On March 3, 2017, Vogue published an ambitious 15-part project photographing women throughout the United States to mark the 125th anniversary of the magazine. The photos, seen here as a sample collection, are a beautiful time capsule of the fashions, industries, and interests across the country.
Vogue.com’s creative digital director, Sally Singer, issued a statement saying, "Our intention was to celebrate the extraordinary diversity of style, enterprise, and values (in every sense) that define us today. We asked the photographers we admire most to shoot communities that we (and they) found riveting."
Each project is ambitious, reflecting on the scope of influences and challenges in modern society. The sections look at everything from Standing Rock to NASA, from women in the military to Muslim women and Mennonites. Each one is worth exploring, as each photographer brings a different vision or voice to the project.
"Every person photographed for this project is captivating, dynamic, gorgeous...that is, everything Vogue has presented, and represented, for 125 years," Singer's statement says.
Referencing the current political climate, Singer's statement is careful to note, "There is nothing in what follows that was intended as a response to the presidency of Donald Trump or to the women's movement that has gained force in its wake. And yet, so much has changed since we began initial photography, and so quickly. The camps at Standing Rock have been razed. Families fear deportation of their friends and loved ones. Notions of race and educational opportunity are debated on Twitter. Sexuality, religion, ecology, nationality...everything seems in transition or under attack depending on where you stand on the political spectrum. Some of these women must feel safer since the election, and for others it's quite the opposite. No doubt if these images could speak we would hear many points of view.
"From our point of view, the objective was always beauty: diverse, unfiltered, and breathtaking. Big League."
