Beyonce on the cover of Vogue. | Photo: Vogue
The world was blessed today when the prestigious September issue of fashion magazine, Vogue, dropped featuring megastar Beyoncé as its cover star.
The notoriously private musician told writer Clover Hope about motherhood, body expectations and opening doors for black people.
US Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, gave Beyoncé full editorial control of her appearance in the September issue, which is the magazine’s most important of the year.
She used her influence to commission 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell to photograph her. The Atlanta native became the first black photographer to shoot the cover in the magazine’s 126 year history.
In the shoot Beyoncé poses wearing very little makeup, hair extensions or wigs, a decision she says was deliberate.
‘I think it’s important for women and men to see and appreciate the beauty in their natural bodies. That’s why I stripped away the wigs and hair extensions and used little makeup for this shoot,’ she wrote.
The Grammy award winning artist also opened up about the dramatic birth of her twins Rumi and Sir, who were born in early 2017. Beyoncé had to undergo an emergency cesarean section with doctors ordering her on a month’s bed rest afterwards.
‘My health and my babies’ health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section. We spent many weeks in the NICU (intensive care unit),’ she wrote.
‘I was in survival mode and did not grasp it all until months later. Today I have a connection to any parent who has been through such an experience.
Beyonce dazzles in Vogue’s September issue. | Photo: Vogue
Body image
Beyoncé revealed she felt pressured to lose her baby weight after the birth of her first child, Blue Ivy, in 2012. She forced herself to lose the weight within three months and even went on a ‘mini-tour’ to make sure she lost it.
‘Looking back, that was crazy,’ Beyoncé wrote.
But the second time around she decided to embrace her post-baby body.
‘I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth to Rumi and Sir… To this day my arms, shoulders, breasts, and thighs are fuller. I have a little mommy pouch, and I’m in no rush to get rid of it. I think it’s real,’ she wrote.
Six months after the birth of her twins she started to prepare for her iconic Coachella performance. Beyoncé went vegan temporarily, gave up alcohol, coffee and sweet drinks in preparation for the headlining gig.
Beyonce was photographed by 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell. | Photo:Vogue
Opening doors
As proven when hiring Mitchell to shoot the cover, Beyoncé wants to work to create opportunities for black people. She makes the reader think about the great artists the world may have missed out on such as Nina Simone and Etta James if people hadn’t given them opportunities to kick start their careers.
‘When I first started, 21 years ago, I was told that it was hard for me to get onto covers of magazines because black people did not sell. Clearly that has been proven a myth,’ she wrote.
‘Not only is an African American on the cover of the most important month for Vogue, this is the first ever Vogue cover shot by an African American photographer.’
Beyonce wore very little makeup for her Vogue cover shoot. | Photo: Vogue
Beyoncé also extends that philosophy to her children, saying she wants to be a good role model for them.
‘As the mother of two girls, it’s important to me that they see themselves too—in books, films, and on runways. It’s important to me that they see themselves as CEOs, as bosses, and that they know they can write the script for their own lives—that they can speak their minds and they have no ceiling,’ she wrote.
She also wants the same for her son, Sir.
‘I want him to know that he can be strong and brave but that he can also be sensitive and kind. I want my son to have a high emotional IQ where he is free to be caring, truthful, and honest,’ Beyoncé wrote.
‘It’s everything a woman wants in a man, and yet we don’t teach it to our boys.’
Slave past
After researching her history Beyoncé learnt that she comes from a lineage where a slave owner married a slave. She said that relationship would go on to define male and female relationships in her family for generations. Conflict and abuse of power dominated her family relationships for years.
But now that she knows her family history, she believes she can undo those toxic patterns for the sake of her children.
‘I now believe it’s why God blessed me with my twins. Male and female energy was able to coexist and grow in my blood for the first time. I pray that I am able to break the generational curses in my family and that my children will have less complicated lives.’
