Vogue France Faces Backlash Over Controversial Malika El Maslouhi Cover

Malika El Maslouhi’s debut with Vogue France misses the mark. The photo of the Moroccan-Italian model styled by Ib Kamara in an all-black look from Anthony Vaccarello’s exquisite fall 2023 collection for Saint-Laurent, chosen for the cover of its October issue, is strongly criticized by members of the magazine’s forums. "This is not a cover," immediately discredited tigerrouge. "Anyone on this forum could have done a better job. A waste," added avonlea002. "So disappointing. It’s diabolical what they’ve done with Vogue!" denounced oaklee91, a member of the thiago forum.

"The fact that you can confuse this with an Instagram post tells you everything you need to know about the current target demographic and the alarming state of the industry!" writes another member. "I think it’s interesting but not Vogue enough. Malick has the talent to photograph, but it could have been elevated MUCH more," criticized Ihhbl. Opinions shared by Vogue28: "It’s so... uninteresting and half-baked. The image used for the cover doesn’t seem at all worthy of a cover, much too zoomed in, too many distractions like these random balloons and the door!"

In December 2019, El Maslouhi appeared on a group cover of Vogue Arabia alongside her model colleagues Nora Attal, Hayett McCarthy, Nour Rizk and Leyla Karim Greiss. This cover had not been the subject of any criticism. At the time, the Moroccan top model had expressed her happiness and pride in representing Arab girls on a global stage. "On a smaller scale, I’ve become a reference for several young women who tell me how proud they are to see an Arab girl representing them on a global stage," she had confided to Vogue Arabia. And to specify: "it gives me energy every day to fulfill this role, and to try to represent a positive light for Arab women so that we can move forward in a progressive and constructive way."