Tag: Covers

Wearing a giant floral headdress perched atop her head, Beyoncé Knowles did something remarkable with her September 2018 Vogue cover and the words she said inside the magazine. In addition to choosing to be photographed by the first African-American to shoot a Vogue cover in 126 years (!), the entertainer and entrepreneur dispelled a fable that had long dogged the fashion industry as some absolute truth: Put a black woman on the cover of a fashion magazine and the issue will languish at newsstands, especially when it’s the all-important September issue.

“When I first started, 21 years ago, I was told that it was hard for me to get onto covers of magazines because Black people did not sell,” Beyoncé wrote. “Clearly that has been proven a myth. Not only is an African-American on the cover of the most important month for Vogue, this is the first ever Vogue cover shot by an African-American photographer.”

Other comments she made inside the magazine went viral for the right reasons—her thoughts on body image, childbirth, and a relatable public acknowledgment of her FUPA—but it was the above message about representation that was the most relevant, given the unprecedented number of other September 2018 issues that also feature black women.

There was, of course, Rihanna’s British Vogue cover, which made headlines last week for those pencil-thin Marlene Dietrich-inspired eyebrows, yes, but also for the fact that the singer was, somehow, the first-ever black woman to cover the magazine’s September issue.

And like a domino effect, more followed: Zendaya for Marie Claire, Lupita Nyong’o for Porter, Tracee Ellis Ross for ELLE Canada, models Slick Woods for ELLE UK and Adowah Aboah and Naomi Campbell for LOVE, Issa Rae for Ebony, Oprah Winfrey for her own publication O, Aja Naomi King for Shape, and of course Tiffany Haddish swanning across Glamour’s own September cover.

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 concept 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.”

Ahead, see all 11 September 2018 covers featuring black women.

Marjon Carlos is a New York-based editor and writer.

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