The cover shot is six years old, OK?
It's Melania Trump! Posing with a cereal bowl full of jewelry! Given her husband's already strained relationship with the country (yes, less than a week into his presidency), why would Melania consent to this shoot?! As it turns out, she sort of didn't.
As a cover shot, it's glaringly out of touch with
the populist campaign that just put Melania in the White House — she's
twirling diamond jewelry with a fork and spoon like it's spaghetti. Like
sparkly, would-probably-chip-your-teeth-if-you-ate-it spaghetti. And as The Guardian notes, people are not happy about it.
But here's the real deal — this photo, which in context seems pretty out-of-touch and inappropriate, wasn't even taken for Vanity Fair. It wasn't even taken for GQ, where it was published in 2016 accompanying an interview with Melania. According to Trunk Archive, the syndication photo agency where this shot is stored, the photo was part of a shoot Melania did for Philadelphia Style back in 2011 to promote her QVC jewelry collection.
So how exactly did all these publications end up
with the same photograph? Very often, a company will have the rights to
use a photo for a limited amount of time. After that, the photographer
can sell the rights to a syndication photo agency where other outlets
can then purchase it to use.
You can even see where people used the photo right after the election — and long before the Vanity Fair cover:
The magazine was released one day after President Trump signed an executive order
calling for the "immediate construction of a physical wall on the
southern border." So while there are clearly other reasons Mexico might
be angry with the Trumps right now, it might be best to call this
repurposed photo what is really is: poorly-timed. Or, wait, is it perfectly-timed?
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