The fashion guidebook for tweens may be attempting to make up for its recent cultural appropriation screw-up.

In June, Teen Vogue enraged readers by publishing an article by beauty and health director Elaine Welteroth about her experience with Senegalese twists— which was accompanied by photos of a model who is, by all appearances, white. The model was Phillipa Steele, who is actually half Fijian, as well as Tongan, French, English and American.

So, on July 7, the magazine tweeted out a photo of its August cover featuring “Fashion’s New Faces” — 20-year-old Aya Jones who is French-Ivorian, 18-year-old Imaan Hammam who is Egyptian-Moroccan and identifies as black, and 19-year-old Lineisy Montero of the Dominican Republic.

Regardless of the magazine’s motivation, the photo is gorgeous, and the addition of more diverse faces to the covers of major fashion publications is obviously nothing but a positive.


Contact the author at joanna@jezebel.com.