Lupita Nyong’o Got Her Third Vogue Cover
ZzzQuil doesn’t have to worry about another four weeks of low sales, because Anna Wintour didn’t put another snooze-making model on the cover of Vogue this month. Nobody will walk past the latest issue of Vogue and think “Ooh, I feel so drowsy.” It’s impossible to feel sleepy when there’s so much to look at on Lupita Nyong’o’s dress. The collar looks like those fancy candies old people put out at Christmas and those orange chiffon things look like the Wuzzles version of a shar pei and a starfish. Not to mention that Lupita Nyong’o appears to be giving me a look that says she’s wondering how many times I’ve tried to eat beads that look like candy. The answer is twice, Lupita!
But Lupita isn’t in this month’s Vogue just to look good. She also says things too.
Lupita’s latest movie, Queen of Katwe, is about a chess champion from Uganda, so Vogue interviewed Lupita in her family’s village, which is located in Uganda’s next-door-neighbor Kenya. And of course, she talks about growing up in Africa. She also got serious and talked about a certain famous African woman who made her think she could be beautiful famous person too. No, not Gwyneth Paltrow. It was model Alek Wek. When Lupita saw that the fashion world was embracing a woman “who looked so much” like herself, she started realizing that someone who looked like herself could be seen as beautiful too. Then she got to Hollywood and they did just that. Lupita tells Vogue it’s up to her to use that attention to choose good work that represents people who are like her.
“There are certain cards that have been dealt me that I take on. I want to create opportunities for other people of color because I’m fortunate enough to have a platform to do that. That is why [Broadway play] Eclipsed and even Queen of Katwe are so important, to change the narrative, offer a new lens on African identity.”
You can read Lupita’s whole interview here. She talks a whole lot about the woman she plays in Queen of Katwe (it’s based on a real person). But the one thing she didn’t get into was chess. And she’s promoting a movie about chess! Lupita seems like a smart person with the patience of a kind kindergarten teacher, so I was really hoping she’d at least help some of the dum dums out there (me) who can’t chess for shit (me) with a simple tutorial. Maybe she can do that instead of one of those tired-ass Vogue 73 Questions things.
And remember what I said up top about Lupita looking good? Here’s a whole lot of pictures of Lupita looking good. My personal favorite shot is the one of Lupita posing with her 96-year-old grandmother
Pics: Mario Testino/Vogue