The newest cover of British Vogue has gone viral for featuring nine dark-skinned models of African models its cover.
The cover is a nod to Peter Lindbergh’s “Supers” Vogue cover from 1990. The edition was hailed for introducing. The fashion world has been notoriously white-dominated —the new cover signifies the beginning of a new, more diverse era.
The future is Black.
The cover features Nyagua Ruea and Adut Akech alongside Anok Yai, Majesty Amare, Amar Akway, Janet Jumbo, Maty Fall, Abény Nhial and Akon Changkou.
“No longer just one or two dark-skinned girls mingled backstage, but a host of top models took a meaningful, substantial and equal place among the most successful women working in fashion today. It means so much to me to see it,” British Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful, said.
The cover is for the February 2022 issue, which is also U.S. Black History Month (Black History Month n the UK is in October.)
“I know there’s so many little Black girls who will look at this cover and feel something. I hope it makes you feel seen, heard and happy as it did me,” wrote Ruea.
Akech says the industry has come a long way since she first started modeling. She says she was often the only Black, dark-skinned model.
“I go to a show and there are girls from my country, girls from Africa who look like me. So yes, there has been a huge change. It has gone from me being the only one at a show to 15 or 20 of us,” she shared.” I’m just so happy that we are finally at this place. I was tired of always feeling out of place and feeling like an outcast.”
Enninful’s agenda couldn’t be more transparent.
“You know, fashion tends to follow waves. We’ve had the Brazilian wave. We had the Dutch wave, the Russian wave, the Eastern European wave… And while, in the last decade, the Black model has come to prominence, I love that we are finally giving more space to African beauty,” he says in the cover story.
