Halle Berry First Black Woman on September Vogue Cover Since 1989

Press-averse actress: “There was no way I could say no”; meanwhile, Cosmo unveils Jessica Alba’s “Va-Jay-Jay”

Halle Berry is on the cover of the September issue of Vogue — the first black woman to grace the cover of the magazine’s biggest issue since Naomi Campbell in 1989.

Berry, who hasn’t given a “proper interview” in three years, is certainly aware of its relative importance:

The only reason she is submitting now, she says, is that Vogue made her an offer she couldn't refuse: the September cover. "What that means for a woman of color and what that means in the fashion world, what that means to pop culture, there was no way I could say, 'No, I'm not going to be on the biggest issue of the year.'"

In fact, Berry and Campbell are the only two black women ever to appear on the September issue’s cover, according to FishbowlLA.

It’s a step in the right direction for Condé Nast, which took a lot of heat earlier this year over a Vanity Fair cover that celebrated nine of Hollywood’s up-and-coming young actresses – not one of them black ("Where Are Hollywood's Hot, Young Black Women?").

Speaking of history, Frisky blogger Jessica Wakeman notes that Cosmopolitan is breaking new ground with the use of the term “Va-Jay-Jay” in a September issue coverline.

That Cosmo chose to splash "Va-Jay-Jays" — with the "Untamed" qualifier — near the area of cover girl Jessica Alba's vagina is another issue.

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