Supermodel Joan Smalls takes the cover of Vogue Italia Magazine‘s May 2022 edition lensed by fashion photographer Cho Gi-Seok. In charge of styling was Ally Macrae, with set design from Giulia Munari. Beauty is work of hair stylist Hos Hounkpatin, makeup artist Marcelo Gutierrez, and manicurist Annarel Innocente Furina. For the cover Smalls is wearing Louis Vuitton, with tights from Wolford.
Part of what helps me stay grounded in this industry is my bachelors degree in psychology. It’s helped me navigate the industry and so many personalities. It’s hard working in an industry where you get nitpicked simply because of how you look, and you’re seen as a product, so you have to detach yourself because that’s where low self esteem can come in, leaving you hating the way you look just because you don’t fit the “beauty” standard. – Joan Smalls
In order to have a good pregnancy you need to have around 15-20 eggs, so that’s what the medication is supposed to do, but everyone is different, some produce a little, some produce none, and some produce a lot. The journey is long because you don’t know what to expect. At every appointment they’ll tell you how many are viable, and how many can be saved. And in November, when I did the latest round, they didn’t get any and I was a disaster. I was pumping so much medication into myself, so to not even get a little bit, I became so down, I wouldn’t talk to people, I went into my shell just to not beat myself up. The journey isn’t easy, it’s mentally exhausting. Women are becoming more open but it’s still stigmatised and it’s a taboo we need to talk about. I kept wondering whether I am going to be looked at differently, will it make me less of a woman. And yet so many of us are going through it that we need each other’s support and encouragement. There are so many layers to who we are and what we do that even social media can’t show those layers. It’s a curated platform, and most of the time when you are going through something, you don’t show it. – Joan Smalls
Photography © Cho Gi-Seok for Vogue Italia, read more at vogue.it
