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wenty-five years ago, if you were promoting
a cause alongside scaling the career ladder,
no one wanted to hear about it. Salma Hayek
Pinault remembers campaigning in the 1990s
to protect female victims of domestic abuse and
being met with blank faces. “Some of the issues I was fighting
for, nobody wanted to talk about,” the 52-year-old actor
recollected. “One time I heard, ‘That’s not a sexy cause.’”
And so, on set for Vogue in New York this summer, Hayek
Pinault took in the scene with satisfaction. “Nowadays,
everybody’s an activist!” she said, gesturing at a cast of
women ranging from veteran supermodel and maternal
health advocate Christy Turlington Burns, 50, to catwalk
newcomer and former refugee Adut Akech, 19, who had
gathered on one of several shoot days for the magazine’s
September cover story. The line-up is evidence that, in 2019,
a new metric for global success is in play. First, attract
visibility. Then, convert visibility into a platform. Finally,
use your platform to effect change.
Indeed, several of the women talked of their professions
as adjuncts to their advocacy work. When Yara Shahidi, 19,
actor and youth voting activist, arrived, she bounded over
to Jameela Jamil, 33, The Good Place star and body positivity
campaigner, and a mutual fan-girl moment ensued. Yara’s
mother, Keri, who accompanies the Black-ish lead everywhere,
remarked, “With Yara, she’s not an actress – it’s incidental.
Same with Jameela, same with Laverne [Cox, actor and
LGBTQIA+ advocate]. I really feel she was put on this
earth with a higher purpose. She wants to help people.”
The following week, in a sunlit studio in west London,
a second cast assembled. For some, talent has made them
barrier breakers in their fields, from 27-year-old Francesca
Hayward’s ascension to principal at The Royal Ballet, to
36-year-old Gemma Chan’s breakout Hollywood success.
They spoke about broadening the talent pool – as did the
brilliant young boxer Ramla Ali: “A lot of clubs now welcome
women, which wasn’t how it was when I started.”
The atmosphere was convivial. “Would you like a selfie?”
said author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie teasingly to the
uncharacteristically tongue-tied model and mental health
activist Adwoa Aboah (who did). Meanwhile, catching wind
that Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minster of New Zealand, was to
be photographed via video link that day, inclusivity champion
Sinéad Burke gushed, “In the wake of the Christchurch
attacks, I remember her wearing a hijab out of respect – how
many of our leaders would do something like that?”
In keeping with the fact that the 16th spot on Vogue’s
cover would be a mirror, to show how you, the reader, are
part of this moment, too, the mood was collegiate. “It’s very
human to want to ‘do something’, but it is overwhelming,”
said Turlington Burns. “I tell people just to try. It could be
supporting somebody else who is really passionate. Thinking
about the things that get your blood boiling or that make
you sad – that’s a good indicator of where to start.”
It’s a lesson that teenage environmentalist Greta Thunberg
understands well. Photographed at her weekly protest outside
Sweden’s Parliament House, one day before the London shoot,
the girl who started a global youth movement told Vogue,
“I’m here to change the way we look at the ecological crisis,
to spread awareness that together we can put pressure on
people in power, so they have to change things.”
At 16, Thunberg is one of Vogue’s youngest ever cover
stars, while its oldest, Jane Fonda, at 81, took a quiet pride
in how the sands have shifted for women since her early
career. “I have been very controversial – and I’ve survived,”
was all she would say of her legacy.WHAT CHANGES DO YOU WANT
TO SEE IN THE WORLD? THAT’S THE
QUESTION HRH THE DUCHESS OF
SUSSEX AND VOGU E POSED TO 15
WOMEN WITH 15 UNIQUE CAUSES
- AND IT SEEMS THEIR AMBITIONS
FOR THE PLANET AND ITS PEOPLE
KNOW NO BOUNDS. PHOTOGRAPHS
BY PETER LINDBERGH. FASHION
EDITORS: GRACE CODDINGTON
AND EDWARD ENNINFUL