In a historic and momentous moment in American history, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was featured in the iconic fashion magazine Vogue for their February cover issue!
Many celebrated the fact that for the first time in history, not only is the Vice President a woman, but a South-Asian and Black woman to boot! It's because of this that those that saw the cover took issue with the photo they chose.
Meena Harris speaks out on controversial Vogue cover
Vogue hasn't always been known for its diversified covers, and Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour has vowed to make the magazine more inclusive, featuring more people on the cover that represent the true nature of the American people.
However, this past week, Vogue and Wintour came under fire for their choice of how they represented the Vice President, Kamala Harris, in their cover issue, releasing two separate photos.
The first photo for the online cover, which shows Harris in a powder blue suit, arms crossed and warm smile, was widely received positively. However, the print cover was met with major backlash.
The photo features Harris in a different kind of smile, goofier and not so posed, and has the Vice President wearing sneakers and a leather jacket, looking much more casual.
The Today morning show invited Meena Harris, Kamala Harris's niece, to speak on her new children's book, but the conversation took a turn when Meena opened up about her thoughts surrounding the cover.
"It’s a big moment where we have elected the first woman in history, the first Black woman in history, and South-Asian woman, to hold the office of VP in our country’s history, that is a huge historic moment," she said.
She added, "It deserves the proper celebration of that moment especially for a magazine that often has not had Black women on the cover."
Meena wasn't the only one to feel this way, and the author continued it wasn't all bad, adding, "I love the photos of the powder blue suit, I love those and I think that [photographer Tyler Mitchell]’s incredibly talented and of course the woman who wrote the article, it is a lovely inspiring amazing interview."
Anna Wintour was also candid about her choice of the photo and spoke to The New York Times where she said, "Obviously, we have heard and understood the reaction to the print cover, and I just want to reiterate that it was absolutely not our intention to in any way diminish the importance of the vice president-elect's incredible victory."