Vogue’s intentions were to highlight the vice president-elect’s “authentic, approachable nature,” but the final product appears perfunctory.
By placing the nation’s first woman vice president front and center on its February cover, Vogue sought to grandly usher in the next administration. Instead, the final cover photo of Kamala Harris for the magazine’s print edition was received as underwhelming and, to some, disrespectful. Many say it is a misstep typical to the magazine under the eye of Anna Wintour, who has long faced accusations of racial insensitivity. The social media response toward the Harris photo shoot — which was leaked before the magazine’s official announcement — has veered toward incredulity. The vice president was photographed in a full-body shot, where she stands, hands clasped in front of her waist, against a backdrop of pink and green silk drapes, an allusion to the colors of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is dressed in a similar style as her outfits on the campaign trail: dark blazer, black slim-leg pants, white tee, and black Converse sneakers. But many point out that Harris’s smile appears unnatural and almost forced — the sort of awkward smile a subject flashes when they’re unsure of how else to pose — and her body language looks similarly uncomfortable. There is nothing clearly offensive or wrong about the image. The Washington Post’s Robin Givhan even described it as “an audacious way of depicting this new political era and its break with the past.
