Kamala Harris Vogue Controversy Explained: Cover Disrespects the VP-Elect?

By Staff Reporter

Kamala Harris' Vogue cover has caused a stir online because netizens believed the publication disrespected the Vice President-elect.

On Sunday, Vogue shared two pictures of Harris on Twitter, revealing that she will be their February 2021 cover star.

Kamala Harris is the first woman Vice President of the United States and seeing her in Vogue, and any other magazines aren't going to be surprising.

Two cover photos were published. The first outfit she wore was a classic black blazer, black trousers, and black Chuck Taylors. While another cover showed Harris wearing a gray blazer with arms crossed.

But as previously mentioned, many people are not happy with her first Vogue cover because of bad lighting.

Fans of Harris believed that the entire Vogue team could have done better.

The New York Magazine's contributor Wajahat Ali wrote condemned the overall picture's aesthetics, saying, "What a mess up."

"Anna Wintour must not have Black friends and colleagues. I'll shoot shots of VP Kamala Harris for free using my Samsung, and I'm 100% confident it'll turn out better than this Vogue cover."

Opinions of social media users were immediately mostly negative.

Not only were they pissed off with the lighting of the photo, but with the pink and green sheet background, Kamala Harris was standing in front of.

@VABVOX said on Twitter, along with photos of Harris on the cover of TIME and Elle, "So my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were photographers."

"I grew up in my grandfather's darkroom. The Vogue cover is lit, the backdrop lazy and in color meant to wash out Kamal Harris' beautiful skin tone."

However, a source familiar with the issue claimed that Kamala Harris and her team approved the covers because they were the ones who chose the photos for the Vogue cover.

An insider told the New York Post, "The VP-elect and her team selected both looks."

The Real Meaning Of Her Cover

According to Vogue writer Janelle Okwodu, Kamala Harris' Vogue cover had a deeper meaning to it.

She wrote in an article that it is a "tribute to her sorority days."

The colors featured behind her are part of her when she initially joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter at Howard in 1986 during her senior year.

According to the outlet, Kamala Harris, who has a combined net worth with her husband of over $7 million, was one of the handfuls of students accepted into the sorority at that time.

In her autobiography "The Truths We Hold," Harris also mentioned that her sorority sisters became her lifelong friends and have even supported her campaign trail for the VP position.

"There was an expectation that we would cultivate and use our talents to take on roles in leadership and have an impact on other people, in our country, and maybe even the world."

The Vogue photographer, Tyler Mitchell, conceptualized the cover and wanted to honor her college days and the women who comprised the ranks of sororities.

In an email he sent to Vogue, he explained, "With this cover shoot with Madam Vice President-Elect Harris, I wanted the set design to pay homage to that history, to her status as an AKA, and Black sororities and sisterhoods worldwide."