Poet Amanda Gorman, 22, will read at President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration Wednesday. (Stephanie Mitchell / Harvard University)

She became the national youth poet laureate at age 16; six years later, she’ll read her poem at Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’ historic swearing-in.

Like most of us, Amanda Gorman has been cooped up in her West Los Angeles apartment binge-watching "The Great British Baking Show" because of the pandemic. Unlike most of us, she got some very exciting news recently via Zoom: She’d been handpicked to read a poem at President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

The incoming first lady, Jill Biden, is a fan of her work and convinced the inaugural committee that Gorman would be a perfect fit.

Gorman, all of 22, became the youth poet laureate of Los Angeles at age 16 in 2014 and the first national youth poet laureate three years later. Come Wednesday, she will be the youngest poet to write and recite a piece at a presidential inauguration, following in the considerably more experienced footsteps of Maya Angelou and Robert Frost.

Her precocious path was paved with both opportunities and challenges, an early passion for language and the diverse influences of her native city. Gorman grew up near Westchester but spent the bulk of her time around the New Roads School, a socioeconomically diverse private school in Santa Monica. Her mother, Joan Wicks, teaches middle school in Watts. Shuttling among the neighborhoods gave Gorman a window onto the deep inequities that divide ZIP Codes.

“Having a mom who is a teacher had a huge impact on me," said Gorman, who witnessed her ability to empower young people through language. Long before she began reading her own poetry aloud in grand spaces for grand occasions — from the Fourth of July to the inauguration of a new president of Harvard University — Gorman was falling in love, simultaneously, with the written and spoken word.

Her relationship with poetry dates at least to the third grade, when her teacher read Ray Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine” to the class. She can’t recall what metaphor caught her attention, but she remembers that it reverberated inside her.

Gorman still keeps a children's version of "Jane Eyre" that she bought at a dollar store, the artifact of a habit that racked up late fees at several L.A. libraries. Once a book becomes a part of her, she has a hard time giving it back.

“My friends will be, like, ‘You’d love this book. Let me lend it to you,’” she said. “And I’m, like, ‘Listen to me: Don’t.’”

Her first foray into public speaking came even earlier: a second-grade monologue in the voice of Chief Osceola of Florida's Seminole tribe.

“I’m sure anyone who saw it was kind of aghast at this 15-pound Black girl who was pretending to die on stage as a Native American chief," she said. "But I think it was important in my development because I really wanted to do justice to the story and bring it to life. It was the first time that I really leaned into the performance of text."

Poet Amanda Gorman, 22, will read at President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. (Kelia Anne)

Gorman is a lot better at it now, but still working on her confidence as a public speaker. In fact, like her predecessor Angelou and the president-elect, she grapples with a speech impediment.

All writers, she said, experience anxiety about the quality of their work. “But for me, there was this other echelon of pressure, which is: Can I say that which needs to be said?” Gorman has labored to perfect sounds most people take for granted. The R has been a particular challenge. The girl who would grow up to perform in front of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai struggled for years not to say “poetwy.”

“But I don’t look at my disability as a weakness,” said Gorman. “It’s made me the performer that I am and the storyteller that I strive to be. When you have to teach yourself how to say sounds, when you have to be highly concerned about pronunciation, it gives you a certain awareness of sonics, of the auditory experience.”

Whereas Angelou had strangers at the supermarket inquiring about her progress in the run-up to her reading at Bill Clinton's inauguration, Gorman has written her poem in pandemic-induced solitude. But the enormity of the task was not lost on her. While writing “The Hill We Climb” — which should take about six minutes to read at the ceremony in Washington, D.C. — the poet listened to music that helped put her “in a historic and epic mind-set,” including soundtracks from “The Crown,” “Lincoln,” “Darkest Hour” and “Hamilton.”

Gorman also wrote her poem while watching pro-Trump extremists storm the U.S. Capitol, a scene she found “jarring and violating” but not surprising. “I think we’d seen the signs and symptoms for a while,” she said.

The attack on Congress made its way into her work — not as a rupture but as a harsh fact of our history. “I wasn’t trying to write something in which those events were painted as an irregularity or different from an America that I know," said Gorman. "America is messy. It's still in its early development of all that we can become. And I have to recognize that in the poem. I can’t ignore that or erase it. And so I crafted an inaugural poem that recognizes these scars and these wounds. Hopefully, it will move us toward healing them.”abortion bans in the U.S.

In September, Amanda Gorman will publish her first book, "Change Sings." (Viking Books for Young Readers)

Gorman, who majored in sociology at Harvard, has spoken up in public forums about a broad range of issues, including racism and police brutality; abortion bans in the U.S.; and the incarceration of migrant children. She is also the first person to announce her intention to run for president in 2036, the first election cycle in which she'll be old enough to do so. Seeing Vice President-elect Kamala Harris poised to take office has reinvigorated her plans.

“There’s no denying that a victory for her is a victory for all of us who would like to see ourselves represented as women of color in office,” she said. "It makes it more imaginable. Once little girls can see it, little girls can be it. Because they can be anything that they want, but that representation to make the dream exist in the first place is huge — even for me.”

When she’s not watching cooking shows, Gorman copes with isolation by reading books to prepare her for that future. She picked up former President Obama’s “A Promised Land” the day it came out. She’s also reading Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s “Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History,” which interrogates long-standing historical narratives from the Haitian Revolution to the Alamo.

In September, Gorman will release “Change Sings,” the first of two children's books. The poet says she was driven by the desire to publish a book “in which kids could see themselves represented as change-makers in history, rather than just observers.” It will be illustrated by Loren Long, who created the art in Obama’s “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters."

On occasion, Gorman ventures beyond her apartment to a hill overlooking Los Angeles. Looking out at the landscape, she’s marveled that “growing up, I was surrounded by so many colors and so many tongues and so many ways of thinking. And it’s very rare that you can have so many of those things in one place."

"I miss and love everything," she added. "Everywhere I’ve been and everywhere I have not. Once things are safe, I’m going to spend as much time as I can reabsorbing the city.”

Despite her many accomplishments, Gorman has yet to obtain a driver’s license. But she’s not too worried about it. Her twin sister, she said, will likely “drag me to Disneyland once it’s safe, so maybe she can just drive me around.”

By JULIA BARAJAS

22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman will read an original poem, "The Hill We Club," at the January 20 ... [+] GETTY IMAGES FOR TOGETHER LIVE

22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman will read her original poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, January 20. Gorman told the Associated Press she was contacted in late December about appearing at the event, where Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez will also perform. The AP reported, “Gorman says the inaugural officials told her she had been recommended by the incoming first lady, Jill Biden.” According to the AP, Gorman said she “was not given specific instructions on what to write, but was encouraged to emphasize unity and hope over ‘denigrating anyone’ or declaring ‘ding, dong, the witch is dead’ over the departure of President Donald Trump.”

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Gorman wrote, “WHAT AN HONOR to be the Inaugural Poet of 2021. I am so excited to be joining our next President and Vice President @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris for #Inauguration2021!” The image and caption directed readers to the official inauguration website, bideninaugural.org.

Gorman, who lives in Los Angeles and graduated from Harvard in 2020, was named the National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017. According to her website, Gorman “began writing at a few years of age,” and has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments since then, including being invited “to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and others.”

Her debut picture book Change Sings, illustrated by Loren Long and aimed at children ages four through eight, will be published by Viking Books for Young Readers on September 21; it was part of a two-book deal. The publisher’s description of the 32-page book touts its “lyrical text and rhythmic illustrations that build to a dazzling crescendo” and reads in part: “As a young girl leads a cast of characters on a musical journey, they learn that they have the power to make changes—big or small—in the world, in their communities, and in most importantly, in themselves.”

In February 2020, Gorman participated in the LOFTimist campaign for fashion retailer LOFT and said, “It wasn't until I was in third grade and had an English teacher who was a published author that I realized that could actually be a career for a woman, and not just a secret hobby.”

Of her training in poetry, Gorman told The Bucknellian in January 2020 she’s never taken a formal poetry workshop, but did take a creative writing class in high school and creative writing workshops with the organization Write Girl.

In an undated interview with The Harvard Advocate, Gorman said she never envisioned poetry as her future career, saying, “I started off writing short stories and fiction, and thought those were going to be the things that I did! In fact, I went to a showcase/open mic, and read a [non-poetry] piece that I wrote and the audience loved it! People walked up to me after the fact and told me that I wrote such a beautiful poem [laughs] and that I gave a great [spoken word] performance.”

Gorman follows in the footsteps of poets such as Maya Angelou, who wrote the poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” for the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, which the AP notes went on to sell over 1 million copies when Random House published it as a book. The audio recording by Angelou also won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.

On Angelou’s passing in 2014 while he served as Vice President, Joe Biden issued a statement that read in part, “She was not only a recorder of history, but she was the conscience of a movement that pushed the country forward. Jill and I were honored to have met her and learned from her.”

by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking before crowd of 25,000 Selma To Montgomery, Alabama civil rights marchers, in front of Montgomery, Alabama state capital building. On March 25, 1965 in Montgomery, Alabama.

Stephen F. Somerstein | Getty Images

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is more than a day of celebration of the civil rights leader.

As King’s wife Coretta Scott wrote in The Washington Post in 1983, “Let this holiday be a day of reflection, a day of teaching non-violent philosophy and strategy, a day of getting involved in non-violent action for social and economic progress.”

As a professor and dean of leadership development and inclusion Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, I believe King’s words are as powerful today as when he first said them.

Here are just a few that I hope will inspire positive change and development in the world:

1. “Lightning makes no sound until it strikes.”

From “Why We Can’t Wait” (1964)

Apathy cannot be tolerated by an individual, a leader or an organization. If you see something happening, don’t wait for the negative ramifications to occur. Respond to the issue and act. If nothing is said or done, then silence connotes complicity — and that’s what people remember.

2. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

From “Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” (1960)

What determines longevity is the creation of quality and value. Make the work you do a force for good, not greed. Influence the communities where you serve, even if those impacts are not immediately obvious.

3. “We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

From “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963)

We often believe that we have more time at our disposal than we really do, which keeps us from addressing issues immediately or tempts us into avoiding a topic altogether. We must push ourselves and our organizations to maximize every second, every minute, every day.

4. “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”

From “The Purpose of Education” (1948)

We live in a fast-paced world, and those who are not committed to learning will be left behind. This means having the courage to face uncomfortable conversations that will foster understanding and ultimately change the world for the better. 

5. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”

From sermon in Montgomery, Alabama (1957)

The core of servant leadership is to seek to serve others, and to add value to their lives. That’s the ultimate benchmark for measuring the value of an organization and its leadership.

6. “We cannot walk alone.”

From “I Have a Dream” (1963)

Leadership is a collaborative endeavor — it doesn’t happen in isolation or only from the top. Leaders must strive not just to have a diverse team, but an inclusive one where the unique perspectives are truly leveraged. 

7. “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

From “Advice for Living” (1958)

Trust is the cornerstone of leadership and organizational action. One of the key elements of trust is empathy — the psychological safety that’s created when we truly get to know others.

8. “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

From speech at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia(1967)

Great leaders and great organizations are never static. Rather than accept the status quo and see how long the organization can stay where it is, they push people forward. It takes resilience, which is all about the willingness to do the hard things.

9. “We must believe that a prejudiced mind can be changed, and that man, by the grace of God, can be lifted from the valley of hate to the high mountain of love.”

From “The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore” (1956)

All of us have beliefs — some serve us well, some do not. Prejudice means pre-judgment. And to drop our prejudices, we must be willing to step outside of our beliefs and seek to understand others.

Bernard Banks is the Associate Dean for Leadership Development and Inclusion and a Clinical Professor of Management at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He was also a faculty member in the Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership at West Point and a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army.

By Make It

What does Southern style look like now? The answer depends on where you look. While some brands are shaped by familial ties—in Atlanta, Alissa Bertrand sews the most enchanting and colorful get-ups for her young daughters, and in Texas, sisters Lizzie Means Duplantis and Sarah Means are dressing up the tried-and-true cowboy boot—others rely on the land: In Florence, Alabama, Natalie Chanin crafts the pieces in her pared-back collection from locally grown crops. Others still, like Billy Reid’s Alabama-based label, are out to bridge the gap between the old South and the new. “We seek to instill warmth in everything we do,” Reid says.

Alabama Chanin’s Factory Store.   Photographed by Mark Steinmetz

A cotton field near Florence.   Photographed by Mark Steinmetz

Alabama Chanin
Florence, Alabama

Twenty years ago, Natalie Chanin returned home to Florence, Alabama, to reconnect with her roots and the hand-makers there for what was to be a one-off project. She never left. “Big magic” is how the designer describes the coming together of her brand, which is now recognized as a case study in how to do slow fashion responsibly and right. It was a process that, Chanin says, was like “being led down a road wildly.” And while the pace has become a bit more manageable over time, Chanin’s commitment—to land and hand, community and history—remains deep and strong. So does her belief in the freedom that comes from deciding how, and where, to work. alabamachanin.com—Laird Borrelli-Persson

The designer, at Trowbridge’s Ice Cream Bar in Florence.  Photographed by Mark Steinmetz

Scenes from Billy Reid’s studio.   Photographed by Mark Steinmetz

Billy Reid
Florence, Alabama

Billy Reid has always designed from a personal point of view. Originally, that vision was expressed sartorially through cut and materials, but all that changed when Reid, who shuttered his business in New York after 9/11, jumped back into the game from Florence, Alabama, in 2004. Having put down deep roots himself, he has made place an essential part of the brand identity as well. “We are a modern Southern studio that we hope models a new South,” says Reid, who was born in Louisiana. “We seek to instill warmth in everything we do.” billyreid.com—L.B.P.

Alissa Bertrand’s daughters (from left: Ella, 7, and Jada and Jayla, both 11) in her designs.  Photographed by Alissa Bertrand

Photographed by Alissa Bertrand

Photographed by Alissa Bertrand

Jabella Fleur
Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta-based designer Alissa Bertrand has been sewing for more than 20 years, but it was only last year that she began to make clothes for her three daughters. “I couldn’t afford what I wanted,” she says. “So I started to create them myself.” Ever since, Bertrand has been using upcycled materials from thrift stores for her bright, retro-inspired floral frocks and separates with ruffled collars and sleeves and prairie silhouettes while asking her kids to model them on Instagram. (She’s working on a full children’s line, to be launched soon.) “We work together and talk about what they like,” Bertrand says. “They each have a style of their own, and I try to follow that. We don’t call this dressing up—it’s just our look.”—Brooke Bobb

A Western boot by Lucchese.  Photographed by Eli Durst

Lucchese
El Paso, Texas

El Paso is a one-boot kind of town—specifically, Lucchese, founded in San Antonio nearly 140 years ago by the immigrant Lucchese brothers, from Sicily. A pair of boots can take 130 steps and six weeks to make, passing through the hands of as many as 300 craftspeople in the process—yet in the end, their appeal comes down to a single thing: their evocation of the myth of Texas’s sprawling landscape of dude ranches and homesteads. “Lucchese is a beautiful story of the American dream,” says Trey Gilmore, the brand’s director of product development. “We have always done truly functional wearable art—and we still stand by that today.” lucchese.com—Mark Holgate

Matthew Harris at work.  Photographed by Matthew Harris Studio

Mateo
Houston, Texas

Matthew Harris, the Jamaican-born, Houston-based designer of Mateo, founded his line—titled after his nickname as a young model—in 2009. Barely a decade later, his minimalist pieces, dotted with pearls and rife with references to modern art, are immediately recognizable. Harris’s goal has always been to create fine jewelry at affordable-luxury prices. “I make pieces that, yes, you can dream a little about,” he says, “but while you’re dreaming, you should be wearing the dream.” mateonewyork.com—Charlotte Diamond

Sierra Smith, Able’s apparel designer (center) with Alexander.  Photo: Todd Hido

Able
Nashville, Tennessee

Many brands tout their sustainability credits, but Able—known for its classic leather bags, animal-print shoes, and dainty jewelry—did something almost unheard of when it published the lowest wages of the workers in their supply chain in 2018. “We shared all our results before we had everyone at a living wage, because we value honesty over perfection,” says Jen Milam, Able’s director of merchandising.

It’s something that likely couldn’t be done without a strong sense of both community responsibility and community support—both of which Able is surrounded by. “There’s a shared sense of mindfulness amongst Nashville designers,” says fashion director Jordan Soderholm. The area’s country flair has also permeated its designs, but Able accessories are defined foremost by their durability. After all, what’s more ethical than wearing something year after year? livefashionable.com—Sarah Spellings

From left: Sarah Means and Lizzie Means Duplantis, both in Miron Crosby boots, at their family’s ranch in Van Horn, Texas.  Photographed by Eli Reed

Miron Crosby
Dallas, Texas

Three years ago, sisters Lizzie Means Duplantis and Sarah Means, who grew up on a ranch in West Texas, partnered with their cousins—who own and operate the storied, 160-year-old South Texas bootmakers Rios of Mercedes—to launch Miron Crosby, a new boot label and bricks-and-mortar store in Dallas. In addition to offering customization, the Miron Crosby collection features colorful, statement-making boots that are hand-crafted using exotic skins, metallics, and playful embroidery. (In 2019, the sisters worked with designer Prabal Gurung to design a capsule collection of boots for his spring 2020 show, “Who Gets to Be American?”) “It’s not just about my family heritage, but also the romance surrounding the cowboy boot in Western history,” Means says, to which Duplantis adds, “My boots are family heirlooms—I look forward to giving them, with all of their memories and significance, to the next generation.” mironcrosby.com—B.B.

A still life from the Eddmensons’ studio.  Photographed by Todd Hido

Imogene + Willie
Nashville, Tennessee

In 2009, Carrie and Matt Eddmenson were patterning, cutting, and sewing jeans by hand in a converted Nashville gas station, selling them to customers on the spot—they even slept in the attic upstairs. Eleven years on, Imogene + Willie is a global brand. “None of this would have been possible in a larger city,” Carrie says. “Nashville is the foundation of our story.” The Eddmensons prioritize local production—including a denim-sourcing partnership with Vidalia Mills in Louisiana and a domestic sock collaboration with Little River Sock Mill in Alabama—and collaborate with other Nashville artists. “There is absolutely nothing better than knowing the people that make our clothes,” Matt says. imogeneandwillie.com—Emily Farra

Model Jonathan Prieto in looks from Alchemist.  Photographed by Richard Bencosme

A moodboard in the brand’s workspace.  Photographed by Richard Bencosme

Alchemist
Miami, Florida

“Once upon a time, Miami’s fashion codes were more club culture and a lazy, beach-life energy—but these days there is a richer cultural element and a strong art community, which fosters its own unique space and style.” So says Alchemist founder Roma Cohen, who first introduced the city to Rick Owens and Chrome Hearts when he opened his store in 2007. Since then, Cohen has launched his own collection of graphic and fashion-forward pieces that bring a street aesthetic to the beachy town. “Especially during 2020, it was so important to reconnect with our local community, where there is endless inspiration all around,” he says. His local approach seems to be working: Citizens of the world like Young Thug, Swae Lee, and Colombian singer J Balvin have all become customers. shopalchemist.com—Steff Yotka

Cristina Lynch.  Photographed by Colby Deal of Magnum Photos

From left: Cristina Lynch’s mother, Cristina Barboglio Lynch; Cristina Lynch; and members of Lynch’s team at Mi Golondrina: Anne Hong Gottschall, Devon Sadosky, Deanna Harney, Emily Reaves, Rebeca Esquivel, and Ma. de los Angeles Colmenero.  Photographed by Colby Deal of Magnum Photos

Mi Golondrina
Dallas, Texas

The American melting pot is evident within the walls of Mi Golondrina, Cristina Lynch’s showroom dedicated to Mexican handicraft. Inspired by her mother’s upbringing in Torreón and the beauty of the clothing and art she experienced growing up, Lynch wanted to share those traditions with the world. In 2013, at the start of her journey, Lynch was advised to stay local. With its massive population and Southwestern aesthetic (the influence of Mexican design is omnipresent within its borders), Texas was an ideal starting point. “What’s neat is that each city—Dallas, Fort Worth, Amarillo, Houston—has its personality, and there’s so much growth opportunity,” says Lynch. “People support small businesses here, and they want you to succeed.”

Still, Lynch felt that the richly detailed dresses and skirts she commissioned from artisans could appeal outside the Lone Star State. After all, what’s familiar in one region registers as revolutionary in another. “This is wildly new to some customers,” she says. “They’re excited to see such intricate embroidery.” Thanks to the internet—and high-profile admirers like Mindy Kaling—Lynch’s wares have now gone global, a fact she finds heartening. “It’s so freeing and beautiful that fashion is now coming from different places across the country,” she says. “It helps us understand our nation better, and I love that.” migolondrina.com—Janelle Okwodu

The designer, at play and at work.  Photographed by Luke Hans

Photographed by Luke Hans

Emily Ridings
Lexington, Kentucky

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the trifold tenets of the American ethos, and Emily Ridings—a recent Pratt graduate who has chosen her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, as her base—is determined to exercise each of those rights through fashion. “One of my main goals is to enjoy my work,” says the designer. “There’s less financial pressure here, and less creative pressure to be new—relieving that pressure tends to invite the most joy. Surprisingly, joy has also been the best catalyst for success—not the other way around.”

Best known for weaving basketry into fashion, Ridings works with repurposed materials and traditional craft techniques, many of which have rural origins and narratives. Of turning away from New York City, the designer says she’s “navigating what the alternative looks like,” and reports that “so far, it’s slower, just as messy—and much more hopeful.” emilyridings.com—L.B.P.

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Simpson photographed Rihanna for the cover shot and a 12-page portfolio inside the January/February issue.

Rihanna by Lorna Simpson for Essence Magazine 2020.

We still haven’t gotten a new album from Rihanna yet, but fans can be at least partly assuaged with the release of Essence magazine’s January/February issue, which features none other than Bad Girl Riri on the cover—photographed Lorna Simpson.

The collaboration between Rihanna and the acclaimed artist is an extension of Simpson’s ongoing project reinterpreting images of Black women who have posed the pages of Ebony and Jet magazines. The cover shot and 12-page portfolio inside the magazine are titled “Earth & Sky,” and feature the Barbados-born singer and businesswoman dressed in designer clothing from the likes of Prada, Rick Owens, Hood by Air, and her own Savage X Fenty. 

Rihanna by Lorna Simpson for Essence magazine 2020.

In one image, a cutout of the singer with her eyes downcast over a bare shoulder is amplified by a cloudburst of blue gouache overlaid above her head. The image recalls Simpson’s Tulip (2014) and Blue Note (2017) collages, which combine black and white ephemera with hand-drawn watercolor. 

In another, Rihanna struts, larger than life, down a sepia-toned bridge, lit up by the city in the background. Superimposed on top of a vintage magazine page, Rihanna wears a black headdress by Maximilian, with feathers exploding from the frame, clad in a strappy bustier, skirt, and stilettos. 

“I needed to create images of Rihanna to place within the environments of source materials from my archive,” Simpson said in a statement from Essence. “Knowing Rihanna’s charisma and commanding presence, my effort was then to be as present and prepared as possible to capture her exquisite performance for the camera.” 

Rihanna by Lorna Simpson for Essence magazine 2020.

The issue also features a personal essay by actress and model Zora Simpson Casebere, the daughter of Lorna Simpson and James Casabere, reflecting on how Rihanna’s songs and public presence helped Simpson Casebere get through challenging phases of young adulthood.

“At 13, I was deeply grateful that at a formative time in my life, it was Rihanna’s voice and art that became my portals to so many questions about sexuality, sexual exploration, and sexual autonomy.” 

Simpson Casebere helped her mother prepare for the shoot as a stand-in model, so that Simpson could identify the best archival material to amplify Rihanna’s presence on set.

Simpson Casabere says that when the singer first entered the room, she was “mesmerized.”

“She was the very definition of grace, charisma, and influence,” she writes. Rihanna “met the camera with power and possibility—power in how she moved her body through space, and possibility in how she dismantled and moved beyond institutional boundaries.” 

Lorna Simpson, Earth & Sky #24 (2016). Photo: James Wang. © Lorna Simpson.

On the magazine’s cover, Rihanna stares directly at the camera, her eyes highlighted by bright blue eyeshadow, wearing nothing but a diamond collar necklace. Her face emerges from a crown of 19th-century lithographs of crystals piled up on her head, recalling the images of women under beauty-salon lamps, or donning mountains of curlers to set a hairstyle. The photograph is similar to Simpson’s Earth & Sky #5, #10, #16, and #24 (2016). 

So far, social media has been swooning over the Simpson-Rihanna collaboration. Nadirah Simmons, social media manager for Stephen Colbert’s Late Show and founder of the Gumbo, wrote on Twitter, “lorna simpson working with rihanna for essence is indeed my favorite thing this week.”

See more images from ESSENCE January/February 2021, below. 

Rihanna by Lorna Simpson for Essence magazine 2020.

Rihanna by Lorna Simpson for Essence magazine 2020.

Rihanna by Lorna Simpson for Essence magazine 2020.
By ArtnetNews