Vogue editor Anna Wintour under fire for being ‘icy’ towards mag’s first Black model

Anna Wintour, who has been headlining  Vogue since 1998 as its editor-in-chief, is being currently slammed for the lack of representation of people of colour on the magazine’s glossy pages. 

Wintour was icy in her behaviour towards Beverly Johnson –  first African-American model to grace the cover of Vogue – as revealed by the latter’s former publicist James Hester. 

According to Page Six, Hester put up  a huge fight to get Johnson invited to the mag’s 100th anniversary party in 1992 — and even then Wintour snubbed the model.

“Beverly made history as the first African American model to grace the cover of Vogue and they refused to invite her. It was a momentous occasion and obviously a huge moment in Beverly’s life. They kept saying, ‘We’ll get back to you’,” Hester revealed.

 “So, I had to get creative. I was working with CC Music Factory and they were huge at the time, producing for Mariah Carey. I made a deal that they would dj for free and [“Deeper Love”] singer Deborah Cooper would perform in exchange for coverage in the magazine,” Hester told Page Six. “Anna Wintour gets the message, and I deliver them. I go back and I make another deal and said, Beverly Johnson would really love to be invited, and they finally agreed.”

Hester went on to add that he tried to introduce Johnson to Wintour at the event. “I go up to her, and tell her I organized the music. I then asked, ‘Do you know Beverly Johnson?’ She said, ‘Yup,’ and walked away,’” he said.

Although Wintour did  include Johnson in the party coverage, but not in the way they hoped. “There was a double-page spread with a collage of pictures. Beverly’s picture was in there with her head cut off. [Wintour] has been awful to the black community,” he said.

According to Page Six, when they reached out to Wintour for comment, her rep stated, “Anna has done much to champion diversity and inclusion throughout her tenure as editor-in-chief of Vogue, from putting Naomi Campbell on the cover of Anna’s first September issue in 1989 to supporting so many designers of color via the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund.”

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