so vogue made a boo-boo and posted its may cover on the subscription page, and lo and behold, the cover has models on it. i know, it’s blasphemy to have models on the cover of a fashion magazine, but vogue isn’t just any fashion magazine. it’s a beacon for all those people out there aspiring to something better. wait, that’s a line from the devil wears prada…
anywoo, this said cover, in all it’s scrunched glory, has caused quite an uproar in the model lover community, mainly for who’s on it and who isn’t. the debate has jumped from a thread on thefashionspot (which is now 17 pages long without a clear shot of the cover), to frillr to coacd and fashionista.com. the bottom line is that no matter who you think deserves to be on the cover, this is vogue and anyone who hasn’t been touched by the golden arm of anna (or andré leon talley) would be expelled. so who are the cover girls? doutzen kroes (who it was already announced would be on the cover), lily donaldson, sasha pivovarova, caroline trentini, hilary rhoda, coco rocha, agyness deyn, raquel zimmerman, jessica stam, and chanel iman.
let’s ponder that list more closely. there hasn’t been a vogue in two years without an editorial featuring caroline trentini, so she’s a shoo-in. agyness deyn was recently interviewed and featured, and the writer called her the “junior natalia vodianova.” and since anna loves natalia, agyness is in. coco, stam, sasha, raquel and lily have been featured in eds over the last year or so. hilary was singled out by andré as having “singular style,” was recently awarded an esteé lauder contract, and has been called the next brooke shields or ali mcgraw. in.
so that leaves little chanel, named after two great fashion icons. runnerup in the ford supermodel of the world competition in 2006, she’s only been walking for two full seasons, yet she walked for some of the biggest names in fashion: marc, stella, hermés, proenza schouler. she would have done more shows if she could have worked on sunday in paris (you have to be sixteen, which she turned recently). plus she racked up the s/s bottega veneta campaign and will surely have more come f/w. but all i keep hearing is how chanel “doesn’t deserve to be on the cover,” even though she’s on the foldout. first off, i can count on two hands how many black models have appeared on vogue (naomi, beverly johnson, sheila johnson, shari belafonte, kiara, peggy dillard, louise vyent, kara young, karen alexander and liya kebede). and secondly, like i said earlier, she’s already been touched by the hand of anna. not every model gets a four page writeup in teen vogue (of which she is the executive editor)…the only other model to have that treatment? gemma ward, who appeared on the last mega model cover in september 2004. so i say go chanel! congrats on your achievement…here’s to many more covers (or at least editorials) in your future.
pics from style.com and karina at thefashionspot
