A couple months ago Lainey broke the news that Kristen Stewart would be getting a solo Vogue cover. For a while, everything seemed to be going along nicely. There were discussions about photographers; Testino and Demarchelier were mentioned, and Demarchelier ended up photographing her. But then some rumors that Stewart and Anna Wintour weren’t getting along started gaining steam. We started hearing that Stewart could get bumped, but the person who would be supplanting her was such a big name A-list celebrity that I thought, Well, she would preempt anyone. And then yesterday came the news: Kristen Stewart did get bumped. By Blake Lively.
Bumped by Angelina Jolie, fine. Bumped by blank-face Blake? Ugh.
So what happened to KStew’s cover? Stewart was not compromising on the substance of the interview. Wintour wanted Vogue to be the publication that got shy Stewart to talk about her personal life. In the end, Stewart didn’t budge. I’m a fan of Stewart (#1 girlcrush). In my head, she’s like my Fantasy Little Sister. So I would like to tell my Fantasy Little Sister that sometimes being an adult is about compromising. I admire Stewart’s determination to preserve her privacy, but Vogue approached her about the cover. In the interest of getting what they want, Vogue would compromise on some middle ground. It became clear early on that Stewart and Wintour were really butting heads over this and that it was Stewart who was being the more inflexible of the two.
But replacing Kristen Stewart with Blake Lively? It kinda seems like a message, no? Stewart was not kissing Wintour’s ass and everyone knew it. Taking Stewart off the cover and giving it to Blake Lively, a boring actress who has kowtowed to Wintour in the past, asserts Wintour’s place as The One Who Can’t Be F*cked With. Kristen Stewart is young. She will have other opportunities to be on the cover of Vogue. And maybe next time she’ll have a better idea of how to deal with Wintour. Maybe next time she’ll find a compromise.
