“The first model from Oaxaca arrives in the history of Vogue’s cover. She is Karen Vega , a young woman with many dreams to fulfill and paradigms to break,” says the text fashion magazine Vogue wrote to presents its most recent cover.
Karen is 18 years old and is the first model from Oaxaca to be featured at the cover of the internationally famous magazine for its Mexico edition.
She is displayed at the cover of the publication wearing a bright pink dress and holding a white rooster while the background shows the Oaxaca’s green fields.
The young woman was born in Oaxaca de Juárez and began her modeling career by the hand of Pompi García who invited her to collaborate in his “Magical Realism” project, for which he was specifically looking for a brown color model. Then, the designer invited her to be part of his modeling agency, Talento Espina.
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Through Talento Espina, the Mexican firm Barragán contacted her to walk on its 2020 Autumn-Winter runway in Mexico City.
Although she recognizes that her journey in the fashion world has been complicated, she truly believes in respecting diversity and the work of everyone.
“When I saw Yalitza Aparicio at a Vogue cover, it was also a signal and now I know I could be the same signal for more young women if I keep working hard and being grateful,” she said.
Her debut at Vogue’s cover takes place at a time in which issues like racism and discrimination are being debated all over the world and after Yalitza Aparicio, who is also from Oaxaca, has paved the way for other women to keep breaking beauty stereotypes in the fashion world .
Yalitza Aparicio, who is a school teacher from Tlaxiaco that became known after appearing in Alfonso Cuarón’s multi-awarded film Roma, was featured in Vogue’s cover on January 2019 and a cover that was considered historical. According to Karen Vega, it was an inspiration for her and many young women from Oaxaca .
Yalitza’s fight against racism
Yalitza Aparicio began being considered as a fashion icon soon after Yalitza Aparicio’s career took off due to “Roma.”
To date, Yalitza has represented Mexican women in red carpets and covers of the most important fashion magazines in the world, such as Vogue Mexico, Vogue UK, ELLE Mexico, Vanity Fair, and Teen Vogue.
In 2019, Vogue UK published an article called “The Women Up-Ending the Status Quo,” where Yalitza was named as one of the women who are challenging the status quo in Hollywood thanks to her outstanding role as “Cleo” in Alfonso Cuarón’s film for, despite having no previous acting experience, she has taken the film industry by storm.
Last year, she attended the Michael Kors Collection show at New York Fashion Week. Moreover, she was chosen to be the face of Rodarte’s Spring 2020 lookbook which was also presented at NYFW.
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Despite her success, Aparicio has had to face several obstacles since she has been in the spotlight of the fashion world , an industry that still has many prejudices and stereotypes pending change in a society that is becoming increasingly aware of the beauty in diversity and issues related to internalized racism and discrimination.
An instance of this took place in February 2019, when magazine ¡HOLA! Revealed Yalitza was on its cover. The actress wore a beautiful red gown and posed with confidence, however social media users accused the publication of whitewashing the Mexican actress as her skin color looked much lighter; her body appeared to be altered as well.
Yalitza has become a role model for millions of women in Mexico who look up to her because she embraces her beauty and defends her indigenous roots
With her bronze skin and short stature, Aparicio has become a symbol of pride for many. She is the opposite of the women and men with European features who dominate the television, film, and fashion industry.
Yalitza, with roots in the Mixtec and Triqui indigenous communities, has forced Mexicans to confront glaring social inequalities, racist prejudices, and contradictions for it not uncommon for Mexican to celebrate the achievements of their distant indigenous ancestors and, at the same time, discriminate their contemporaries.
Therefore, Yalitza represented a breath of fresh air in Mexico not only because of her acting but because millions of people were finally represented. Yalitza is not only an Oscar-nominated actress, but she is also a role model for women of color and she has set an example for indigenous girls who will realize they can achieve anything they want and that racism and discrimination cannot stop them.
mp