The September Issue AKA The Vogue September Issue is arguably the most iconic magazine of all time and this year Queen Bey is on the cover. And for the first time ever in the 126 history of the issue a black photographer shot the cover. His name is Tyler Mitchell and he is 23 years old and his life just changed forever.
In an article on Vogue.com Mitchell said, “For so long, black people have been considered things…We’ve been thingified physically, sexually, emotionally. With my work I’m looking to revitalize and elevate the black body.”
He shot the two cover images in London and said of his cover girl. “You’d imagine someone as famous as Beyoncé to be protective of her image, but she was really an open book — and that’s exactly what you want as a photographer.” Beyonce was on the cover of the September issue back in 2015.
Vogue on Monday issued a statement about the new issue: “Beyoncé’s fourth Vogue cover was truly a collaborative effort — when Vogue suggested photographer Tyler Mitchell to Beyonce, the star immediately said yes to the opportunity to work with this young artist.” This may mark a new era at the iconic magazine and fashion magazines in general as old guard photographers Mario Testino and Patrick Demarchelierwere recently accused of sexual misconduct and will no longer be working with Vogue.
As for Beyonce’s thoughts on the issue and many other things, she actually wrote the article featured in the magazine. She covers everything from the recent dramatic birth of her twins, to embracing her new postpartum body and to helping new black artists. She wrote in Vogue, “Until there is a mosaic of perspectives coming from different ethnicities behind the lens, we will continue to have a narrow approach and view of what the world actually looks like. That is why I wanted to work with this brilliant 23-year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell. When I first started, 21 years ago, I was told that it was hard for me to get onto covers of magazines because black people did not sell. Clearly that has been proven a myth. Not only is an African American on the cover of the most important month for Vogue, this is the first ever Vogue cover shot by an African American photographer.”
