We’re used to seeing gorgeous models gracing the covers of our fashion magazines … it’s what the glossies are all about … stunning, but unreal, not terribly representative of the world as it truly is. So we are thrilled to see the preview of British Vogue’s July issue, featuring real-life Londoners on the “new front line.”
“I can think of a no more appropriate trio of women to represent the millions of people in the UK who, at the height of the pandemic, in the face of dangers large and small, put on their uniforms and work clothes and went to help people,” said Edward Enninful, Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, quoted in an article by Jamie Gavin in FIPP.
As Gavin notes, the public loves the idea.
“The decision to break from the use of traditional celebrity-led covers and spotlight those who have been so key to the UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in recent months has been met with widespread acclaim by the British press,” Gavin writes.
The issue includes and goes beyond the medical front lines to encompass the wider scope of all those essential workers who didn’t stay safely home – “shopkeepers, postal workers, cleaners, epidemiologists, carers, teachers, ambulance drivers and volunteers from the fashion community and beyond,” Gavin explains.
The images were taken by London photographer Jamie Hawkesworth who traveled around his city on his bike to capture these beautiful faces.
Narguis Horsford, Overground TFL Train Driver and one of the July cover stars, told the magazine: “I am no hero, but I’m proud of being a train driver and the essential role we are playing during the coronavirus crisis. Our services are vitally important to keep London moving throughout these unprecedented times and maintaining safety, to ensure our key workers can get to where they need to be to provide the services that are required.”
It’s an extraordinary tribute for these extraordinary times, and a beautiful way to honor UK’s essential … and too often underappreciate … workforce.