The September magazines are out and Vogue has a special issue of hope where more than 100 fashionistas air their voices about the future of fashion.
For this issue, the gloss has two covers after they invited artists Kerry James Marshall and Jordan Casteel to make paintings.
For his cover, Marshall created a fictional character with darker skin, because it is “at the edge of visibility”.
“I’m trying to build into her expression that she’s not dependent on the gaze of the spectator. ’I’m here, and you can see me, but I’m not here for you.’ That’s a critical element. The great word, ultimately, is going to be ’self-possessed’. That’s what I’m aiming for,” he said.
For hers, Casteel chose a real person as her subject and went with fashion designer, Aurora James.
On why she chose James, Casteel said: “I believe that what Aurora is doing is hugely important in creating the long-term change that black people deserve and this country owes us.
“I see her as a light in a lot of darkness, and a potential for hope, a representative of change across all creative industries. What’s most exciting to me is being given artistic integrity and being able to choose the person to be my sitter – someone who reflects a portion of my own identity – and then to do that truly in the medium of my choice.
“This is the way that I speak to the world. And this is the way I’ve been speaking to the world and talking about the humanity of our people, talking about humanity in general. It’s a profound experience. I do think I’m participating and a change is happening.”
Aurora James also made headlines in June with her 15% pledge, a campaign to support black-owned businesses.