Tyler Mitchell took to Twitter on Monday to support the claim made by Anna Wintour that her and Raul Martinez, Condé Nast’s Corporate Creative Director, were the ones responsible for hiring him for Beyoncé’s Vogue September cover.
Wintour shot down reports that Bey was the only one involved with picking Mitchell, marking the first time that Vogue hired a black photographer to shoot a cover for the publication in its 126-year history. Instead, she stated the credit belongs to Martinez. "The concept and the photographer was entirely Vogue’s, specifically Raul’s," she toldBoF.
Martinez says he first became aware of Mitchell after seeing his work in March’s Teen Voguedigital cover where he photographed gun control activists. When Beyoncé was presented with a list of photographers to work with for her shoot, she “immediately approved” Mitchell because of the historical implications that came with his hiring. He was also well known within Beyoncé’s inner circle after previously photographing her sister Solange.
Wintour also responded to the report that Beyoncé was given full editorial control, saying that like other big stars who grace the cover, it was more of a collaboration. As for those rumors of her departure as editor-in-chief, Wintour fired back, "I’m not going to address it, I’m not going to address it."
