Indigenous model-mum Magnolia Maymuru is Vogue Australia’s September cover star

Magazines are rather autocratic by nature, but at Vogue over the past 10 years, we have become so much more than just a magazine.

This is the 10th edition of the September issue of Vogue Australia I’ve edited, and, as with all the others, it is the impressive sum of the work of the many brilliant people who have contributed to it. It’s the team and the creativity and passion they bring to their work, and the people who entrust their stories and images to us, who really make an issue of Vogue.

Of all the covers I’ve published featuring the most incredible fashion as imagined by the most talented designers and artists, worn by the world’s most beautiful people with interesting stories to tell, I have never been more proud than I am of this cover: Yolngu woman Magnolia Maymuru and her baby daughter Djarraran before an Australian sunrise. So stunning, full of meaning, and pointing to new beginnings, which are calling us all.

It’s not just the team and me who have connected so profoundly with this cover. Since its release on Vogue’s website and social channels, the cover of Magnolia and her child has become one of Vogue’s most liked ever, garnering more than 20,000 likes, 200,000 views and 600 comments from indigenous and non-indigenous people alike, celebrating the beauty of Australia and its First Peoples.

Vogue Australia’s September cover: Magnolia Maymuru with her daughter, Djarraran. Fashion directed by Christine Centenera. Styled by Kaila Matthews. Picture: Charles Dennington.

Magnolia said her community has also shown an incredible amount of support.

“They’ve posted the cover over all of the notice boards across Arnhem Land and everyone has been super supportive and proud of the cover,” she said. “The response has been amazing and overwhelming at the same time.”

“They (Vogue) have shown the world... When great minds come together, great things happen. I felt extremely proud and grateful for the opportunity.”

And we hope Magnolia’s story, as told to award-winning Yuwaalaraay writer Nardi Simpson, will also resonate as deeply when the magazine is released on August 23.

The story of our cover started with a conversation between international Vogue editors, led by Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful, suggesting theming our September covers globally around the concept of “new beginnings”, and photographing them before a sunrise to signify this.

From the spark of this uniting, positive idea, our team pulled together an Australian interpretation of the concept featuring Magnolia Maymuru and Djarraran. We did not know when we first discussed Magnolia featuring on the cover that where she comes from, Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory, is known as sunrise country.

Magnolia modelled the work of First Nations’ designers Lyn-Al Young and Maree Clarke in December 2019, to mark Vogue Australia’s 60th anniversary. At the time, I noted that looking back over 60 years of magazines, I was ashamed of our lack of Indigenous storytelling within them, and committed to doing better.

Since then, I am pleased to say we have been generously advised and guided by many ongoing, including curator Myles Russell-Cook, Wiradjuri woman Yvonne Weldon, designer, artist and mentor Grace Lillian Lee, and now model Charlee Fraser to do better.

Vogue Australia September issue image of Magnolia Maymuru with her daughter, Djarraran. Fashion directed by Christine Centenera. Styled by Kaila Matthews. Photographed by Charles Dennington. Single use only

Last year’s September “Hope” cover featuring the painting Healing Country by Betty Muffler was a career highlight for me, and I think a significant moment in Australia’s cultural history. The actual work now hangs in the National Gallery of Australia as a gift commission from Vogue Australia.

The day I went to Canberra to see it for the first time and gazed into its wonder, I found myself surrounded by a group of schoolchildren being told Betty’s story, the meaning behind her art, and the fact she featured on the cover of Vogue.

Vogue Australia’s September issue is on stands August 23.