Why the cover of Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska’s Vogue is controversial

It really is the shadow of the war it has placed Olena Zelenska in the light. The Ukrainian first lady graces the cover of the digital edition of rowing July 26, 2022 (a paper version is expected to appear in October). Which is surprising in several respects, sinceshe appears soberly made up and dressed, in front of pillars reinforced (by sandbags) against bombs, in the presidential residence in Ukraine, on the one hand. But also why different editions of rowing they rarely demonstrated information or even commitment to the hottest political newson the other hand.

Does the cover of Vogue with Olena Zelenska make war glamorous?

However, the long cover story written by the journalist Rachel Donadio, who went to Kiev at her own risk to meet the presidential couple to tell the reality of the conflict and its consequences, was not enough to calm the growing controversy over this editorial choice. A controversy caused mainly by the photos taken by Annie Leibovitz. Because many people find the whole thing indecent given the context, even interpreting it as a glamor of war.

However, this portrait teaches us a lot about the one who has not seen herself become First Lady at all, much less having to affirm this position in times of conflict, and even using it as a weapon of diplomacy even in the fashion scene, more political than it seems.

Who was Olena Zelenska before she became First Lady in wartime

Born in 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, an industrial city in Ukraine, with a mother an engineer and a father in the construction industry, Olena Kyïachko studied architecture according to her parents’ wishes. It was there that she met Volodymyr Zelensky at 19 in high school and they started dating at the university where she was studying law: ” humor created this chemistry between us “, She evades rowing. They married in 2003 and had two children: Aleksandra in 2004, then Kyrylo in 2013.

Olena Zelenska becomes a screenwriter for the production company Studio Kvartal 95, co-founded with her husband and other friends in 2003. In particular she has participated in the script of a series since 2015, Servant of the people, where Volodymyr Zelensky plays a teacher who criticizes the cronyism and corruption of the Ukrainian ruling class and finds himself catapulted into the country’s president. The series is a success and Olena continues to thrive writing comedies and as a programmer for the country’s leading satirical show (Liga Smichu ie “The Laughter League”), as well as its feminine declination (Kvartal women).

… Until she hears on the radio that her husband is running for president. She finally becomes First Lady on May 20, 2019., and thus redoubles its commitment to gender equality, children’s rights, access to culture and the fight against obesity. But shortly after this presidentialization, the eternal conflict with Russia intensifies.

How Olena Zelenska lives the conflict triggered by Russia against Ukraine

When Putin wages a war on Ukrainian soil in early 2022, neither Volodymyr Zelensky nor his wife flee the country, as the story now goes. rowing :

“For many years the Ukrainian president’s wife wrote plays. She always preferred to stay behind the scenes, while her husband – this actor turned politician, whose presidency could determine the fate of the free world – systematically found himself in the front row. But ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, it is in a tragedy that Olena Zelenska occupies the leading role. “

In the columns of the Fashion Bible, Olena Zelenska wants to be reassuring, without denying the horror of war:

“The last few months have been the worst of my life and the worst in the life of all Ukrainians […] In all honesty, I don’t think anyone realizes our ability to resist emotionally.. […] We look forward to victory. We have no doubt that we will prevail. This is what drives us to continue. “

It is the ambivalence of her nuanced speech that we find in Annie Leibovitz’s clichés in which the Ukrainian first lady appears full of composure amidst the military unrest and the rubble of her country. It is as if she were trying to embody the reality of the conflict, to give it a human face that everyone could identify with. A bit like her during her unofficial trip to the United States, the week of July 18, 2022, to ask for weapons ” as a mother “Words that may arouse empathy in a different way than those of her husband and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov to ask for the same thing.

And this is perhaps an important part of the point cover story in a magazine like rowingwhich reaches an audience that does not necessarily come to read political issues. Sensitize another audience to this war by highlighting human rather than political titles, sums of money and weapons.

What is Olena Zelenska doing against the Russian-induced war in Ukraine?

Furthermore, Olena Zelenska has already initiated long-term action aimed at training frontline workers on mental health problems. as teachers, pharmacists, social workers and police so that they can better help citizens at this level, explains a rowing :

“This is a modern response to a classic war of aggression, a response that goes far beyond mere survival, a look at the long-term effects of the conflict. “

Today Olena Zelenska knows well that her husband, the Ukrainian president, is the number 1 target of the Russians, and that she and their two children number 2, confides to rowing. This is also why he spent the first weeks of the war in the shadows, in secret and safe places with his children, without contact with President Volodymyr Zelensky. But the first lady resurfaced on May 8, her mother’s day in Ukraine, to visit a shelter for people displaced by the war. This is what leads her husband to point out, a rowinghow brave and important he finds her to stay on the ground:

” For women and children, the fact that my wife is here is an example. I think it plays a very important role for Ukraine, for our families and for our women.

[…] I will be very honest and perhaps not very diplomatic: the [prix du] gas is nothing COVID, even COVID is nothing compared to what is happening in Ukraine. Just try to imagine what I’m talking about happening in your country, in your country. Are you still thinking about the price of gas or electricity? “

Still, perhaps the things that seem the most ridiculous can help cling to reality. And that cover story with photos in which Olena Zelenska appears almost serene, in her husband’s arms, she can (without hiding the atrocities of war) help to give hope.

Front page photo credit: Instagram screenshot by @olenazelenska_official