I can't believe Anna Wintour approved this

[Mus 7,848]

I like them, it’s a lot better to break “Vogue Norms” than to stay doing the same thing over and over

[freebit 6,069]

Vogue has lost some of its glamour. Magazines in general seem confused about what to do now because they seemingly don't want to seem out of touch with the current times. Hence all this lo-fi ~indie~ stylization happening with Vogue, Vanity Fair, Allure, and Glamour. The problem is that people don't want that from these magazines. It just looks cheap when they do it, like a free supplement. 

With Beyonce I feel that they were going for a low key vibe and maybe there's just details and context here everyone didn't catch. At the same time they are awkward in that indie magazine type of way. This would be fine for Dazed, but not what people want when they see the sentence "Beyonce on the cover of Vogue."

[lost in limbo 6,035]

Lol, unpopular opinion but I have never been crazy for Vogue's style. It's too basic and repetitive for me and honestly I prefer covers that stand out from the normal boring Vogue style covers.

Anna Wintour is still an icon tho

[nikola 4,342]

Tbg I agree.... it looks like an amateur did it

[Trepadation 5,566]

Anna did not. Beyonce had full control on it. 

[JohnnyVersace 8,540]

7 minutes ago, Trepadation said:

Anna did not. Beyonce had full control on it. 

That was a rumor that Anna debunked herself. 

[Andreu 37,216]

1 hour ago, Moebius said:

Incoming OP IS A RACIST CIS WHITE GAY replies

OBVIOUSLY1!1!1!1!1!!!!

[mister max 18,480]

1 hour ago, lovedillon said:

Rihanna’s September Cover for Vogue UK came out in like July & had the same concept with flowers... not only did Beyoncé basically repeat her pregnancy photos but she also did a repeat of Rihanna’s cover lmao queen of being basic yaaas come through

I read she shot these somewhere in Spring 2018 so she wouldnt have known

[Dayman 5,903]

Idk. I like them. They look very painterly and have minimal editing which is always nice to see in comparison to some of the overly plastic and sterile looking shoots you often get. They're very warm and inviting. I think they fit Beyoncé and her marketing very well while still being appropriate for Vogue.

[sethrb101 4,422]

The Bey and J-Law pics look great. It's getting kind of annoying hating on Beyoncé for no reason. Gaga has the October cover. Y'all can chill now.

[Pierre 10,480]

The one in the stairs is a disaster, Tyler's style is very instagram/testino/hawkesworth in a bad way, very dry.

[beaublue 3,865]

4 hours ago, mister max said:

I read she shot these somewhere in Spring 2018 so she wouldnt have known

Well that excuses the Rihanna part but not the reuse of the pregnancy concept 🤷🏻‍♂️

[doppelganger 3,740]

The 2nd and 4th photo is pretty terrible. It’s Vogue ; where’s the glamour, where’s the fashion? 

I love the soft and romantic aesthetic in comparison to Annie’s hard images but these are just not good enough for Vogue. The photographer isn’t ready for this gig

[Guest Adarsh]

Being a fashion student, I find it very college assignment like 

[Bebe 16,562]

7 hours ago, Mirages said:

Well for a long time Annie Leibowitz style was and still is favored for Vogue covers and I see why cause they're all polished and glamorous.... I see what Beyoncé was going for here - raw back to roots strong black woman but it really doesn't look like vogue at all... And I have to say nothing against Beyonce but I don't like those pictures even for Instagram. She didn't bring anything new and stunning as I expected but I agree it doesn't scream vogue and high fashion to me at all. 

Playing devils advocate - do you think part of the reason it doesn't look "Vogue" is because it's an institution that has consistently favoured white artists? 

As Beyonce herself put it:

"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....

If people in powerful positions continue to hire and cast only people who look like them, sound like them, come from the same neighborhoods they grew up in, they will never have a greater understanding of experiences different from their own. They will hire the same models, curate the same art, cast the same actors over and over again, and we will all lose."

I'll be totally honest I think this cover:
 

And I think these shots:

Are for more beautiful, atmospheric, unique, current and interesting than:

This cover:

With these shots:

I've seen that 1000 times before from Vogue, I've seen them use the same elite group of photographers, I've seen this style, I've seen these compositions, I've seen this use of colour, I've seen these backdrops, I've seen these poses, I've seen this mood.

This current September issue and the photographs inside feature a different photographer with a style that's obviously different than Annie Leibovitz (featured in OP) and different from Mario Testino (From Beyonce's 2015 September cover) but it still feels very Vogue to me.