Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska on the cover of vogue, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Titled “Portrait of Bravery”, the broadcast and accompanying interview depict Zelenska as a woman rising to the challenge of her many roles in this war.
Screenshot by NPR/Annie Leibovitz/Vogue
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Screenshot by NPR/Annie Leibovitz/Vogue
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska on the cover of vogue, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Titled “Portrait of Bravery”, the broadcast and accompanying interview depict Zelenska as a woman rising to the challenge of her many roles in this war.
Screenshot by NPR/Annie Leibovitz/Vogue
LVIV, Ukraine — What does it mean to “sit like a girl”? The question arose after Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska appeared sitting on the cover of vogue last month. Some critics ridiculed her pose as unfeminine.
In the portrait, shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz in Kyiv, Zelenska is dressed in slacks and a shirt with rolled up sleeves, flat shoes and minimal makeup. She is seated on marble steps, propped up with her elbows on her knees – her legs not zipped together.
“‘Sit like a girl,’” recalled Polina Karabach, a 30-year-old Kyiv resident, who had read online while browsing through a deluge of criticism. “[They say] it’s inappropriate for the first lady, it’s inappropriate for women to sit like that.”
Karabach believes Zelenska sent an important message by appearing in the magazine: that even though Ukrainians are tired, they are “still holding on”. So she was surprised when so much criticism, including from fellow Ukrainians, focused on the first lady’s appearance.
Her hair? Too glamorous for war.
Their eyes? Too weary.
His stance? Too manly.
The media may have noticed that President Volodymyr Zelensky has looked exhausted since the war. But few people criticize him when he’s in the press, Karabach says, so the backlash against his wife is “a sign that it’s really about trying to humiliate women and Olena, in particular.”
Critics have taken issue with all sorts of aspects
Zelenska’s photo shoot drew other kinds of criticism, including from fellow Ukrainians who accused her of stealing the limelight from women working on the frontlines and promoting a cult of personality in the West around President Zelenskyy. . He appears kissing or holding hands with his wife in some of the photos.
Meanwhile, outside Ukraine, the photo shoot also drew criticism as war propaganda and shedding light on the conflict. “Does the magazine romanticize war, or does the first lady weaponize the brilliant?” asked for a reviewer’s notebook in The New York Times.
Peter Dickinson, editor of the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert service who runs a publishing business in Ukraine, says most of the criticism seems to come from Russia, Russian proxies and people who criticize their government’s support for Ukraine in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.
“I think it was a good opportunity for people who are critical of the overwhelming support for Ukraine, to shout out to Ukraine and say, ‘Look, this country doesn’t need our help, they’re doing vogue photo shoots, they don’t need help, they don’t need support,” says Dickinson.
Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert shouted exactly that. As the United States sends billions in aid to Ukraine, it tweeted“Zelenskyy does photo shoots for Vogue Magazine. These people think we’re just a bunch of suckers.”
Jalisa Danielle, a Houston-based podcaster, also expressed skepticism about the seriousness of the conflict. “How serious is the war in Ukraine? she asked in a tweetwhich received a large number of retweets and likes.
Danielle told NPR that vogue just might not have been the right vehicle for the message Zelenska might be trying to send.
“To look at this and see, on the one hand, people say it’s very serious, there’s a lot of crazy conflict going on, and then seeing someone has time to do a high fashion photo shoot, even if it wasn’t high fashion clothes or stuff, that’s what it’s associated,” says Danielle.
When Zelenska was requested by the BBC on criticism that his appearance in vogue ‘glamorize war,’ first lady said, ‘I take every opportunity to talk about Ukraine – it was a huge opportunity, because millions of people read vogue. … And being able to talk to them directly was my duty.”
Dickinson agrees, writing in his blog:
“An eye-catching photo shoot with a global media brand is a smart move by Zelenska that leverages Ukraine’s strengths and bolsters the country’s ability to significantly exceed its weight in the information war against Russia. At a time when scenes of death and destruction in Ukraine have lost the power to shock, she offers a compelling personal perspective that brings home the reality of war to outside observers.”
It has become an important moment for Ukrainian women
A growing number of people have pushed back against criticism of her pose in particular.
Women are using the hashtag #SitLikeAGirl on social media with images of themselves sitting like the first lady’s cover photo, in a challenge against female stereotypes. Supporters have included people from all walks of life – soldiers, police, artists, singers – and this week, the Minister of Justice of Slovakia.
Valeria Voshchevska, a Ukrainian activist who works for Amnesty International in London, says this response is “incredible” and shows the “power of civil society in Ukraine, which is so nice to see in juxtaposition with, you know, Russia”.
This moment is important for Ukrainian women, she says, because not only is a woman leading the way for the country to be better seen and heard, but she stands up to criticism and stereotypes at a crucial time.
Back in Kyiv, Karabach recreated the photo of first lady Zalenska in her apartment. Her portrait was taken by her husband, Yuriy Karabach.
‘I think we should stop paying attention to this and start focusing on what’s important,’ she says – like doing what you can to support Ukraine in the war.
