Stars Reveal More Than Just Style in September's Issue of Black Fashion Covers
Photo Credit: Shape Magazine
Aja Naomi King for Shape
The How to Get Away With Murder star fronted Shape's September 2018 edition, which is dubbed the "Women Who Run the World" issue.
Photo Credit: Shape Magazine
Aja Naomi King for Shape
The How to Get Away With Murder star fronted Shape's September 2018 edition, which is dubbed the "Women Who Run the World" issue.
Zendaya for Marie Claire Zendaya participated in a no-holds-barred interview with activist Janet Mock for Marie Claire's September cover.
She discussed how she regularly auditions for roles that are written for white women: "There was a lot of not getting the audition that I wanted and often going out for parts that weren't written for a girl who looks like me and just saying, 'Hey, see me anyway,' until the right thing stuck.
Anytime it says they're looking for white girls, send me out [to the audition]. Let me get in the room. Maybe they'll change their minds."
Lupita Nyong'o for Porter
Lupita Nyong'o appeared on the cover of Net-a-Porter's fashion magazine, Porter. “Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me, as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are," she wrote on Instagram.
"Slay all day. Another breathtaking cover featuring @Lupita_Nyongo for Porter magazine," a Twitter user said
Photo Credit: Mario Sorrenti for Porter
Adwoa Aboah and Naomi Campbell for Love Adwoa Aboah and Naomi Campbell costarred on the September cover of Lovemagazine.
Rihanna also had a history-making turn on a Vogue cover—this time for British* Vogue*'s September cover.
Photo Credit: Thomas Whiteside for Marie Claire
Photo Credit: Brian BowenSmith for Ebony
Issa Rae for Ebony Issa Rae starred on the cover of Ebony's September fashion issue.
Tracee Ellis Ross for ELLE Canada
Tracee Ellis Ross was thrilled to cover Elle Canada's September issue. "OMG ~ so excited to be the september 2018 @ellecanada cover girl!" she wrote on Instagram.
Tiffany Haddish covered the September issue of Glamour. In her interview she discussed another area where diverse representation is lacking: film.
“I just think that a person is ignorant when they say, ‘Oh, you’re being a stereotypical black person.’ Well, what’s that? Explain that to me, because that’s an actual person, and everybody deserves to see themselves onscreen,” she said. “I feel like all facets deserve to be seen—from the doctors to the janitors to the baby mamas to the side chicks.”
Haddish's cover was also well-received online: "Here to bless your timeline with Tiffany Haddish's perfect cover shoot," an editor wrote.
Issa Rae for Ebony Issa Rae starred on the cover of Ebony's September fashion issue.
The title described the Insecure star as "the reigning impresario and vanguard of authentic black voices."
Tracee Ellis Ross for ELLE Canada
Tracee Ellis Ross was thrilled to cover Elle Canada's September issue. "OMG ~ so excited to be the september 2018 @ellecanada cover girl!" she wrote on Instagram.
Photo Credit: Nino Munoz for Elle Canada
Tiffany Haddish for Glamour
Tiffany Haddish for Glamour
Tiffany Haddish covered the September issue of Glamour. In her interview she discussed another area where diverse representation is lacking: film.
“I just think that a person is ignorant when they say, ‘Oh, you’re being a stereotypical black person.’ Well, what’s that? Explain that to me, because that’s an actual person, and everybody deserves to see themselves onscreen,” she said. “I feel like all facets deserve to be seen—from the doctors to the janitors to the baby mamas to the side chicks.”
Haddish's cover was also well-received online: "Here to bless your timeline with Tiffany Haddish's perfect cover shoot," an editor wrote.
Photo Credit: Billy Kidd for Clamour
Photo Credit: Paula Kudak for Elle UK.
Slick Woods for U.K. Elle
Slick Woods for U.K. Elle
Model Slick Woods covered British Elle's September issue, centered around "fashion of the future."
She addressed stereotypes that women of color—particularly black women—face, and why she's forthcoming about her mental health issues, in an earlier story for Glamour: " For black women, we get this label of being 'angry black women' a lot, [so] I wanted to shed a little more light on it," she says. "I'm aggressive and I might be a little violent. I might cry.
I might yell at you, because I care. I care a lot, and I want to get my point across. And I think that's what I have brought to the fashion industry: a beautiful struggle."
Lupita Nyong'o for Porter
Lupita Nyong'o appeared on the cover of Net-a-Porter's fashion magazine, Porter. “Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me, as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are," she wrote on Instagram.
"Slay all day. Another breathtaking cover featuring @Lupita_Nyongo for Porter magazine," a Twitter user said
Photo Credit: Mario Sorrenti for Porter
Adwoa Aboah and Naomi Campbell for Love Adwoa Aboah and Naomi Campbell costarred on the September cover of Lovemagazine.
The two models are part of the title's tenth anniversary celebration—and though both models are regulars on the Fashion Week runway, this is their first joint cover for a major magazine.
Photo Credit: Mart Alas & Marcus Piggot
Rihanna for British Vogue
Oprah for O:
The Oprah Magazine Oprah starred on the September cover of O:
The Oprah Magazine—and though, technically, she appears on the front of every issue, this is a necessary addition to the lineup. This look!
Photo Credit: Ruven Afanador for O.
Photo Credit: Nick Knight for British Vogue
Rihanna also had a history-making turn on a Vogue cover—this time for British* Vogue*'s September cover.
In the story she got real with readers about her body type, saying that her "thicc" figure "comes with a price.
" Both her candor in the interview and her instantly legendary editorial shoot earned readers' praise—though, fans of both Rihanna and Beyoncé were quick to point out that both wore floral headpiecesfor their cover photographs. Overall, the comparisons came from a positive place: "Beyoncé and Rihanna are Vogue's September issue covers stars at the same damn time," one Twitter user said.
"Beyoncé gave them their first black photographer in 126 yrs. Rihanna is the first black woman to front British Vogue's Sept issue. Black women did THAT
Photo Credit: Tyler Mitchell for Vogue.
Beyoncé for Vogue
Beyoncé appeared on the September 2018 cover of U.S. Vogue in a historic moment for the title: It was the first cover to be photographed by an African American artist, Tyler Mitchell.
"Until there is a mosaic of perspectives coming from different ethnicities behind the lens, we will continue to have a narrow approach and view of what the world actually looks like," Beyoncé said. "That is why I wanted to work with this brilliant 23-year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell."
Online, readers heralded the cover as a significant step forward for Vogue."Did anyone else cry reading Beyoncé’s Vogue cover story?" one Twitter userwrote. "Black women have just won the entire month of September with these cover spreads," another said. —Halie Lesavage
The succession of black female cover stars swiftly prompted an influx of social media joy, with a grid of each magazine circulating voraciously across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Situated side-by-side, these stars’ influence was on display, showcasing something more than obvious beauty and undeniable cool: marketability. Each cover felt like a lodestar for an industry that has an uncomfortably long track record of being inspired by trends black women start but rarely get credit for.
Still, inclusive covers alone don’t move magazine sales along—readers do. And according to a Nielsen 2017 study, black females are among media’s most voracious, savvy, and loyal consumers, and remain dedicated fans to physical magazines, even in a fast-changing media landscape. Nielsen estimates that black female consumer preference could help “drive total black spending power toward a record $1.5 trillion by 2021,” shifting us into superpowers and cultural arbiters, which could be why the publishing world has finally focused its lens on the faces and stories of black influencers.
And while this shift in power and visibility is exciting, it also comes at a time when black female identity is at its most vulnerable. The unconscionable death of Nia Wilson last month and the glaring pay inequity black women face seem to suggest that as we continue to push culture along, we still remain uninsured by society at large. It's hard not to wonder what it means then to tout black women as ideals of luxury, influence, and beauty, but not carve out enough avenues to protect us from gross violence and poverty.
Which is why the media—from cover stars to mastheads to creatives who conceive and produce content—becomes a significant tool to bring these unsettling and pervasive inequities to the forefront.
For all the strides we’ve made in diversifying newsrooms and narratives, fashion still has some work to do as far as telling black stories and spotlighting women of color. But we’re getting there: In August 2017 Fashionista reported that only three U.S. titles featured women of color on their September covers. This year we're at 11 (at press time), meaning that number has almost quadrupled.
Beyoncé really said it best in Vogue: “If people in powerful positions continue to hire and cast only people who look like them, sound like them, come from the same neighborhoods they grew up in, they will never have a greater understanding of experiences different from their own. They will hire the same models, curate the same art, cast the same actors over and over again, and we will all lose.”
Beyoncé appeared on the September 2018 cover of U.S. Vogue in a historic moment for the title: It was the first cover to be photographed by an African American artist, Tyler Mitchell.
"Until there is a mosaic of perspectives coming from different ethnicities behind the lens, we will continue to have a narrow approach and view of what the world actually looks like," Beyoncé said. "That is why I wanted to work with this brilliant 23-year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell."
Online, readers heralded the cover as a significant step forward for Vogue."Did anyone else cry reading Beyoncé’s Vogue cover story?" one Twitter userwrote. "Black women have just won the entire month of September with these cover spreads," another said. —Halie Lesavage
The succession of black female cover stars swiftly prompted an influx of social media joy, with a grid of each magazine circulating voraciously across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Situated side-by-side, these stars’ influence was on display, showcasing something more than obvious beauty and undeniable cool: marketability. Each cover felt like a lodestar for an industry that has an uncomfortably long track record of being inspired by trends black women start but rarely get credit for.
Still, inclusive covers alone don’t move magazine sales along—readers do. And according to a Nielsen 2017 study, black females are among media’s most voracious, savvy, and loyal consumers, and remain dedicated fans to physical magazines, even in a fast-changing media landscape. Nielsen estimates that black female consumer preference could help “drive total black spending power toward a record $1.5 trillion by 2021,” shifting us into superpowers and cultural arbiters, which could be why the publishing world has finally focused its lens on the faces and stories of black influencers.
And while this shift in power and visibility is exciting, it also comes at a time when black female identity is at its most vulnerable. The unconscionable death of Nia Wilson last month and the glaring pay inequity black women face seem to suggest that as we continue to push culture along, we still remain uninsured by society at large. It's hard not to wonder what it means then to tout black women as ideals of luxury, influence, and beauty, but not carve out enough avenues to protect us from gross violence and poverty.
Which is why the media—from cover stars to mastheads to creatives who conceive and produce content—becomes a significant tool to bring these unsettling and pervasive inequities to the forefront.
For all the strides we’ve made in diversifying newsrooms and narratives, fashion still has some work to do as far as telling black stories and spotlighting women of color. But we’re getting there: In August 2017 Fashionista reported that only three U.S. titles featured women of color on their September covers. This year we're at 11 (at press time), meaning that number has almost quadrupled.
Beyoncé really said it best in Vogue: “If people in powerful positions continue to hire and cast only people who look like them, sound like them, come from the same neighborhoods they grew up in, they will never have a greater understanding of experiences different from their own. They will hire the same models, curate the same art, cast the same actors over and over again, and we will all lose.”
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