Nicki Minaj covers Vogue Arabia’s September 2018 issue. Shot by Emma Summerton
This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of Vogue Arabia
“Nicki Minaj, really?” Surprised faces. For the last couple of months, such has been the general reaction from close friends and family when, here and there, I revealed who was selected to grace Vogue Arabia’s second September issue cover. With a daring style and unfiltered lyrics, Minaj is probably one of the boldest women in music and, for some, an unexpected choice for Vogue Arabia. However, in fashion, being politically correct is not as fun as breaking the rules from time to time. Get the hint from some of the Fall/Winter collections that we dissect in this issue: XXL shoulders and wide hats at Marc Jacobs, alien models with painted bodies at Moschino, and acid colors at Prada and Balmain.
Underneath the pink wigs and all the pop fireworks, what really holds my attention with respect to Minaj, is her talent and entrepreneurship. An immigrant to the US from Trinidad and Tobago, the entertainer started her professional life as a waitress, writing her raps on the order notepads. A decade later, she still writes and produces all her material and has become the bestselling female rapper of all time.
Photographed by Ziga Mihelcic
No wonder that Queen, her new album after a four-year hiatus, reached number one in 86 countries, including the UAE, KSA, Lebanon, and Palestine. Our September issue hero story, produced and photographed by an all-female team, is also Minaj’s first ever Vogue cover. And for Vogue Arabia, it is one of the most successful covers on social media to date.
While putting together this magazine, I had the best time interacting with many outstanding creatives. Ahead of the 350th anniversary of the Paris Opera, étoile dancers Myriam Ould-Braham and Mathias Heymann shared with us the details of their exciting careers, “jetéing” from the Maghreb to France’s most grandiose stage. In Egypt, iconic beauty Yasmine Sabri chatted about the striving regional cinema scene and her lightning rise to fame. In Beirut, some of the most dynamic women of Lebanon’s cultural scene – symbolically photographed in the bullet-riddled Beit Beirut – commented on their work and the country’s love of the arts, even in war times.
Nicki Minaj wears: dress, Blumarine; bodysuit, Wolford; earrings, Jennifer Fisher; cuffs, David Yurman. Shot by Emma Summerton
While attending fashion weeks in New York, Paris, and Milan, especially coming from Dubai, I couldn’t help but notice the efforts of many international designers to include veils and headscarves in their collections. I wondered if this was a pure creative choice, or perhaps a way to seduce the affluent and fashion-loving modest consumer? But the discussion around the veil and the hijab is far more complex.
This brings me to end my letter by suggesting an interesting opinion piece penned by hijabi journalist Eman Mustafa Bare. She debates if the appearance of the hijab on the runway is a disrespectful form of cultural appropriation of a religious Muslim symbol, or an important sign that the West is finally trying to tame some of the sad episodes of Islamophobia against women that appear almost daily in the news. Food for thought…
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