Kamala Harris, Anna Wintour Feud: Why VP Felt ‘Belittled’ By Vogue Cover

Vice President Kamala Harris allegedly felt “belittled” by a photo that Vogue selected for its February 2021 issue’s cover that she sent an aide to complain to editor Anna Wintour, according to a new book.

The photo in question featured Harris in Converse and skinny pants. Wintour, who personally chose the photo, told Harris' spokesman Symone Sanders that it made the vice president appear “relatable.” However, Harris favored a photo that featured her in a formal powder blue suit.

“Harris was wounded. She felt belittled by the magazine, asking aides: Would Vogue depict another world leader this way?” as stated in the upcoming book, “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future,” by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, according to excerpts obtained by POLITICO.

Harris’ favored photo was used as a limited edition alternative to the picture showing her in sneakers and skinny pants. Some of the vice president’s allies slammed Vogue’s choice of the cover photo, saying that it failed to give Harris the respect she deserved. Others also said that the lighting and background of the photo were unflattering.

“The cover did not give Kamala D. Harris due respect. It was overly familiar. It was a cover image that, in effect, called Harris by her first name without invitation,” The Washington Post’s Robin Givhan said. “She looks more like a political candidate than someone who is soon to be the second-highest-ranking federal official in the land.”

Tina Flournoy, Harris’ chief of staff, later raised the issue to a senior Biden campaign official who dismissed it as a “comparatively trivial aesthetic issue.” The official also told Flournoy that the issue was a “first world problem,” the authors wrote.

Excerpts from the upcoming book showed early tensions between Biden’s and Harris’ offices during the early days of the administration. At one point, the vice president’s team wanted to oversee relationships with Nordic countries. However, White House aides later mocked and vetoed the idea.

Harris was instead “resigned” to the assignment of taking the lead with Central American countries as migration across the U.S. border in Mexico soared.