Olena Selenska on the cover of Vogue

She sits on the stairs, behind her the marble columns, which are secured with sandbags from possible attacks. This is how the Ukrainian First Lady Olena Selenska adorns the cover of the latest issue the most influential fashion magazine in the world. “Portrait of bravery” is the headline of “Vogue” on the front page.

In front an elegantly dressed First Lady, behind her the war: The contrast could hardly be greater. But that is exactly what makes the staged images so expressive. With the cover story, “Vogue” honors the bravery of a woman who actually never wanted to be the first lady and is now even asking the American Congress for weapons for her country.

Unexpectedly in the limelight

While her husband was in the spotlight as a comedian and actor, she preferred the world behind the scenes, says Olena Selenska in an interview with “Vogue”. At that time she wrote texts for Selenski’s comedy program as an author. Selenska says she was opposed to her husband running for president. She learned to adjust to the new role. At the beginning of the war, Selenska first went to safety with her two children. Volodimir hasn’t seen the two little ones since then, says the 44-year-old.

The longer the fighting goes on, the more important the role of Olena Selenska becomes. She made her first public appearance since the beginning of the war in June, when she commemorated the 200 murdered Ukrainian children with American First Lady Jill Biden. Since then she has supported parents who lost their children in the war and has been committed to the mental health of Ukrainians with war trauma.

She made her biggest international appearance about a week ago when she met American President Joe Biden during an unannounced visit and in an emotional speech asked the American Congress for new arms deliveries to Ukraine. Now she has photographed none other than star photographer Annie Leibovitz in Vogue.

staging with her husband

Nothing was left to chance during the photo shoot, and a designer was even called in for the staging. The magazine’s photographs show Olena Zelenska in a blue coat in front of a wrecked plane at Antonov Airport; next to her are armed soldiers. In another picture she is seated at a table with her husband Volodimir; he holds her hand tightly. The two are in a nobly furnished room; she’s wearing a blouse, he’s wearing his usual olive-green T-shirt. Here, too, the contrast between glamor and war immediately catches the viewer’s eye.

Vogue is primarily a fashion magazine. In this way, the author attempts to somehow bridge the gap between war and fashion. She does this by comparing the color of a blouse she once wore to the color of a burned-out Russian tank. “I couldn’t help but get the impression that the blouse was the same rusty hue as the burnt-out Russian tanks I saw on the streets of Irpin and Bucha,” writes the author.

Glamor photos at war? Some people don’t understand this kind of staging. «Bizarre photo series», «What is that actually . . . a photo series for a fashion and luxury magazine? Kinda weird” and “Are you kidding?” – this is how three Instagram users commented under the picture on the Instagram page of “Vogue”. For some Selenska uses her face to draw attention to the war, for others she uses the war to stage herself.

What kind of society does she fit into?

A fashion magazine that focuses on the war: This is by no means an exception with «Vogue». Vogue regularly makes room on its cover for personalities who have little in common with the fashion world. The American First Ladies Jill Biden and Michelle Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris have graced the front page of the magazine.

The war was too already discussed in «Vogue». In 1945, for example, an issue entitled “Sieg” was published, in which the magazine recognized the contribution of women during the war.