July Fashion Magazine Report Card
July 6, 2019Each month we review popular U.S. fashion magazines to uncover trends in hiring female photographers for editorial features and cover stories.
This month we grazed July/Summer 2019 issues of ELLE, Vogue, Marie Claire, Porter, and Harper’s Bazaar.
Overview:
5 Fashion Magazines
5 Female Editors-In-Chief
1.5* Covers by a Female Photographer
27 Features
24 Male photographers (78% of the photographers hired were male)
7 Female photographers (22% of the photographers hired were female)
0 Black/Latinx photographers (We counted 2 Asian photographers but information on ethnicity is not always available.)
Despite an inspiring increase in the number of black and brown models/actors gracing the covers of fashion magazines in 2019, the number of female and non-white photographers being hired to photograph features and covers does not seem to have increased significantly in the past year.
While the vast majority of editors-in-chief and photo editors are women, often self-described feminists, and they have made female-empowering headlines their marketing gold (their readers are 80% female,) we are hoping for at least 50% representation when it comes to hiring diverse image-makers.
Here’s the breakdown:
Vogue
Features: 9
Womxn photographers: 2.5*
Black/Latinx photographers: 0
EIC: Anna Wintour
Sr. Visual Producer: Danielle Gruberger
ELLE
Features: 2
Womxn Photographers: 0
Black/Latinx photographers: 0
EIC: Nina Garcia
Deputy Photo Director: Cary Georges
Marie Claire
Features: 2*
Womxn photographers: 0
Black/Latinx photographers: 0
EIC: Anne Fulenwider
Chief Visual Content Director: Alix Campbell
Harper’s Bazaar
Features: 6
Womxn Photographers: 2
Black/Latinx photographers: 0
EIC: Glenda Bailey
Visual & Bookings Director: Ignacio Murillo
Porter
Features: 8
Womxn Photographers: 1.5*
Black/Latinx photographers: 0
EIC: Sarah Bailey
Bookings & Photography Director: Karla Shield
While Porter gets props for being the only fashion magazine reviewed that hired a female photographer to shoot a cover, 7 of their 8 features were shot by white male photographers.
BONUS FIND:
Madonna was photographed by two male photographers for the cover of British Vogue with the headline: “As A Woman, I Had To Fight To Get Where I Am Now” If any celebrity could demand a female photographer, it’s Madame X.
Help is here. Resources for finding diverse photographers: Alreadymade, GirlGaze, Trove Artist Management, Equal Lens, F Collective, Authority Collective, Diversify Photo, & more.
Read more about our campaign to #DiversifyTheLens.
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*The fine print: Features refers to the number of feature stories in the ‘well’ of the magazine that included photography. EIC = Editor-in-Chief. “.5” = refers to stories shot by a male/female team or single features that use multiple photographers 1 male, 1 female. Two of Marie Claire’s four features were photo-illustrative/illustration collage, one of which was created by a female artist. If we have reported anything in error, please contact us.
