Penelope Cruz photographed by the late, great Herb Ritts for US Vogue, March 2001

When this cover hit newsstands 25 years ago this month, I gasped in awe. Not because of topless Penelope–that part didn’t catch my eye, actually. But it was the sultry pulchritude of Penelope with the blurb “The Power Of Beauty” that did. For as long as I’ve been reading women’s/fashion magazines, plenty of them, but especially Anna Wintour’s Vogue, have often touted beige-skinned, blue-eyed blondes with the thin lips and thinner hips as the “beauty ideal”. As a gullible teen who was none of that, there were times when those discriminating messages got to me. (Looking back at that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ass-backwards rich white males that owned Conde Nast and Hearst influenced that racist bullshit in my fashion/women’s titles.) 

Then here comes Penelope, with her dark hair, brown eyes, sunkissed skin, and full lips, fronting Vogue’s March 2001 issue. Her look was the antithesis of the Paltrows and Kidmans of Hollywood, and I adored her upon first sight. Penelope instantly joined my list of beauty idols of the time: Lucy Liu (the lone female Asian star at the time), Jessica Alba, Tyra Banks, and Catherine Zeta-Jones (who would get her own Vogue cover later that year), to name a few. I think I bought two copies of that issue–one to read and one that I left sealed in its plastic wrapping for keepsakes. (These were days when Vogue’s March and September issues were, like, 700 pages and came with a supplemental issue, thus the plastic wrapping). I still have both issues to this day. 

By the way, I remember reading the readers’ letters of that issue (remember those sections?), and one reader did complain about Penelope being topless on the cover. For me, I found it a lot more tasteful and classy than, oh, Melania Trump wearing a full wedding gown on her cover in 2005. And don’t get me started on those who later got Vogue covers that shouldn’t have gotten them in the first place *cough*Nicki*cough*

(Side note: this could be the last month I do these throwback magazine cover posts, but if I find something good for next month…👀)