Duchess of Sussex guest editor for British Vogue’s September issue
Meghan hopes readers feel as inspired by the magazine as she does.
The Duchess of Sussex is the guest editor on the September issue of British Vogue.
Meghan has brought together 15 women for the cover, including actress Jane Fonda and climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, for what is considered to be the fashion bible’s most important edition of the year.
The duchess does not grace the cover as she felt it would be a “boastful” thing for her to do, according to the magazine’s editor-in-chief Edward Enninful.
Meghan, who has been working on the project for the past seven months, said she hopes readers feel as inspired by the magazine as she does, with its cover featuring a mix of campaigning actors, models, a dancer, an author and a prime minister.
The edition, entitled Forces For Change, features “trailblazing changemakers, united by their fearlessness in breaking barriers”, Buckingham Palace said.
Cover stars include prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, actors Salma Hayek Pinault, Laverne Cox, Jameela Jamil, Yara Shahidi and Gemma Chan, and models Christy Turlington Burns, Adwoa Aboah and Adut Akech.
Boxer Ramla Ali, diversity advocate Sinead Burke, Royal Ballet principal dancer Francesca Hayward, and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie complete the 15 cover stars.
The front of the magazine is divided into 16 boxes with each cover star photographed individually.
The 16th spot on the cover is a mirror which aims to include the reader and encourage them to use their own platforms to effect change.
Highlights of the edition include a candid conversation between Meghan and former first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, and an interview between ethologist and primatologist Dr Jane Goodall and the Duke of Sussex.
Meghan said: “These last seven months have been a rewarding process, curating and collaborating with Edward Enninful, British Vogue’s editor-in-chief, to take the year’s most-read fashion issue and steer its focus to the values, causes and people making impact in the world today.
“Through this lens I hope you’ll feel the strength of the collective in the diverse selection of women chosen for the cover as well as the team of support I called upon within the issue to help bring this to light.
“I hope readers feel as inspired as I do, by the forces for change they’ll find within these pages.”
Enninful said Meghan is the first person to guest edit the September issue.
He said: “To have the country’s most influential beacon of change guest edit British Vogue at this time has been an honour, a pleasure and a wonderful surprise.
“As you will see from her selections throughout this magazine, she is also willing to wade into more complex and nuanced areas, whether they concern female empowerment, mental health, race or privilege.
“From the very beginning, we talked about the cover – whether she would be on it or not.
“In the end, she felt that it would be in some ways a ‘boastful’ thing to do for this particular project.
“She wanted, instead, to focus on the women she admires.”
The Duchess of Cambridge adorned the front of Vogue’s centenary issue in 2016.
The September issue of the magazine is widely considered the year’s biggest and most important, as it details the fashion for the coming autumn/winter season.
In 2009, a documentary film called The September Issue gave a behind the scenes look as US editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington worked together on the 2007 US edition of the magazine.
– The September issue of British Vogue is available on Friday August 2.
