Political Fashion?

The April cover of Vogue features Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen allegedly to illustrate body shape and the "secrets of the best bodies," but some who've seen the cover think photographer Annie Leibovitz had another idea in mind.

The cover bears a striking resemblance to a World War I Army recruiting poster depicting a King Kong-esque beast carrying a damsel in distress in his left arm and a weapon held low in his right hand, with an angry clenched face and mouth open wide to yell.


When I first saw the cover, I thought James and Bundchen were in an odd position, with James yelling and dribbling a ball low to his right, with his left arm around an off-balanced Bundchen's waist. It didn't seem to me that their poses depicted what they were meant to represent.

The idea that Leibovitz was imitating the poster could be indicative of her style of recreating old movie posters in her shoots, or some believe it is a social commentary about "the ancestral American fear of black men." Also linked to this theory is the fact that James is the first black man to appear on Vogue's cover.

Although the photographer hasn't pointed to any inspiration, it seems too likely that she was reinventing the King Kong picture. There are too many details present to think otherwise. James is dressed all in black, while Bundchen is in a greenish dress very similar in length and style to the woman in the poster, with her hair even styled in a similar way.

If the cover was designed in the poster's image, the question becomes who was aware of this plan? If it is indeed a social commentary, it seems likely that at least the subjects should have been clued in, but judging by the text accompanying the cover, it seems unlikely the publication had this intent in mind. A Vogue spokesman has defended the magazine's original intent, and that the subjects just looked good together.

The idea isn't necessarily as controversial as the photographer's ability to engender debate on a topic the publication is unprepared to address. Perhaps Leibovitz has succeeded further in bringing to light the backwardness of society, where a fashion magazine cover graced by celebrities is likely to receive more attention and so cause more political and social debate, than if the statement was intentionally made in a news or political magazine.

Photo Source: Gawker.com