Emma Watson covers the September issue of Vogue UK. They refer to her as “the voice of a generation.” Which is laying it on a bit thick, but sure. She’s a good name for the September issue of any magazine, but it does feel like Vogue UK sort of phoned it in with this editorial. I’m okay with the cover (it’s a little bit too “undone” but she looks nice), but the second photo (at the end of the post) is really unflattering. She looks like an unwashed 12 year old. I was hoping that Emma would really give a lengthy interview for the September issue too, but so far, the excerpts are just kind of meh. Some highlights:
How she felt the night before delivering her HeForShe speech at the UN last year: “I was in my hotel room, thinking, I can’t do this. I was just terrified. And then I Skyped a friend who said, ‘Go through it again and ask yourself, if you were hit by a bus tomorrow, would you be comfortable with every single line?'”
How she feels now after her UN speech: “[I feel a sense of] belonging and purpose. I understood what I’m here to do and knew where to channel all this energy that has been coming at me. I now feel this sense of peace. People say that I’m different since I did it.”
How she used to feel in the public eye: ‘Incredibly uncomfortable…I really wrestled [with success]. I tend to turn in on myself. I feel like an imposter.”
Her acting career: “When I was younger, I just did it. I just acted. It was just there.”
Emma’s UN speech last September was good, although I’m still slightly mystified as to why people considered it so groundbreaking. I think it was probably a combination of using a very famous and popular young woman to deliver the message, plus her speech was a coherent and well-delivered argument for men and women to consider themselves feminists in everyday life.
Photos courtesy of Vogue UK.
