Cara Delevingne stars on Vogue’s September cover — as an actor
Cara Delevingne has been notably absent from the fashion scene lately. Her last catwalk appearence (for Chanel) was in March 2015 and she split from her agency Storm Model Management in June last year. Although she had become one of the most famous and in-demand models in the world, Delevingne was set on persuing a career in acting.
Now Delevingne’s new film Suicide Squad is hitting cinemas and she’s making a return to modelling, starring on the cover of British Vogue’s September issue — as the biggest edition of the year it is always seen as a prestigious cover coup. 23 year-old Delevingne is no stranger to the Vogue cover slot; this is her fourth solo appearence and her sixth if you count Miss Vogue and April 2015’s turn alongside Suki Waterhouse and Georgia May Jagger. This time though, she appears in the magazine as an actress rather than model.
The cover image, shot by legendary photographer Mario Testino, has all the hallmarks of supermodel and social media star Cara. First, there are those world famous bold eyebrows which have sparked countless ‘Get the Look’ tutorials and prompted girls the world over to invest in all the brow-defining products they can get their hands on.
Delevingne’s charm has always been in her laidback, effortless approach to styling, preferring leggings, hoodies, trainers and barelythere make-up to heels and LBDs. The Vogue shoot stays true to her signature style, but this is no run of the mill casual look. The bright blue anorak draped off her shoulders is one of the key pieces of the season, from Demna Gvasalia’s debut collection for Balenciaga — expect to see plenty of tributes in the shops over the coming months.
In the interview which accompanies the shoot, Delevingne speaks frankly about her new focus on acting, her feelings about moving from modelling to acting and her relationship with Annie Clark, the American singer-songwriter known as St Vincent.
“I’m still learning. I act for love. I give it my all” she tells Vogue. In fact, such is her dedication to her new profession that she claims, “I would probably still do it even if I wasn’t paid at all.” Delevingne has never been afraid to speak out about big issues, from her personal battles with depression to sexual harassment in the modelling industry. So it’s no surprise that she joins Jennifer Lawrence and weighs in on one of the hottest topics in the acting industry — gender pay discrimination. “But in terms of equal pay I need to be paid the same as the guy who has equal billing with me. Otherwise I won’t do it,” she asserts, “because if you accept less, you’re just letting everyone else down and continuing the cycle.”
With 31.6m Instagram followers to her name, Cara has created a community of fans who she encourages to “Don’t worry be happy, Embrace your weirdness, Stop labelling, starting living.”
Delevingne has also been at the vanguard of an open approach to sexuality, confirming last year that she is in a relationship with Annie Clark. “I’m completely in love.....Before, I didn’t know what love was — real love. I didn’t understand the depth of it. I always used to think it was you against the world. Now I know the meaning of life is love. Whether that’s for yourself or for the world or your partner,” she says in the interview.
“As a child I used gay as a bad world. as in, ‘that’s so gay’. All my friends did,” Delevingne admits. “I’m obviously in love, so if people want to say I’m gay, that’s great. But we’re all liquid — we change, we grow.”
She may have been off the radar for a while, but this new shoot and interview are proof that Delevingne is as honest, spirited and decidedly herself as ever.