British Vogue to feature ‘real women’ on its pages for the first time ever
The British edition of Vogue magazine is to feature “real women’ on its pages for the first ever time.
The November issue of Vogue in the UK will feature academics and businesswomen in place of models for the first time.
Actor Emily Blunt adorns the cover, and models will still appear in all of the ads, but various high flying women who aren’t models professionally will feature in spreads throughout the magazine.
Editor Alexandra Shulman said she found it difficult to find sample clothing from designers to fit ‘non-models’, and that it made her want to explore what women wear using a “real” filter.
The magazine will include tetraplegic Times Magazine columnist Melanie Reid, Unruly Media founder Sarah Wood, architectural historian Shumi Boe and entrepreneur Kitty Travers.
It looks at how successful women integrate fashion into their daily lives, and explores what is meant by “real” beauty.
Ms Shulman told the BBC: “The combination of a newspaper commentariat – which is always keen to leap critically on a woman in the public eye who dresses even the slightest bit adventurously – alongside a professional culture that still encourages a conventional conformity, makes it hard for some women to dress the way they would really like to.
“Now we have a prime minister who clearly enjoys thinking about how she dresses – and is not afraid to wear jazzy shoes, bright colours and clothes that draw attention rather than deflect it – there really is no excuse.”
The issue has been celebrated by Natasha Devon, a health and body image commentator for using the “real” images.
But she warned against the magazine altering the images digitally.
“It took three hours of hair and make-up to get me looking this real!” joked actor Blunt about appearing on her first cover.
