Kamala Harris - first woman of colour of Indian descent to become the vice-president of the United States has inspired and empowered many young girls and women to dream.
Therefore, her first magazine cover is supposed to be breathtaking, but has disappointed netizens and sparked controversy.
What has happened?
Harris will feature on the cover of Vogue's February issue. The magazine recently tweeted two photographs of her digitally. In one image, Kamala, 56 is seen wearing her trademark Converse sneakers, standing in front of a pink and green drape. The other shows her in a powder blue suit, her arms crossed in front of a gold background.
The photographs have faced backlash on social media alleging Vogue of "whitewashing" her skin colour and degrading its standard of high-quality photographs. While some accused Vogue of racists behaviour and not putting much thought to it and said the VP-elect deserves better.
Both the photographs were taken by 26-year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell.
See reactions:
"The pic itself isn't terrible as a pic. It's just far, far below the standards of Vogue. They didn't put thought into it. Like homework finished the morning it's due," LGBTQ activist Charlotte Clymer tweeted.
"What a mess up," wrote New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali. "Anna Wintour must not have Black friends and colleagues. I'll shoot shots of VP Kamala Harris for free using my Samsung and I'm 100% confident it'll turn out better than this Vogue cover."
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According to an American journalist, Yasher Ali, the controversial print cover was not expected by Kamala Harris’s team. It wasn’t the cover that Vice President-elect’s team and Vogue mutually agreed upon. It was the cover in which the future VP is seen wearing a light blue suit with the American flag badge pinned, that both parties mutually selected.
I’m beside myself. It’s actually one of the worst covers I’ve ever seen. https://t.co/WFSxW0Vpv0
— June Diane Raphael (@MsJuneDiane) January 10, 2021
The lighting is atrocious. It has no POV. Her face is washed out. The pose is awful. Did they use professional stylists? A makeup artist? A professional photographer? She is a STUNNING woman. This looks like they just photoshopped a snapshot into a generic quirky background.
— Queen Mother of the Queers (@EditaGeorgevna) January 10, 2021