Vogue magazine caved into the massive public backlash for publishing a lackluster cover featuring Vice President Kamala Harris and will issue a new limited edition.
Harris, 56, became the first woman and person of Asian and African American descent to be sworn in as vice president of the United States at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 2o, 2021. Joseph R. Biden Jr. also became the 13th vice president to go on to become president during the momentous ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
Vogue‘s February cover was ostensibly going to be a celebration of Harris’ historical achievement, but it became a spectacular failure. Fans vociferously decried the underwhelming and casual cover photo for such an accomplished woman, replete with Harris in sneakers and standing in front of a haphazard background.
Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris is our February cover star!
Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU pic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) January 10, 2021
Even members of the Harris camp conveyed they thought Vogue honchos would have chosen one of the more glamorous photos the magazine shot of the former U.S. senator from California.
on the original cover, the caption read, “Madame Vice President! Kamala Harris and the New America,” with Harris pictured in a pantsuit and low-top Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers. The repudiation of Vogue was immediate, loud and fierce.
After being battered into oblivion, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour spoke up.
“Obviously we have heard and understood the reaction to the print cover, and I just want to reiterate that it was absolutely not our intention to, in any way, diminish the importance of the vice president-elect’s incredible victory,” the statement read.
In order to try to mop up the magazine’s self-inflicted mess, Vogue informed its 30 million Instagram followers that the fashion magazine will mark Harris’ unprecedented accomplishment by “publishing a limited number of special edition #InaugurationDay issues.”
