David Hockney's painted 'Vogue' cover is a soothing moment in your day
Why have one Vogue cover when you can have 14 different ones?
That's the plan for the August issue of British Vogue, a special edition exploring the theme of "reset" — especially fitting for a world still experiencing lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders in many countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The covers feature original artwork by the UK's great artists and photographers, including David Hockney, Nadine Ijewere, Tim Walker, Nick Knight, Lubaina Himid, Mert Alas, David Sims, Marcus Piggott, Jamie Hawkesworth, Juergen Teller, Alasdair McLellan, Martin Parr, David Bailey, and Craig McDean.
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Each cover image captures a local landscape cherished by the artist. For celebrated artist David Hockney, that special landscape is a wheat field near Fridaythorpe, East Yorkshire. For photographer Nadine Ijewere, that place is Carbost, Isle of Skye.
The August issue also features an essay called "All Across the Land" by Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk, on the theme of "reset."
"The familiar patterns of our lives have been broken, the future is unknowable, and all of us are searching for signs and wonders, for reassurance, for hope, for things that make sense to us when everything seems desolate," wrote Macdonald. "We are beginning to view nature through new eyes."
"I have been surprised by the sensuousness that nature has given me: the green fragrance of lanes near my home, the brush of wind on skin, the pleasure of planting and watering," she continued. "Without human contact, it’s all I have, but it feels, right now, enough. In lockdown many of us have rediscovered gardening, or found ourselves focusing on the wellbeing of houseplants on our windowsills."
Edward Enninful OBE, editor in chief of British Vogue, said in a statement that the issue is "not only beautiful and poignant, but also highlights that at the core of everything is our planet."
"I very much hope 2020 signals a reset in our relationship to nature," he added.
Read the full feature in the August issue of British Vogue, available via digital download and on newsstands Friday July 3.
Topics COVID-19
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
