Image courtesy of DIY Photography
Times they are a changing, well, kind of. In 2019, Beyoncé was able to have her photographer of choice, a black photographer, shoot her cover for Vogue magazine, and now Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis is following suit.
For her recent cover for Vanity Fair, Davis got to choose the photographer that she wanted, a black photographer, to shoot the cover and images within the publication. This happened to be the first time a black photographer shot the cover of Vanity Fair.
The photographer of this historic moment is Dario Calmese. The Vanity Fair cover is his first major magazine cover.
“Our mission at Vanity Fair is to capture the zeitgeist,” Vanity Fair Editor-in-chief Rahdika Jones writes in her editor’s letter, as reported in fashionweekdaily. “We feel that responsibility especially keenly at this moment, when it seems as if our ways of seeing each other may be shifting, finally. What can one person’s face on a magazine cover accomplish, in this context? It can add to our pantheon of people whose work and ambition we aspire to. That is no small thing.”
“This is [Calmese’s] first major magazine cover, and we celebrate him and honor his vision at this heightened moment in American history,” writes Jones. “No amount of praise or censure affects me, in my current role, so much as the hope that our choices might inspire a young person—a future actor, director, photographer, writer—to pursue their own creative vision or imagine [themselves] in our pages,” continues Jones.
Image courtesy of usweekly.com
Olivia Culpo keeps busy
Olivia Culpo is one of those actress/models who always seems to keep busy. The former Miss USA and Miss Universe has acquired a very high honor, the cover of the 2020 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Culpo shares the cover with supermodels Kate Bock and Jasmine Sanders.
“This is still so exciting for me,” the 28-year-old model/actress—who’s been in the mag three years in a row now—told The Post. “I created a vision board years ago to get into the magazine.”
All three cover models are veterans of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. And they are all friends. “I have been friends with them for a very long time,” Culpo says, as reported in The Post. “During the shoot, we were so kind to each other and wanted to make sure each of us was comfortable.”
Image courtesy of lofficielarabia.com
Fenty and Farfetch
Rihanna’s fashion brand, Fenty, has announced a retail partnership with Farfetch. Farfetch is not the only online retailer to carry Fenty outside of the Fenty’s own website. Fenty is financially backed by LVMH.
Giorgio Belloli, chief commercial and sustainability officer at Farfetch commented, “We are thrilled to welcome Fenty to the Farfetch platform. We’ve long admired Fenty’s innovative approach to luxury fashion retail and the way they champion inclusivity for customers.”
“Fenty was looking for a retail partner to double-down on its digital-first business model and with our global customer base and industry-leading platform model, it’s an ideal opportunity to work together,” Belloli continued as detailed in fashionnetwork.com.
Fenty’s launch with Farfetch is the third drop of Fenty’s 6-20 collection, which commemorates the irrepressible creativity, hope, and spirit of the youth community.
—William S. Gooch
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