Beyoncé's Vogue September issue cover marks the superstar's forth time covering the fashion magazine. This time the singer makes history by being the first Black artist to cover the September issue - what is known to be the most important issue of the year.
What do we want from the glamorous, powerful women we call divas or icons or cultural forces? We want them to want—and in our names get—everything they possibly can. Success in work and love. Sexual pleasure. Money and power. We want them to embody multiple fantasies. We want them to make us believe that exciting realities are just around the corner.
It used to be that the great pop stars with fashion and style gave us small variations on one grand theme. Tina Turner: minidresses and honey tresses. Janis Joplin: boas, bangles, and bell-bottoms. Cher: spangled striptease getups with mythic Third World touches. Nowadays fashion isn’t about the grand theme, it’s about juxtaposition, and it’s filled with allusions to movie and art history; to music and dance styles; to iconographies of race and ethnicity, religion and gender. Madonna opened the door to this collage approach. Today we see it in the wigs, masks, and sculpted costumes of Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, the restless dazzle of Rihanna’s couture choices. And, of course, in the music, dance, decor, and looks of the ultimate streamed collage: Beyoncé.
Queen Bey even made a video interpretation of the September issue cover shoot. View below.
Photos: Mario Testino for Vogue
