Gigi Hadid has been photographed on the cover of the first issue of Vogue Arabia, hitting stands on March 5.
The model, who is half-Palestinian and half-Dutch, appears on the black-and-white cover wearing a jewel-encrusted veil. The headline in Arabic reads “an eye on the east” while the headline in English reads “reorienting perception”. Inside the issue, which will be published in English with a “prominent section in Arabic”, Hadid appears with her head covered in a bright pink and purple veil.
“In one poised photograph, she communicates a thousand words to a region that’s been waiting far too long for its Vogue voice to speak,” said editor-in-chief Deena Al Juhani Abdul Aziz.
However, Hadid’s photographs, styled by New York City-based Brandon Maxwell and shot by the Dutch duo Inez and Vinoodh, were met with mixed reactions online. Some Twitter users supported Hadid’s involvement as a half-Palestinian, while others questioned the magazine’s choice of a West-based model for the launch issue, or rejected the use of a veil, styled as a hijab in some photos, as an accessory.
Hadid wrote a lengthy post on her Instagram page about her involvement with the launch.
“I think the beautiful thing about there being international Vogues is that, as a fashion community, we are able to celebrate, and share with the world, different cultures,” she said.
“Being half-Palestinian, it means the world to me to be on the first-ever cover(s) of @voguearabia, and I hope that this magazine will show another layer of the fashion industry’s desire to continue to accept, celebrate, and incorporate all people & customs and make everyone feel like they have fashion images and moments they can relate to,” she added.
Abdul Aziz in a press release said the magazine has “the authority and insight needed to capture the creativity of a distinctive, evolving and often misrepresented part of the world.”
As well as spotlighting Hadid, Vogue Arabia will feature interviews with Jordanian-Romanian shoe designer Amina Muaddi, Lebanon-born tuxedo designer Racil Chalhoub and an expose on Moroccan socialite Aicha-Laghzaoui Benhima. Readers will also get a look into the home of Lebanese interior designer Maria Ousseimi.
A fashion editorial under the direction of Paul Cavaco will be published, and will feature work from photographers such as Greg Kadel, Terry Tsiolis, Hans Feurer and Ben Hassett, and new talent such as Giovanni Squatriti and Fahren Feingold.
“From the very beginning we knew that we wanted to address not just a local expat community, but all fashion-savvy Arab women. This is why we launched Vogue digitally first in two languages in October 2016,” said Karina Dobrotvorskaya, president of Conde Nast new markets and editorial director of brand development, referring to the vogue.me website.
“It’s also why we do not just syndicate fashion shoots from different international editions of Vogue, and why we produce the shoots ourselves, [especially] for our Arab audience.”
Vogue Arabia is the 22nd edition of the global magazine and will be available regionally and internationally. Vogue is also published in America, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, Japan, China, Taiwan, Mexico and Latin America, Korea, Brazil, Australia, Portugal, India, Turkey, Thailand, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
