British 'Vogue's' next issue will be a 'model-free zone'

LONDON -- The next issue of British Vogue will hit newsstands this Thursday, just as it does every month of the year. Only this time there will be one remarkable difference: its fashion pages will be a "model-free zone".

According to editor Alexandra Shulman, no models will appear in the features included in what it's dubbed "The real issue", although the magazine's advertising pages will still feature models.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The issue will explore what "real" beauty is and how successful women dress at work.

The cover star -- The Girl on the Train actress Emily Blunt -- was chosen because she has "made a reputation for herself portraying relatable women," according to Shulman.

The issue will also feature tetraplegic journalist Melanie Reid, architectural historian Shumi Bose, ice-cream entrepreneur Kitty Travers and Unruly Media co-founder Sarah Wood.

"The idea for this Real Issue came to me in the spring. We were working on a feature about the Netflix series The Crown and were having problems getting hold of the clothes that we wanted to photograph the actors in," wrote Shulman in the issue's letter from the editor.

"This was not the first time that I had heard from a stylist, working on a story where clothes would be shot on people who were not models, that they were having difficulty getting the pieces they wanted." Shulman said that while fashion models play a "huge part in making us all love fashion and wanting the clothes for ourselves," this shouldn't be the only way that it is viewed. She continued: "Fashion should be something that everybody – no matter their age, size, creed, profession – should be encouraged to enjoy. And it is just as exciting, and certainly as interesting, to see fashion worn by people who have nothing to do with the industry and whose daily lives are far removed from it."