Ashley Graham Can Explain Why Her Arm Isn’t Raised On That Vogue Cover
The cover of Vogue’s March issue features “Fashion’s Fearless Females.” That’s their words. Most notable among the skinny Vogue regulars, like the Bitches of the Moment Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, is Cheryl Tiegs’ favorite model, Ashley Graham. Ashley has appeared on the cover of British Vogue, but this is her first time on the cover of American Vogue.
Anna Wintour probably thought she was going to be greeted with a wall of applause for putting a non-skinny like Ashley on the cover with the rest of the low-BMI club. Except that her nomination for 2017’s biggest humanitarian award was replaced with people accusing Vogue of trying to make Ashley look skinnier. After people screamed and made the sign of the cross at Gigi’s extra long demon alien hand, they wondered why all the other models got to pose with their arms bent like 1980s Barbies while Ashley had to rest hers on her leg. Ashley Graham has an explanation about that arm situation.
Ashley posted a picture of her Vogue cover to Instagram yesterday, and then she hopped into the comments when people wouldn’t stop asking if Vogue made her pose like that to elongate her midsection. E! News points out that Ashley responded by saying:
“I chose to pose like that. No one told me to do anything.”
The Daily Mail also points out that Vogue did Photoshop in a white stripe on Ashley’s shorts, which may explain why Gigi’s Montgomery Burns-looking hand happened. Maybe Vogue just couldn’t get the folds on the fake stripe to look real around her waist, and the easiest solution was to just add extra hand. Of course, there is a chance those fingers actually belong to Ashley, and it just looks like Gigi’s hand continues for an extra six inches.
But back to Ashley’s pose. I believe her when she says it was her choice. I’m sure Vogue approached her with several different poses and let her choose the one she liked the best. “Okay, so we were thinking you could pose behind a surf board. Oooh! Or we could have all the other models bury you in the sand! That’s cute! Or you could just cover the middle of your body with your arm. Lots of choices!”
Pic: Inez and Vinoodh/Vogue