Artist, businesswoman, perfectionist – the one woman powerhouse that is Beyoncé talks family, fashion and philanthropy (and bee hives) with Edward Enninful, in British Vogue’s December 2020 cover interview.
It was always going to be special. How could it not be? And yet I’m not sure I could have predicted how having Beyoncé – an icon of music, fashion and culture for more than 20 years – on British Vogue’s cover this month would finally come to pass.
As I logged on to my laptop one evening in early autumn to oversee the 12-hour shoot more than 3,000 miles away, in New York, I felt the thrill of the new. It was the culmination of months of preparation. “It takes enormous patience to rock with me,” Beyoncé Knowles-Carter wryly notes in our interview on the following pages, in a rare and rounded glimpse into her world. But let me tell you this: rocking with Beyoncé is electric.
Our creative discussions began during the early days of lockdown, and an idea quickly took shape. Social justice, a pandemic – it was clear that this was the moment for something extra. As we all know, it has been an extremely tough year for fashion, and so we wanted to create a no- holds-barred celebration. Who, after all, has the ability to elevate and excite like Queen B? And so we approached some of our favourite designers, who each made a custom piece for a 20-page extravaganza with a purpose: to uplift an industry.