Latest Vogue cover

[AndrewFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Apologies for Daily Mail link. Also I wasn't sure if I should post it here on on the Black Mumsnetters topic, so apologies if this is the wrong place.

I saw this and wondered what the general view is: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10402325/This-one-worst-Vogue-covers-Issue-featuring-nine-black-women-slammed-fans.html

As a white woman I personally think that it is great that Vogue have done this cover but it's a shame that the models are lit so poorly, and made to look so invisible. I thought it was about celebrating their beauty but they've managed to hide it. Interested to hear general views but particularly from black mumsnetters.

The thing about vogue though is: it's iconic. They're trying to make those women look iconic and make the image stick in peoples minds.

Why should these women, just because they're black need to be shown with natural Afro hair or dressed in bright colours or whatever?

It's high fashion- it's not about looking natural or normal. On a recent cover with lady Gaga I literally didn't recognise her and had to do a double take. - she didn't look anything like herself.

I think the cover is attention-grabbing, which is deliberate.
My first reaction was "wow!" In a good way.

It is a beautiful cover.

The Vogue link, I refuse to click on the DM.

It's a beautiful cover.

www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/african-models-british-vogue-february-2022

My subscription copy arrived today, mine has a single model on the covet - Adut Akech- and she looks incredible. Her skin is literally gleaming like glass

Just beautiful

I thought it was weird , you can't see their faces but I'm guessing that's the point as they are dressed in black . Just not sure I get it .

Racism was built into photography from the start. www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/lens/sarah-lewis-racial-bias-photography.html

It's very interesting and a great exemplar of wider issues. 'White as standard', ignoring Black people's needs, standards of beauty and so on.

I don't know how deliberate Vogue have been but I suspect a lot depends on the photographer.

i didn't like it as it was too dimly lit so you can't make out features on a couple of the models. Also hated the nylon-y looking wigs

Great idea but terrible photo

It sounds like this is the photographer's style.

It's a very dramatic cover and hopefully the models get lots of bookings as a result.

I thought the same. Vogue have a beautiful video on their Instagram page, showing the women getting ready and you can see their gorgeous, individual features. I feel that's totally hidden on that cover.

Many women within the black community on Twitter have similarly voiced their dissatisfaction with the image used.

Blimey its awful. I know my eyesight is terrible but I can't actually see these beautiful young women.

It could have been groundbreaking but it just looks like a badly exposed photograph.

@cherryonthecakes

It sounds like this is the photographer's style.

It's a very dramatic cover and hopefully the models get lots of bookings as a result.

But it's not just dimly lit. They've actually changed the colour of the skin on the models.

I like the idea but the lighting is shocking and really hides the beauty of the models.

It seems like the photographer is trying a bit too hard to be 'arty'. It's a shame because it could have been so much more striking.

I thought the models looked beautiful

They've made them look very lifeless. Thought good photography was supposed to capture the vitality of a model. They look like they're being lined up to be shot. Grim.
It seems like a photo that is designed to shock. What's the narrative?

I was looking at a copy of this today.

I think it is a great idea to have several black women on the cover but the picture is just awful.

I want to see the models. But this is so dimly lit that you simply can't make out these women's features.

Instead of the celebration of individuality that it should be, it just looks lifeless and like the women have been erased and blended into the background.

I think it is trying to hard. Also the point is a magazine cover has to make people want to buy the product.

I ended up not buying my copy because I just found it so uninspiring and depressing looking.

I don't love it but it's interesting.

I wonder if it was on a different contrasting background if it would look better. The sludgy brown is pretty awful.

Their expressions look like that of a group of teenage boys asked to pose for a photo for the school newsletter.

*those

I don’t like it but it’s interesting and makes me curious.

It’s vogue, it’s not usually tits n teeth.

Very dim photo far to dark you can’t really see the women it’s just so dimly lit.

I just zoomed in on the middle model in the bottom row to discover she is someone's hands. Zooming in I can see these women are beautiful and obviously incredibly photogenic. I find the picture difficult which is a shame. I'm curious to read others opinions, thanks for the thread.

“These girls,” he continues, “are redefining what it is to be a fashion model.”

Hmmm, not too sure what this means. They already are fashion models, in Africa I think from the first part of the blurb. I guess dark skinned black models are rarer in the UK. But makes a great change from the androgynous models who dominate British catwalks.