First Lady Michelle Obama will be featured on Vogue Magazine’s March cover. The news is hardly a surprise given the rumors and speculation that have been circling ever since Barak Obama was elected President in November.
While Vogue traditionally features incoming first ladies, this marks only the second time the new First Lady has been placed on the cover (the other time was for Hillary Rodham Clinton).
The First Lady was photographed by Annie Leibovitz. In the cover shot, she wears a magenta dress designed by Jason Wu — whose design she also picked for the Inaugural Balls. Michelle Obama also picked her own outfits for the rest of the photo shoot, including her standard favorites of Narciso Rodriguez and J. Crew, amongst others.
As notes the Washington Post,
Vogue is the country’s premier mainstream fashion magazine. And when it puts a woman of color on the cover, it says something about how its editors view this administration, fashion industry experts say. Even if you take race off the table, there is an awe over how this new administration can bring energy to the conversation around how beauty can intersect with power. And how power can be beauty. And how a black woman from the South Side of Chicago and with curves can become a symbol of beauty.
“Change was the clarion call of Barack Obama’s election campaign,” writes Vogue’s editor, Anna Wintour, “though I don’t think any of us at Vogue initially realized that would include the difference that was going to be made by First Lady Michelle Obama’s wardrobe.”
Also featured in the article are Jill Biden, vice president Joe Biden’s wife, as well as Valerie Jarrett, who is one of President Obama’s longtime advisors.
Sources: WWD
- The Washington Post