More recently, the actress landed yet another highly coveted designation: Vogue magazine cover girl. Nyong’o joins a rarefied group of black women who have graced the cover of Anna Wintour’s iconic fashion glossy. Since 1974, when Beverly Johnson became the first black woman in history to appear on the cover of U.S. Vogue, the magazine hasn't regularly featured women of color, and even fewer non-American women of color have appeared as cover models. (Nyong’o was born in Mexico but raised in Kenya.)
Retail sales for high-profile Vogue covers never fail to attract attention, and according to preliminary sales data for July, Nyong’o is more than holding her own against some of the magazine’s most notable heavyweights. In fact, she may just be saving Wintour & Co. from one of the most catastrophic summers the magazine industry has ever faced.
The reason why is a little complicated, but bear with us: In late May, the second-largest magazine wholesaler in the country, Source Interlink Distribution, announced abruptly that it was closing its doors for good. Its demise removed a major link in a complex retail ecosphere, the repercussions of which are still being felt. Sources say nearly every large publisher experienced a serious interruption in distribution as national retailers like Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE:BKS), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG) were left scrambling to hammer out deals with new distributors. Some magazine titles saw their retail circulation numbers cut in half overnight.
Gil Brechtel, president of the Magazine Information Network (MagNet), a research firm that tracks retail magazine sales, said about 30 percent of the total magazine industry was affected by Source Interlink’s closure, as stacks of magazines sat undelivered in printing plants and warehouses. “It was a total mess,” he told International Business Times.
Read more:
http://www.ibtimes.com/lupita-nyongo...losure-1625880
