background.
The digital edition features Vice President Harris in a perfectly tailored powder blue suit from the Michael Kors Collection, the Vice President is dressed much more casually in the print cover, styled in a black Donald Deal blazer paired with black denim and Converse sneakers.
Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris is our February cover star!
Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU pic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) January 10, 2021
Notably, the digital and print covers were both shot by Tyler Mitchell, a Black photographer who made history as the first African American to shoot a Vogue cover when he photographed Beyonce for the September 2018 issue.
Tyler Mitchell shot Beyoncé’s Vogue cover because Beyoncé told Vogue that a black person was shooting her cover. That’s all I got to say.
— Lacey Duke (@laceyduke) July 11, 2020
After being dragged on the internet, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour spoke up. “Obviously we have heard and understood the reaction to the print cover, and I just want to reiterate that it was absolutely not our intention to, in any way, diminish the importance of the vice president-elect’s incredible victory,” the statement read.
Harris’ team came forward to make it known that her perferred cover option is the debut cover of the digital issue, the more favorable cover option by many.
As a result, Vogue informed its 30 million Instagram followers that the magazine will provide limited edition print copies of the Vice President’s digital cover in an effort to quiet down those who are unhappy with the print cover.
