The August issue of British Vogue is a celebration of 50 years of Pride in London and sees 12 prominent LGBTQIA+ figures model for the fashion magazine as they discuss their experiences within the community.
Model and actor Cara Delevingne, singer and actor Cynthia Erivo, and actor Ariana DeBose also star individually in three special digital covers, next to the cover line “Come Together”. A true celebration, they discuss the importance of representation and allyship.
“Growing up, I didn’t really see many people like me. So I’m just really grateful to be able to be one of those people representing,” Delevingne says to Vogue. Wearing a personalised oversize white T-shirt with a chrome corset, thigh-high boots, and wet-look hair, Delevingne, 29, reaffirms that “love is love.”
Star of “West Side Story”, and the first openly queer woman of colour to win an Oscar, DeBose looks directly into the camera wearing a Colouful Standard white vest top, tucked into a Dior leather skort with a patent waist belt. With large hoop earrings and hand-in hair, DeBose, 31, tells Vogue: “The way that you love, who you love, how you love – it makes you special, it is your superpower. And never let anyone take that away from you.”
London-born Erivo, 35, wears a Louis Vuitton shirt and tie tucked into leather trousers with a classic mac on top. With statement rings and finger jewellery, the Grammy, Emmy, and Tony-award-winning actor tells Vogue: “The consequence is that some young Black queer actress somewhere will know coming in that she’s not alone.”
These celebratory covers will be on the newsstand at the same time as US Vogue’s August issue starring “The Crown” star, Emma Corrin. The nonbinary actor, who shows her armpit hair on the cover, told Vogue: “In my mind, gender just isn’t something that feels fixed,” they said, “and I don’t know if it ever will be; there might always be some fluidity there for me.”
Ahead, see these fabulous covers and the creatives who are making strides for queer representation.
The August issue of British Vogue is available via digital download and on newsstands from Tuesday 19 July.
Vogue / Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Cara Delevingne
Since bursting onto the modelling scene in the early 2010s, Delevingne’s love life has constantly been part of the rumour mill, but she doesn’t recall an official ‘coming out’ story. “It was more that I just decided to put my cards on the table and say look, I’m in love, I’m in love with who I’m in love with. It didn’t feel like I was making, you know, a conscious decision to be out. It just meant that I was done with being in the closet. I was done with being ashamed for who I loved and who I was. So for me it was more just being like, love is love, and we should be able to love who we want,” she tells Vogue.
Delevingne continues to talk of being accepted into the LGBTQ+ community, stating it’s “more than family.” Currently starring in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” alongside friend Selena Gomez, Delevigngne plays the love interest of Gomez’s character, Mabel Mora. She continues to state how important allies are to the community. “There are so many people in so much pain, and throughout the world, there are still choices being made, policies and governments that are going against people’s human rights, and that is not okay.”
Vogue / Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Ariana DeBose
DeBose has been paving the way for the community for some time, yet has still been asked to change at moments throughout her career. “As a queer woman of colour I’ve been asked to be more urban as if my brand of Blackness wasn’t quite Black enough. I think that’s interesting,” she tells Vogue. “I’ve also been asked to be more butch, which is not a bad thing. But sometimes you’d like to be able to bring your sheer humanity to a role. I don’t think roles for queer women have to always present in one specific way.”
The “Hamilton” actor also urges all of us to step up in the ongoing rights for gay, nonbinary, and transgender humans. “So when you see something, say something, raise your voice. Write to your government officials about how you would want to be treated in the world. Because if you wouldn’t want it to happen to you, I can tell you something, we don’t want it to happen to us, you know?”
Vogue / Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Cynthia Erivo
Growing up in South London, Erivo now lives in Los Angeles. Having realised she was queer and bisexual when she was 15, she didn’t have the vocabulary to describe it at the time. “I could feel myself actively hiding that part of myself and it didn’t feel good. That takes a lot of energy to uphold and there is zero return, ” Erivo tells Vogue. “I felt like I was looking at my community be alive and vibrant from inside a glass box. I don’t want to watch from inside that glass box anymore…There’s not enough room in there and there is no ventilation!”
And Erivo, who stars in the upcoming feature film “Luther” with Idris Elba, wants to encourage others to be free and open with their identity. “Everything I do is on purpose. I know there are young people who need to see me speak out so that they can get one step closer to doing the same.”
Vogue / Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
British Vogue August 2022 Cover
