The history of First Ladies of the United States being featured in the American edition of Vogue magazine dates back almost 100 years. Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of the 31st president of the United States Herbert Hoover (who served from 1929 to 1933), was the first First Lady to be photographed for the publication in 1929, not long before the Great Depression. Since then, every one of her successors, including Jackie Kennedy, ‘Lady Bird’ Johnson and Eleanor Roosevelt, have also appeared inside of the magazine in some capacity, however, the transition to cover star didn’t happen until 1998 when Hillary Rodham Clinton graced the cover of the fashion bible.
Hillary Clinton became the first First Lady to ever be featured on the cover of Vogue magazine when she appeared on the cover of the December 1998 issue. Apparently Clinton’s longtime friend Oscar de la Renta convinced Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour to feature the first lady on the cover instead of having a mere profile inside of her inside of the book – a show of support that Clinton repaid by wearing one of his gowns for the cover shoot.
The cover, which was lensed by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, featured Clinton looking regal sitting on a couch wearing a velvet Oscar de la Renta dress. The cover line read: “The Extraordinary Hillary Clinton.” [In 2009 Vogue published the cover story online as part of their from the archives initiative, you can read it right here.]
Clinton has the largest public policy role of any First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, and at the time, she was considered the most popular First Lady since Jackie Kennedy. When the magazine came out her husband Bill Clinton, who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001, was just starting his second term as President, and the family was being closely watched by the world media.
She had a level of public visibility matched by few other First Ladies in history.
A decade later, in the midst of her own campaign for President, Clinton cancelled a second cover shoot with Leibovitz for the magazine, which was planned for November 2007, out of concern that, “she would appear too feminine.” Despite the slight, which Wintour addressed in a subsequent editor’s letter, the magazine would go on to endorse Clinton for President.
“The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying,” Wintour wrote in 2007. “I do think Americans have moved on from the power-suit mentality, which served as a bridge for a generation of women to reach boardrooms filled with men.” She suggested a few suits by Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta “for Senator Clinton’s consideration.”
