Travis Scott Vows to Fight for Social Change

LONDON — The relaunched The Face magazine has invited its alumni David LaChapelle — who has photographed Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock, Uma Thurman, Kelis, André 3000 and Gisele Bündchen for the magazine over the years — to shoot rapper Travis Scott for the latest issue.

In the issue, Scott announced himself as a newly committed fighter for social change following his Instagram post on George Floyd’s death due to police brutality.

“People are finally seeing the oppression that’s been happening and overlooked, and that we, as a culture, have been fighting through every day. We got a voice to try to make a change. Allow me to help in any way,” he said.

Stuart Brumfitt, editor of the magazine, said he wanted to hear what the star had to say during a year transformed by the Black Lives Matter movement.

“He is the monumental star of the moment. His music is era-defining. He’s a close collaborator of Kanye West. He’s teaming with McDonald’s on Happy Meals and soundtracking ‘Tenet,’ the biggest movie of the year. His influence on culture can be felt everywhere, but he’s never been known to be hugely political,” Brumfitt said.

Travis wanted to work with LaChapelle again for the issue because their collaboration on the “Astroworld” album artwork in 2018 has been phenomenal, he added.

The new issue urges the readers to look forward. “This year has been a lot, and like Cape Town’s Mikhaila Petersen says in our globe-spanning portfolio that tracks 20 twentysomethings, we should all be in awe of ourselves for getting through it,” Brumfitt said.

Other highlights from the issue include a feature on a group of Black birdwatchers in London, a portfolio on London’s Mr & Miss Nigeria Beauty Pageants, and getting up and close with the cast of “Call Me By Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino’s new HBO show, “We Are Who We Are.”

The magazine itself has been constantly adapting to the changing rules from the U.K. government.

“When the first heavy lockdown was put in place in the U.K., we decided not to work on a summer issue, focusing instead on our digital output. We made phenomenal content in tough times, with key worker cover stars, BLM coverage, and a huge 1975 takeover and concert featuring the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Beabadoobee, Rina Sawayama and more,” he said.

“When we came back to make the September issue, we mostly worked remotely. There were new challenges around shoots, but in the end, only one was done over Zoom. The rest happened in the window when lockdown measures were reduced,” he added.

The business has not been as negatively impacted as one would think.

“We’ve had great support from advertisers in this print issue, and when we take into account the digital and video work we’ve been doing for brands, September is one of our biggest months since launch,” Brumfitt said.

The issue will go on sale from Sept. 14.

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