Why a Vogue Cover Created a Controversy for Olena Zelenska

One other season, one other Vogue story on a politician inflicting a kerfuffle. After the hoo-ha over the journal not giving Melania Trump a canopy (regardless that Michelle Obama bought three) and the to-do over Kamala Harris’s “relaxed” portrait being chosen over her extra formal cowl attempt, comes a brand new controversy, associated to a “digital cowl” launched on-line that includes Olena Zelenska, the Ukrainian first girl.

Entitled “Portrait of Bravery,” the article is a collaboration between the Condé Nast Vogues (just about all of them) and Ukrainian Vogue (a licensed journal owned by Media Group Ukraine).

It has moody, sleek portraits of Ms. Zelenska by Annie Leibovitz: sitting on the marble steps of the presidential palace, staring grimly forward; holding fingers along with her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky; and standing subsequent to feminine troopers at Antonov Airport, clutching the lapels of an extended navy overcoat. The pictures are accompanied by a prolonged interview and a few BTS video footage of the primary couple and Ms. Leibovitz. It’ll seem in print later this 12 months.

In contrast to Ms. Zelenska’s first Ukrainian Vogue cowl, which appeared in November 2019 not lengthy after Mr. Zelensky was elected, and which confirmed the primary girl romping along with her household and styled in Celine, Prada, Lemaire and Jimmy Choo, the brand new characteristic eschews trend credit. Ms. Zelenska seems polished, however the story focuses on the ache and trauma of her nation and its individuals, in addition to the couple’s relationship. Not one of the topics are smiling.

A single line beneath one {photograph} notes that Ms. Zelenska is sporting solely Ukrainian designers and lists their names. This may occasionally seem to be a small factor to most viewers, however it takes the industrial factor out of the shoot. No matter it’s promoting — and it’s positively promoting one thing — it isn’t garments.

Nonetheless (and unsurprisingly), the article has provoked one thing of a backlash. Some viewers have a visceral response to juxtaposing the concept of “Vogue” — with its historic connections to elitism, fantasy, wealth and frivolity — and the truth of conflict. It seems, they are saying, tasteless. Particularly given among the journal’s missteps prior to now.

For instance, there was an embarrassingly fawning profile of the Syrian first girl, Asma al-Assad, revealed in 2011 simply across the time Ms. al-Assad’s husband, Bashar al-Assad, was revealed to be a bloody dictator. (The piece, which made the journal appear morally compromised within the face of fanciness, was later faraway from Vogue’s web site, although it nonetheless casts a shadow on Vogue’s protection, particularly in terms of political figures.)

“Whereas Ukraine goes by way of hell, Vogue is doing a photoshoot for the President & his spouse,” wrote Amrita Bhinder on Twitter.

Consultant Mayra Flores, a Republican from Texas, seized the chance to assault the Biden administration for its monetary help of Ukraine, implying it was funding self-importance. Breitbart wrote a gleeful article aggregating the criticism, particularly because it associated to authorities funding.

Nonetheless, different readers have come to the protection of Ms. Zelenska, seeing the shoot as a logo of nationwide pleasure: a method to indicate the world Ukrainian class; a reminder of the balm that may be present in magnificence; and a refined nod to shared humanity within the face of inhuman aggression. She is just not, in any case, in a ball robe consuming cake. She is in a conflict zone, wanting haunted.

To a sure extent, the talk merely exhibits how tangled our emotions about trend nonetheless are and the way entrenched the view of it as a nonserious topic stays — even though trend is a key half of popular culture and the uncommon equal of a world language. It’s one that each politician, and public determine, employs to their very own ends, whether or not they wish to admit it or not. (That’s why, regardless of the dangers, they preserve showing in magazines like Vogue.)

The Russian-Ukrainian battle is a conflict being performed on all fronts: on the bottom, within the air, within the digital sphere and within the area of public opinion. (See, for instance, Ms. Zelenska’s look in Washington final week.) Vogue — and, certainly, any outlet that enables the Ukrainian individuals to succeed in completely different swaths of the worldwide inhabitants and affect sentiment — is one among them. As Ms. Zelenska and her husband, who based one of many greatest tv leisure manufacturing firms in Ukraine earlier than entering into politics, know.

By placing Ms. Zelenska on its cowl, Vogue is furthering her function because the relatable face, and voice, of the wrestle; bringing her up shut and private for the watching world. And by showing in public, and elevating points in public, when her husband can not, she is retaining her nation’s wants alive within the worldwide dialog at a time when different crises are vying for consideration. She has, basically, weaponized Vogue.

She mentioned as a lot to the BBC when one among its interviewers requested her to elucidate the selection: “Hundreds of thousands learn Vogue, and to have the ability to communicate to them direct, that was my obligation,” she mentioned, including, “I imagine it’s extra necessary to do one thing and be criticized for it than to do nothing.”

No matter you suppose of the particular piece, nonetheless you’re feeling concerning the journal during which it was revealed, you may’t dispute the truth that it as soon as once more put the conflict in Ukraine within the headlines — and within the minds of people that might not have been following it as carefully as others. In that context, her interview is not only an interview. It’s a chunk of battle technique.