Beyoncé is not known for her low-key approach to the curation of her own self-image, and it would seem she has approached her upcoming cover issue with Vogue with the same authoritative direction she extends to the rest of her life and career.
According to the Huffington Post, Vogue’s notoriously controlling editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has allowed Beyoncé unprecedented powers over the upcoming September issue, of which she is due to feature on the cover.
Not only has the music icon hired the first black photographer to shoot a cover in the publication’s 126-year history but the publication is also, apparently, contractually obliged to give Queen Bey ultimate decision-making powers over the photos of her inside the magazine.
Wintour, who is known for her exacting standards and lion-like rule, typically gives subjects little to no say in how they are represented and sends them their cover pictures just a week before the magazine hits newsstands (by which time it’s far too late for any changes to be made).
With Bey though, Wintour has conceded full control, and even let Beyoncé write her own captions, which she has penned herself, “in long-form”.
It’s Beyoncé’s choice of photographer though that’s the real coup. Tyler Mitchell will not only be the first ever black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover, but he also may be the youngest.
Aged just 23, the young photographer first gained attention in 2015 with his self-published book of photos, El Paquete, which focused on Cuban skate culture and architecture. He only graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in the autumn, yet Mitchell has already created campaigns and imagery for Marc Jacobs, Teen Vogue and American Eagle, where he was both model and director.
As fashion followers know, Wintour is generally in complete control of all of Vogue’s covers—especially the September issue, which is the most anticipated and high-profile issue of the year and has even had a documentary about the process.
The move comes amid speculation it will be Wintour’s last September issue at the helm of the fashion magazine – a claim repeatedly denied by its parent company Condé Nast.
Beyoncé’s last Vogue September issue cover was in 2015 and was shot by Mario Testino, a long-time favourite of Wintour’s. Testino has not worked for Conde Nast since being publicly accused of sexual misconduct in January.
Although Beyoncé didn’t exercise as much control over the 2015 issue, it still made waves because she refused participate in an interview for it. She is also reportedly not granting Vogue a sit-down interview for the September 2018 issue.
As the high priestess of fashion and the high priestess of pop collide once again, there can only be one queen.
The rumours that Anna Wintour might be leaving her position as Editor-in-Chief of US Vogue began swirling back in April, and by July, speculation about her exit had, according to Women’s Wear Daily “reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on the full boil”.
So deafening in fact had the chatter become, that Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg felt compelled to take to Twitter on Tuesday to quash months of hearsay and reconfirm that the magazine’s 30-year veteran would be continuing in her role at the media giant.
“Anna Wintour is an incredibly talented and creative leader whose influence is beyond measure. She is integral to the future of our company’s transformation and has agreed to work with me indefinitely… in her role as @voguemagazine editor-in-chief and artistic director of Conde Nast,” Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg said in a statement on the company’s Twitter feed.
68-year-old Wintour has been at the helm of American Vogue since 1988 and artistic director of Conde Nast since 2013. This year will be her 40th year working for the Conde Nast group.