Twitter celebrates black women taking centre stage on September issue covers

The September issue of any fashion magazine is especially significant, as it marks the beginning of a new season that sees numerous designers around the world unveil their innovative autumn and winter collections.

People on social media have been singing the praises of multiple magazines for showcasing a variety of celebrated black women as the cover stars of their September issues.

Those featured include Beyoncé for US Vogue, Tracee Ellis Ross for Elle, Zendaya for Marie Claire, Rihanna for British Vogue and Tiffany Haddish for Glamour.

The range of covers has been described as "monumental" on Twitter, as it highlights the importance of representation in the media.

Earlier this year, an investigation conducted for The Guardian revealed that out of 214 covers published by 19 monthly UK magazines in 2017, only 20 had featured a person of colour.

In her recent interview in US Vogue, Beyoncé stated that early on in her career she’d been informed that “black people did not sell” on magazine covers.

However, the myriad of September issues featuring black women on the front has further emphasised that this claim is entirely unfounded.

“Clearly that has been proven a myth,” she said.

Gracing the cover of the September issues of esteemed publications is a huge honour reserved for global icons, and this year’s covers are no exception.

In July, it was rumoured that Beyoncé had been given “unprecedented” control of the September cover of US Vogue, with permission to choose which photos were to be included in the magazine and oversee all long-form captions included.

Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, explained to Business of Fashion that Condé Nast creative director Raul Martinez had personally overseen the appointment of Tyler Mitchell as the photographer for Beyoncé's cover shoot, having taken notice of the 23-year-old after he photographed gun control activists for Teen Vogue in March.

Beyoncé immediately approved of this choice, making Mitchell the first black photographer hired to shoot the cover in the magazine’s 126-year history.

“It’s important to me that I help open doors for younger artists,” Beyoncé said in the interview.

“There are so many cultural and societal barriers to entry that I like to do what I can to level the playing field, to present a different point of view for people who may feel like their voices don’t matter.”

In addition to the aforementioned September cover stars, Lupita Nyong’o has been featured on the cover of Porter, Issa Rae on the cover of Ebony, Yara Shahidi on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter and Nicki Minaj on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in Russia.

Twitter users have been expressing their excitement over the vast array of covers featuring black women, with film director Matthew Cherry writing: “Pretty monumental week already.”

“To see so many beautiful black women on the covers of magazines in the month of September is so special,” tweeted actor and singer-songwriter Dawn Richard.

“What a time for the black woman to see herself represented in such diverse ways. Congrats to all the cover girls.”

“Beyoncé and Rihanna are Vogue’s September issue cover stars at the same damn time,” wrote a Twitter user.

“Beyoncé gave them their first black photographer in 126 years. Rihanna is the first black woman to front British Vogue’s Sept issue.

“Black women did THAT."