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Vogue’s Covers Got More Diverse This Year

Photo: Courtesy of Vogue

Vogue covers — which have not historically been a bastion of diversity — made an improvement in this direction for 2014, featuring Rihanna, Lupita Nyong’o, Joan Smalls (who posed alongside Cara Delevingne and Karlie Kloss on the Instagirls-themed model cover) and Kanye West (posing with his Calabasian betrothed). For both 2013 and 2012, the magazine only featured two black cover subjects per year — Michelle Obama and Beyoncé in 2013, and Rihanna and Serena Williams (who co-starred with Hope Solo and Ryan Lochte for an Olympics special). In 2011, Rihanna was the only black cover subject all year, and in 2010, Halle Berry was the only nonwhite celebrity featured. (That also made her the first black woman to appear on the September issue cover since Naomi Campbell in 1989.) Considering that runways are still so overwhelmingly white, it’s a step in the right direction on the magazine’s part. Now, if they could just stop using hashtags on the cover in 2015.

Photo: Courtesy of Vogue
Vogue’s Covers Got More Diverse This Year