Amanda Gorman, a 23-year-old Harvard graduate and famed youth poet laureate, continues to reach new heights in her historic rise to fame.
On Wednesday, she became the first poet to grace the cover of Vogue for its May issue according to CNN. The celebrated poet, gracing a second magazine cover this year, tweeted that she’s grateful to everyone who has inspired her and for the privilege of honoring her heritage.
"Honored to be the first poet EVER on the cover of @voguemagazine, & what a joy to do so while wearing a Black designer, @virgilabloh. This is called the Rise of Amanda Gorman, but it's truly for all of you, both named & unseen, who lift me up ????????," she wrote.
Honored to be the first poet EVER on the cover of @voguemagazine , & what a joy to do so while wearing a Black designer, @virgilabloh . This is called the Rise of Amanda Gorman, but it's truly for all of you, both named & unseen, who lift me up ????????
Love,
Amanda https://t.co/PFkEzv1kta— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) April 7, 2021
In the latest Vogue cover, Gorman is adorned in Dior Haute Couture and a Louis Vuitton Kente ensemble designed by Virgil Abloh, who is of Ghanian descent and the fashion brand's first Black artistic director.
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, the stylist for the widely acclaimed cover, wrote on social media that Gorman’s feature is about “embracing all that is so beautiful about is, of rejecting the constant policing of how we Black womxn show up in the world.”
The stylist added that Gorman’s Kente gown speaks to cultural unity across the African diaspora.
“Oh, how widely my Sierra Leonean grandfather, my grandmother, and all of my ancestors must be smiling,” Karefa-Johnson wrote on Instagram this week.
“How chuffed they would be to see a symbol of our heritage celebrated in this way. How astounded they would be by a young Black woman so graciously and confidently commanding the world stage as Amanda has — so beautiful and so powerful and so emblematic of a better future. Thank you to Virgil Abloh for creating in his collection for Louis Vuitton a moment that speaks to how important cultural heritage is in the work that we do,” she added.
In January, Karefa-Johnson, who initially began as an intern for the magazine, became the first Black woman to style a Vogue cover, The Cut reports.
As Blavity previously reported, Gorman darted to national prominence following the powerful reading of her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's Inauguration.
The 23-year-old told Vogue that she was thankful for the support of her entire village, which constantly inspires her to shine her brightest.
"It took so much labor, not only on behalf of me, but also of my family and of my village, to get here," she said.
