'The New Supers' Paloma, Jill, and Precious by Inez & Vinoodh for British Vogue April 2023
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Models Paloma Elsesser, Jill Kortleve and Precious Lee are British Vogue’s April 2023 cover stars. EIC Edward Enninful makes the point in his editor’s letter that it’s very rare when three models come together in a special kind of energy.
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson styles the sensual fashion bonfire lensed by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin [IG].
Thirty years ago Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista were a trinity. Edward’s argument is that now Paloma, Jill and Precious share their stature.
With a shared mission born from friendship, and squarely plugged into the more revolutionary energy of the current zeitgeist, this month’s cover crowns the rise of three extraordinary models.
AOC is not prepared to comment at all on the observations of Edward and other writers as well about the recent autumn/winter 2023 fashion shows:
After returning from the recent autumn/winter 2023 fashion shows, and seeing countless catwalks where diversity of beauty, and of bodies, had taken several steps back, I couldn’t be happier to take this moment to celebrate this trio.
I can only say that hopefully this is not a major trend in reverse. My thoughts have focused on potential conflicts around not nearly enough Hispanic/or Latino [US Govt terms] models in fashion and Asian women are also probably seriously under-represented, given the revenue coming out of Asia for global brands.
Here in the United States we have twice as many Hispanic people as African Americans/non-Hispanics from other nations living in America.
When we’re talking about global brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci — these brands are represented by global demographics. In many cases, the brands are holding additional fashion shows and presentations in Asia, to be certain that they are speaking directly to Asian people.
We cannot sit in America and start doing body counts from a size and skin color perspective — wait up, we’ve got trans to count — that reflects our own perceptions of the global population. I don’t think gay women get special billing, because creatives are always more likely in fashion, in acting, in music to be disproportionately gay or another variation of LGBTQIA+.
I find Indian women of color to be very under-represented in fashion, given all the strides we’re trying to take. Trust me, that no matter what, people’s expectations of what is fair and reasonable will not be met. We haven’t discussed Aran people, although many of the South Sudan models are welcomed in the Arab world.
This is a topic we will dig into further, because we cannot take our foot off the pedal on the topic of inclusivity among models. I did not see a big negative change in the shows I’ve watched to date, but Edward’s observations are on top of several others I’ve read.
Edward’s ‘Trinity’ are interviewed by Janelle Okwodu in Paloma Elsesser, Precious Lee and Jill Kortleve are a New Kind of Supermodel.
Throwing some serious shade at the original supers, Okwodu writes:
“Supermodel is a loaded term and it’s hard to imagine these women engaging in any of the old clichés. Backstage meltdowns, dramatic rivalries or quotations about not getting out of bed for less than $10,000 a day feel passé.
Talking about the trinity Edward embraced at the beginning of this post and celebration of three curvaceous women of color, I assume Edward and Okwodu aren’t talking about Naomi.
So now we have Linda Evangelista— who did make that stupid statement about getting out of bed in the morning for less than $10,000 a day — and Christy Turlington.
People don’t understand how powerful these women were. I’ve always said that fashion went ‘heroin chic’ because the size 4-6 supermodels were too much of everything to handle.
Christy Turlington, A Grade A Activist
To be clear, I know of NO model working today who has been a more ardent activist for a host of health-related causes than Christy Turlington.
Christy Turlington, gave up modeling and went to Columbia University to study global heath. She was making anti-smoking public service ads after her father died of lung cancer.
Karlie Kloss Walked from Victoria’s Secret. into Teaching Girls to Code
Karlie Kloss, a present day model had the audacity to hang up her wings at Victoria’s Secret, accompanied by Doutzen Kroes, before Victoria’s Secret was getting slammed for their images of women. Neither Karlie nor Doutzen thought that parading down the runway in wings and barely-there lingerie was the aspirational image they wanted to send young girls.
Kloss is not only a close friend of her mentor Turlington, but a growing global powerhouse in creating coding camps for girls, 80% young girls/teens of color.
Karlie was in Silicon Valley raising money at a dinner just this week. We have an article in the pipeline. Applause, please. Karlie Kloss’ camps are now in England.
No Dramatic Rivalries — Quite the Opposite
Returning to the Trinity, on the subject of race, Naomi Campbell has made it very clear that both Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington became her allies, as well as close friends.
Both Linda and Christy refused to work with brands who didn’t hire Naomi. Just because Linda Evangelista made one stupid comment in her life, doesn’t mean that she didn’t stand on principles.
I’ve written multiple times about threatening to resign my position at Victoria’s Secret if we got cold feet about having Naomi solo in the Thanksgiving windows after all the marketing was printed. I was ready to walk, and they knew it.
So I will take that shade thrown from London at Christy and Linda from Janelle Okwodu and throw it right back across the pond and onto New York.
Given the perilous state of our world, throwing shade accomplishes nothing but giving people an artificial high. I know the part of one’s brain that gets high over throwing divisive shade, and it’s not the frontal lobe.
As the great Nelson Mandela said “We need ubuntu.” ~ Anne
