The image is saintly. In a white tuxedo gown by Ralph Lauren Collection – the upscale arm of the American designer’s empire, and a frequent label in the first lady’s wardrobe – Jill Biden, on her second print cover of Vogue magazine since her husband Joe Biden took office in 2020, gazes upward, projecting a mix of strength and hope, in a picture by veteran fashion photographer Norman Jean Roy. Women in politics and media have worn white so often and for so many reasons that it ceases to mean much anymore.
But here, it burnishes the image of the first lady as dedicated, but not arrogant. Pure. A saviour, even: the only person who truly has her husband’s ear.
Who can convince him whether he should press ahead with a campaign in deep crisis since last week’s debate, or step aside. It is a striking, fascinatingly out-of-character image in its storytelling, for both the magazine and the first lady. It will dismay the candidate’s detractors from both parties – people always anger at the sight of expensive clothes, forgetting the reach and potential for revelatory image-making of women’s magazines like Vogue , and the religious undertones are startling.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden speak at a presidential debate watch party. Credit: AP But it may be the most accurate image of Jill Biden right now, of what she means to her husband and – for better and for worse – for her party. Jill Biden on the cover of the August 2024 issue of Vogue.
Credit: V.
