Confession: since I’ve never heard Jourdan Dunn speak, I always assumed she was an American model. But she’s not! She’s British. And this is her first-ever solo British Vogue cover. It’s also the first time a black model has covered British Vogue in TWELVE YEARS. Can you even believe that?! British Vogue is famous for putting Kate Moss on their cover every year (sometimes twice a year), but they haven’t managed to put Naomi Campbell on the cover in more than a decade? Naomi’s last British Vogue cover was August 2002. For real.
Obviously, British Vogue is being praised and criticized in the same breath. People are happy that Dunn – who is one of the more major models these days – finally got a solo Vogue cover in her home country. People are also happy that British Vogue finally broke their all-white-model cycle and put a black model on the cover. But Dunn’s cover has also brought to light the issue of the fashion industry’s incidental racism and that fact that the biggest fashion publication in the UK had not had a black model on a solo cover in twelve years.
Note: Dunn did appear on the November 2008 cover of British Vogue, but it was a joint cover with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Eden Clark. And British Vogue has had covers with Beyonce and Rihanna in the past five years, but they’re entertainers, not models. Jourdan Dunn shouldn’t be compared to Rihanna and Beyonce, she should be compared to Cara Delevingne, Georgia May Jagger, Gisele and her model contemporaries, all of whom are regularly featured on international Vogue covers.
So, is this a step in the right direction? Or is it just a reminder of how far the fashion industry has to go?
PS… Jourdan and Naomi Campbell are also the faces of the new Burberry campaign. Good timing! Burberry just released some of their new ads yesterday.
Photos courtesy of Burberry, Vogue UK.
That cover is very ‘Good Housekeeping’. I’ve always find British Vogue further behind its international counterpoints, more so than American Vogue. Which is kind of curious but not sadly.
Its more because Brits do personal style, rather than splashing the cash on designers in the desperate hope to be relevant. But if print magazines are still your thing…
I find it to be much more elegant than the horrible US Vogue. Anything is better than that mess.
I like how Burberry is pairing up and coming models with, ahem, more established ones. But why don’t they put Naomi and Jourdan in classic trenches, why do they have them in “funky” gear???
Maybe it’s because some of the colors “pop” against darker skin. I know that’s my favorite part about wearing bright colors.
I hate the clothes that they are in. They (the clothes) look tacky. Burberry is known for producing “classic” styles and tailoring, so it’s interesting that when they veered from that that it coincided with them using models of color.
Really? I had the opposite reaction. I usually find Burberry so boring but I LOVE these colors.
That turquoise trench is to die for.
I’m not a huge fan of “classic” though.
@Renee – the denim look is fug, but the colorful trenches are gorgeous!
These are the trenches from the spring/summer collection so they are promoting them. But they are also wearing the classic trench http://www.abeautyfeature.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/o-BURBERRY-570.jpg .
There’s no racism in everything.
The colorful ones are from the Burberry Prorsum line which is more funky than the classic and conservative Burberry line.
I love the colourful trenches! But those denim jackers are le fug.
I am glad Dunn has a cover, she’s not my favorite model around, but it’s a great accomplishment for her career. I want to see more diversity in the fashion industry, and I’m not just talking about putting a black model on the cover of a magazine once in a while, I’m talking about models from all races with different features, hair type, I want the fashion industry to become such that people aren’t even surprised when there is a non-white model gracing the covers of its magazine or strutting its catwalks.
+100000000
Agreed!
Yay for Jourdan!!
So its 2022 for a cover, for the next successful black model then???
This is exactly why I cant celebrate over this.
The fashion & entertainment industry like to toy with us. Give us a Sydney Poitier and then make us wait 4 decades for a Denzel. Give us a Naomi and then sit around for a decade or two before they can be bothered.
I just rewatched the film Set It Off recently and and couldnt help thinking that all the people who thought it was ushering a new era in te depiction of black women in Hollywood must be so very very disappointed. So temper your hopes and optimism. In fact just pack them in bubble wrap, you wont need them again for another 10 years.
Yes, after Kate Moss does another 10 covers. Ugh.
What’s new in the fashion world anyway.
Its a beautiful cover, She’s a beautiful model. But I doubt this will become more frequent. I doubt it.
As frustrating as it might be, I have to agree with your statement. There are a lot of talks about diversity, lengthy blog posts, this, that, but nothing truly revolutionary ever happens. The fashion industry has a habit of favoring one or two non-white models per generation, but it’s an exception not a normality.
The late 80s and most of the 90s were a great era for non white AND unconventional looking models, and older models. And unconventional presentation was acceptable.
Everyone from Devon Aoki and Irina Panteava to Beverly Peele, Nadege du Bospertu, Yasmeen Ghauri, Noemi lenoir, Alek Wek, Kira Kabuguru, Jennie Shimizu, Kristen McMennemy, Eve Salvail, Kate Moss – google George Micheal’s video for ‘too Funky’ to see some of these beautiful women at the top of their game in the 90s.
Even the supermodels, apart from the quartet of Noami, Christy, Cindy and Linda weren’t conventionally good looking. They had a quirk to them that made them all the more beautiful. I’d go as far as saying Claudia schiffer is the most conventional looking supermodel of this period.
In many ways, and the source of Iman’s ire, fashion has completely whited (yes, I know this isn’t a word) out. That process began in the late 90s and brings us to where we are today.
Ps: did you know that Yves Saint Laurent preferred to use black and Asian models for his catwalk presentations. Once he sold his company in the late 90s, fewer black/Asian models were used until none were used at all.
In an odd way, at grassroots level, fashion is accepting of non white models, but over time the high end fashion side of things has turned back the clock so to speak.
Yes @MelissaManifesto Unfortunately this is true. I’m a recent graduate Fashion Designer myself, and I am black and African. I have observed while studying in one of the new hot scouting spots – cape town – how even there, the most sought after, paid (or overpaid) models, and scouted to modeling agencies overseas (think Candice Swanepoel or Behati Prinsloo) are always the white girls. Don’t get me wrong, they are beautiful but there are equally beautiful black models who struggle so much to make a decent living in this career. And this is in South Africa, a country that is predominantly black, and has so much focus on the black empowerment.
The world is literally white-washed. I remember in the 90’s, as @LAK points out, as a little girl I admired Naomi, Cindy Crawford, and the supermodels alike, and it was so great to see models such as Alek Wek being celebrated with their dark skin and strong features. Nowadays I don’t think Alek Wek would have had the same career opportunities she had in the 90s, I don’t even think she would have made it to her status. She would have been crushed in this industry now.
I think this is great, it’s a beautiful cover, and in response to what @Jen said below, just because the world is so deeply “racist” and brainwashed in regards of the standards of beauty, this edition probably won’t sell as much and the magazines will continue using this excuse to not put black, asian or any POC in their covers in a more regular basis because “it doesn’t sell”, and it’s “not their fault but they must think about the numbers”.
Pisses me off.
Everything worth anything is owned by the pasty white shriveled-up dicks of the world. They are the ones moderating the racism; I think the general public has been ready for more integration for a long time now
I doubt it very much too
Very fresh and pretty.
The editor of British vogue once said that black models don’t sell -straight out, without a blush, as justification for her white out of the magazine during her tenure AND to criticise the all black model edition of Italian Vogue in 2008- ps that issue is still the best selling edition of Vogue world wide so that was major egg on her face.
It’s really sad that if Yasmin Le Bon was starting out or even models that are vaguely ethnic looking in the right styling eg Helena Christiansen, she probably wouldn’t use them.
She definitely wouldn’t use Lorraine Pascal, Yasmeen Ghauri, Nadege du Bospertu or even Irina Panteava if they hadn’t already broken through or been championed by designers.
She had a great start at the beginning of her tenure with innovative layouts, championing new, avant garde and different, but within the space of ten years, she’d pushed the magazine to a place where it looks more like a house and gardens middle of the road venture than a fashion magazine.
And no more non white models. That is until Prada put a black model on it’s catwalk two years ago, and the editor of british vogue worships everything Prada.
Jordan Dunn broke though because she was championed early by Burberry which is a major advertiser and sponsor of fashion events.
It’s incredible how well she’s done without the support of the likes of the editor of Vogue.
I’ve heard this statement quite a few times “Black models don’t sell” unless they are celebrities in their own rights, but I’m not sure I believe that. I’d have to have the specifics (and the time) to compare. However if that is true, there’s something far worse with our society than I originally thought.
Didn’t the sony hacked emails prove that to be wrong? They said Denzel’s film wouldn’t do well overseas because the audience would be racist and not want to go watch it or whatever even though it did do well.
I feel like there is something much more sinister going on with the whole entertainment industry.
It’s about upholding the status quo, I mean think about it. All the images we see affects our views and our beauty ideals so to all of a sudden have a bunch of black and asian models on the cover of vogue…Sure some people probably can’t “relate” to a “dark face” and naturally be more drawn to people of the same coloring as themselves but I doubt the women who buy vogue go “No, I won’t buy this vogue magazine because a black model is on it”. I think those who buy vogue, buy them regularly or semi regularly and don’t care who is on the cover because really, how many pages are dedicated to the cover model inside the magazine?
I just don’t think people are as racist as these editors and producers would like us to believe…it’s just a convenient excuse.
Fashion people are less shy about saying this sort of thing out loud, in public.
Heck Muccia Prada said it for years which is very disappointing since everything she does is obsessively followed by entired fashion industry.
The minute she put an unknown black model back on her runway (having not done so for 10yrs) every body followed her lead.
The major disappointment is where designers who were unconventional and or didn’t follow the crowd, conformed and stopped using non white/unconventional looking models because Prada had spoken (and acted)
The top end of industry doesn’t reflect the bottom end because weekly fashion magazines, usually aimed at young adults and teens, have a diverse range of models of all races. Ditto their ad campaigns. It’s the upper echelons aimed at adult women that’s the problem.
Maybe teens and young adults should spend more. If their pound is talking, it might change the faces at the top!!!
Yasmeen Ghauri!!!!! Awwwwww good times. Iconic.
LAK, what happened to your comment on the Graham Norton thread? I thought it was really good and responded, but by the time I finished it was gone.
GNAT: I loved your response, but i’ve just checked and my comment has simply vanished.
Will check my emails to see if anyone complained and that’s why it was pulled.
However, I stand by every word. I too struggle sometimes when confronted with my own prejudice and I have to wonder where it came from. Most is cultural or societal indoctrination, but it’s amazing to me that no matter our differences, some things are universal.
I don’t know who she is, but she’s very beautiful. Personally, I’d like to see all fashion magazines go back to using models on their covers instead of celebrities.
That’s one of the reasons why I stopped my subscriptions to fashion magazines, if I want to see celebrities in covers I’ll buy People or something.
Personally, a celebrity is the reason why I won’t buy the magazine, not the model’s ethnicity
WERK ladies WERK!!!!!!!!!
She is pretty, has a little bit of a Rihanna look in her face. Good for her.
Ridiculous black and other people of colour are not featured half the year at least. I was really surprised at how multi-cultural and multi-racial England was when I first went compared to how it is often portrayed in movies and television. The magazine should represent the diversity of the country.
12 years! That’s quite shocking and very, very sad 🙁
She’s gorgeous and I’m glad she got the cover. I do want to point out the huge difference in skin tone between the two images; it looks to me like Vogue lightened her skin tone considerably, and also photoshopped her arm thinner. Shame on you Vogue!
This + the numerous black British actors who are coming/have come to America for more acting opportunities.
You know something is horribly wrong with the system when America is the solution for less discrimination. Congratulations to her but yes sadly, new day, same spit. It’ll be another twelve year stretch after her because a mental shift hasn’t occurred and black talent is still a case of, “Well we’ve tried everything else.”
It’s about time. Shulman has said that covers with MOC (models of colour) don’t sell as well. I guess with this cover, Shulman won’t have to do another for another 12 years.
Good for her! She is gorgeous. We need lot more like this lady in future.
Jourdan’s always been one of my fave models, she’s so pretty and cute. I don’t want to celebrate this on behalf of the fashion industry and Brit Vogue, but I do celebrate this on behalf of Jourdan. It’s a great accomplishment for her.
The consistent justification for blatant racism in the entertainment industry is “blacks just don’t sell.” Well, of course not. It’s set up for blacks or people of color not to sell. If the masses are exposed to blacks every 12 years on a magazine cover or longer for black stars in major motion film, then of course they won’t sell as well as whites. The reason why blacks purchase movies, magazines, etc. depicting whites is we are bombarded by a white dominated entertainment industry from birth. When there’s ONLY a Denzel Washington, of course, he’s not going to sell overseas the way a Tom Cruise would. Talent is a critical factor but so is an PR and/or advertising agenda. The entertainment industry is didactic. The powerful few use it to teach the masses who is beautiful, who is more desirable, who is “talented,” who is intelligent, who should “rightfully” dominate in society, who is the “good guy,” etc. To keep the masses from questioning or resisting this racist agenda, they throw in a few exceptions such as Denzel Washington or Jourdan Dunn to say, “See, we include blacks” when really the percentage overall is so low comparably, it proves nothing.
Blogs like this are so important. Women of different races and countries can at least communicate about this. It’s certainly not on TV or articles.
I love Jourdan and i grew up ionizing her in some ways. She is a powerful advocate pf sickle cell disease since her precious little boy suffers from it.
I remember reading an interview with her andc Chanel Iman and how when they first started out they used to be close until it was ingrained in their heads that there could only be one black model. Rumors around this time said that Chanel started being such a bitch to J ourdan. Also i remember Jourdan saying she got booked for shows all the time only to be told later that they didn’t need her cause they already had a black gorl. Then she also spoke out on rhe horrific racism she faced at the hands of makeup artists who refused to do her makeup for shots because her skin was too dark for them and her hair texture apparently not easy to work with
1) she’s beautiful!
2) 12 years is asinine. WTF?