Vogue Shares Another Cover with Kamala Harris But Will It Save the Day?

After worldwide criticism of its cover showing America's VP Elect Kamala Harris against satin curtains, Vogue Magazine put out an instagram post with two covers featuring Kamala Harris. This was their official post on Instagram. The other cover showcases America's first female Vice President elect looking straight up, powerful and in control compared with the pink cover which was more casual. This Instagram post arrived after 12 hours of social media rage over Vogue's pink cover.

A number of social media fans argued that the first woman of colour, an African American and Asian American to hold the office of the vice president is worthy of a more creditable cover showcasing her as powerful and purposeful rather than the allegedly lost look the pink cover portrayed.

Here's how the two covers look and what the official Vogue caption said.

“I always say this: I may be the first to do many things—make sure I’m not the last,” says Vice President-elect @kamalaharris. “I was thinking of my baby nieces, who will only know one world where a woman is vice president of the United States, a woman of color, a Black woman, a woman with parents who were born outside of the United States.”

These covers are meant for the magazine's February print cover. With Vogue showing Kamala Harris standing against a messy, unkempt background and too much lighting, Twitter exploded over why Harris, America's top female politician should be showcase in such a clumsy way. Now over the last few hours, Vogue posted its covers 'officially' on Instagram which includes the previous pink satin curtain one and the new one.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine)

Some have claimed Vogue's use of the pink colours were inspired by her Howard University sorority colours but the over all look was widely criticised for its too bright lighting.

Was the criticism about fashion? No. It was about projection of America's first female to-be vice president. Social media critics asked could Harris have been projected in a way people would feel inspired? Feminist Leta Fong made an important point.

This isn’t just a fashion issue. Vogue is undermining the authority of our first Black and Asian American woman Vice President at a time when millions of Republicans don’t recognize her as legitimate. https://t.co/9GPKFjSAuX

— Dr. Leta Hong Fincher 洪博士 (@LetaHong) January 10, 2021

Questions To Raise

• We will never know whether Vogue meant to put a second cover in the first place.
• Was Vogue forced to put another cover after the first one led to a social media explosion over its overall pink ensemble with Harris?
• Was the first cover a publicity gimmick? Cause the sneak peak appears to have gone wrong.
• Should politicians be portrayed in beauty magazines and made to look feminine? Are we okay with that? There is a raging debate on that issue. Read more about it here.

While speaking to the Guardian, Wintour said that the Vogue team's approach to working with Kamala Harris and her team was to "capture her as a leader and as a person, and as she was most comfortable". She also said that both the looks on the two covers were selected by Vice-President-elect and her team and that Harris has styled and dressed herself for the shoot. Over the last many decades American female politicians have been on many magazine covers, here's a look at those and the controversies it created.