Kamala Harris Lands A Second Vogue Cover and an Endorsement

Vogue is all-in with the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, featuring her on its digital October cover.

To make its message clear, Vogue’s only cover lines are “The Candidate for Our Times” and “Vice President Kamala Harris.”

This is the second time Vogue has endorsed a political candidate. Eight years ago the magazine backed endorsed Clinton for her Democratic presidential run, which was the first time in the Conde Nast-owned magazine’s history that a political endorsement had been made.

This is also the second time that Harris has landed a Vogue cover, having first appeared on the February 2021 issue wearing a Donald Deal brown pantsuit, an ecru crewneck top and Converse sneakers without socks. That Tyler Mitchell portrait kicked up so much controversy that Vogue published a limited run with a new photo of Harris.

Vogue’s current digital cover of Harris is expected to reach about 100 million people via its web site and its social media. “But that grows exponentially, when you add in our global markets – many of whom will also promote the story,” claimed Condé Nast ‘s vice president of communications Jill Weiskopf.

In the cover story, Harris spoke with contributor Nathan Heller about the crisis in the Middle East, her zeal for Venn diagrams and how she learned President Joe Biden would be dropping out of the race (while she was making pancakes). She also described trying to track down her husband Doug Emhoff to share the news, but he was at a SoulCycle class.

Regarding the crisis in the Middle East, Harris told Vogue, “There’s been a language and a conversation around what’s been happening, particularly around Israel and Gaza, that suggests that this is binary. It’s not. You’re not either for this one or for that one.” 

Harris wore one of her brown Gabriela Hearst suits and her own Tiffany & Co. pearl and gold earrings, as well as a gold American flag pin in her lapel and a gold bracelet for the Annie Leibovitz shoot, according to a Vogue spokesperson. Her stylist of choice, Leslie Fremar, served as the sittings editor, and the hair stylist Breanna Jaggers and makeup artist Marquia James were also part of the team.

A spokesperson for Hearst issued this statement on her behalf Friday, “In December of 2016, when we were working on our Angela Davis collection for our first-ever show (fall 2017), we added in our mood board the new senator from California Kamala Harris as a very needed motivator for the women’s cause. Fast forward to today, it is an honor of our career that Vice President Harris wore us. As she stands for everything we believe in: democracy, women’s rights and climate. We are extremely grateful to Leslie Fremar.”

Fremar declined to comment via a spokesperson.

Hearst has suited up First Lady Jill Biden for several key occasions, including the inaugural evening ensemble that she wore in 2021. Harris is also a fan of Chloe, the French fashion brand where Hearst previously was creative director. Her successor at Chloe, Chemena Kamali, has dressed Vice President Harris for major photo-ops like her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August in Chicago.

A representative for Leibovitz acknowledged a media request, but had not responded Friday afternoon.

The fact that Vogue did not feature Melania Trump, a former model, on a cover when she was first lady, as her predecessors had been, has been a point of consternation for Trump. As for whether Conde chief content officer and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour would still be open to featuring Emhoff on the cover of Vogue, should he become First Gentleman if Harris wins, a Condé Nast spokesperson referenced Wintour’s response to another reporter in the past: “Why not?”