After months of waiting, the first ever Vogue India cover has been released, and Gemma Ward’s face is gracing yet another Vogue launch cover. This time the Australian model is lined up in between popular Indian fashion and Bollywood women: Bipasha Basu (left of Ward), Priyanka Chopra (right of Ward), Monikangana, Preity Zinta and Laxmi Menon.
The cover features the women wearing beautiful dresses from Roberto Cavalli, Valentino, Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Christian Dior and Gucci, styled by British Vogue’s Fashion Director, Lucinda Chambers and photographed by Patrick Demarchelier.
So what is inside the cover? As expected, Vogue India’s launch issue pays tribute to the phenomenon that has captured the hearts, minds and wardrobes of a billion people – Bollywood. While some of the cover girls reveal their style secrets, and in the fashion spreads we see more of Gemma Ward on the sets of Saawariya in the BollyVogue Special, again styled by Chambers and photographed by Demarchelier.
Vogue India, launched in India today with it’s nearly 400 page October 2007 issue, is edited by Priya Tanna and it marks the 17th edition of Vogue published worldwide. This launch follows the 2005 launch of Vogue China, which also featured Gemma Ward on the cover (pictured above, right), sharing cover space with popular Chinese models.
In an article in the Guardian, Vogue reveals that they are aiming for a target readership of 250,000, “with an edition that promises to be more colourful than the 16 other editions of Vogue published everywhere from the USA to Taiwan.”
Read this interview at Forbes.com to hear what Tanna says about Vogue India – it’s point of different and how Indian women will perceive Vogue.
What do you think of the cover?
Gemma adds a nice international Vogue flavour to the look huh?
Its good that Vogue has finally made it to India, and Gemma Ward is stunning
I like the China cover better, the clothes have texture and make the cover interesting, where as the Indian cover is just too L’Oreal advertising-ish.
Is Gemma an Indian or of Indian origin??
She sticks out like a sore thumb between the gorgeous Indian girls. As usual if there is no dumb blond bimbo the magazine is not going to sell. I am so disgusted with Vogue India for putting an Aussie on an Indian magazine. Can you ever imagine Australian Vogue putting Bipasha Basu on their cover… never….
Rashmi, most Vogue’s have international faces on the cover of their magazines. US Vogue often have Australian, British, people from the Americas and etc on the cover. It’s an international magazine, not a magazine cover which is exclusive for the country people it is published in.
I’m with Rashmi. There was no need to put a non Indian on the cover. Apparently it has caused a ‘kerfuffle’ in India.
I understand that they may be trying to convey the universal aspct of fashion (and India has a ‘soft touch’ for Aus because they film a lot of their movies here but Gemma is not representing Aus, she’s representing Vogue) but believe it, the Indian model/actresses standing on either side of Gemma are extremely high profile if you take in to consideration that Indian films are watched by a third of the world population…they are simply more well known. To the majority, it’s Gemma who?
What I don’t get is why they didn’t use a global high profile face like Aishwarya Rai.
AND… Bipasha Basu is already semi-known in the fashion world because she won the Ford Supermodel of the World Contest in 1996 plus she recently co-hosted the new Seven Wonders of the World event with Hilary Swank.
That should have made her ‘credible’ enough… this is supposd to be Vogue India not Vogue Indenial.
Why are people getting upset about having an Australian model on the cover of an Indian magazine, considering many of the Australian magazines in Australia such as Cleo, Cosmopolitan etc have American models. Whats the difference people??
You have to understand that it is the inaugral issue of Vogue India. There fore Indian models made sense.
They could have have any other emaciated white chick on the cover on later issues it wouldn’t have made a difference.
If there were no models of international calibre and fame in India then go ahead. The Indian girls are not going to identify with a blonde !!!
And by the way it makes no difference to Aussie magazines having American models … they are all caucasians. By the way have you ever seen an Aboriginal Girl on the cover of any Aussie fashion magazine… I rest my case.
Wow, I didn’t know my comments made such an impact on your website.
Thanks for the newcover with Deepika Padukone. I saw her on the chat show Koffee with Karan for the first time… and she is stunning. Looks great on the cover. Waiting to see her in the Hindi blockbuster movie Om Shanti Om which is going to be released in early November.
Are you kdding me? I don’t really like Gemma Ward myself, but who cares that she’s not indian? People are becoming stupidly politically correct, its JUST a magazine!
Rashmi you need to grow up. This is about FASHION…not abt INDIA!
Keshi.
I think what Rashmi said was nothing more than a reactionary response to what she has to deal with being a brown skin outside India.Words like white chick explains her reactionary response which I condemn. However, I do feel that they should not have used a foriegn model in the centre of first ever Vogue India cover giving her more importance than major bollywood actresses like Priety Zinta, Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra. Since Vogue India is predominantly for indian readers, it must be shocking enough to see these bollywood goddesses (yes for many they are nothing less; just as Hollywood actresses would be for any american) jostling to fit in the picture with an alien beauty. Most of the Indians do not even know who Gemma Ward is, so she getting more attention than their home-grown beauties is likely to infuriate any self-respecting indian.
Vogue is an international magazine just as fashion is an international craze.
get the point.
hey really rashmi calm down! what the hell? gemma is just amazing x
The point is that nothing has changed. It’s human nature to be attracted to those things which are less common. Even in India, because a significant minority of people possess features such as light eyes (estimated 3-6%).. those features will always stand out. I mean the majority of white caucasians do not possess high prominent cheekbones or full lips yet those are teh features that are truly admired in teh west.
Obviously more prominent examples could include why all of Bollywood are light skinned indians.
The whole concept of a “standard of beauty” is where it all went wrong. And by the looks of it.. there’s no going back now folks. But to be honest.. Gemma Ward looks hideous and I still do not understand how people can be attracted to a girl whose face stopped growing after the age of 7 and then NEEDS makeup to actually have facial features. This is the standard of beauty – “have as plain and as featureless of a face as possible, preferably really really white.. it’s like a blank canvas.. you can do almost anything with it”. But what does it look like when it wakes up in teh morning.
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post.
want to buy this issue,send me the address of stores in hyderabad,india
Hey, I just want to say something.
You know the guy named Rashmi? He has, what I call, a typical Indian reaction to this picture. I mean, most unprejudiced Indians, which could include Rashmi, get along well with other races. I mean, I do. Two of my best friends are on both ends of the spectrum, in terms of color: one is of Eritrean (in Africa) descent and is dark, and the other is of several European countries’ (including Ireland and Italian) descent and is one of the palest people I know. So don’t tell me I’m racist.
And since I’m Indian, I’ll tell you what my fellow Indian is ranting on about.
He doesn’t like the fact that Gemma Ward is on the front cover of the INDIAN vogue magazine because she’s not INDIAN. To him, and kind of to me (though truthfully I really don’t care about magazines; I’ll stick to fantasy books, thank you very much), Gemma Ward shouldn’t be there because she, with her pale skin and blonde hair, doesn’t represent India. And she should, because, again, this is INDIAN vogue, not INDIAN AND AUSTRALIAN vogue. Indian vogue, should be, well, Indian. Indians, in his opinion and in mine, shouldn’t seek to emulate any other race, really. I mean, should any country’s people seek to emulate the other? No.
And plus, if they really wanted to make this vogue cover look ‘international’, they should have added people with a variety of looks and skin colors, not just done all Indian people except for one Australian person.
I agree with Amit. That would probably be their typical reaction. Just as most people in the United States (excluding those who actively keep up with Bollywood) would probably be weirded out if a random model from Bollywood, native to India and unfamiliar with working with Hollywood – first time in her life going in America – turned up in an all American magazine. I mean, at least I would. I’d be like, “What is this random Indian person doing on the cover of this magazine?”
Not trying to be racist or anything, just saying.
Shmi