Queer Eye 'grooming expert', author and activist Jonathan Van Ness has made history, landing the cover of Cosmopolitan UK and becoming the fashion magazine's first solo non-female cover star.
The beloved TV star, who uses male pronouns but came out as non-binary earlier this year, looks typically joyful in a voluminous peach Christian Siriano gown in the cover image - alongside the cover line: “Jonathan Van Ness: Yep, we did it. You’re totally welcome."
Discussing the decision to shoot Van Ness for the cover, Cosmopolitan UK editor-in-chief Claire Hodgson told TIME that he represents the iconic magazine's increasingly diverse readership.
“Jonathan is warm, funny, opinionated, kind and brave, all qualities that resonate with our audience,” Hodgson said.
“He is encouraging people to love who they are, which is at the heart of what our brand stands for – we could all do with a little more self-love in our lives.”
Van Ness took to Twitter to share the news, writing: “First non female cover star in 35 years ... thanks for having me.'
He added: "@CosmopolitanUK showing more variations of beauty for young LGBTQ+ people. YAS QUEEN.”
Earlier this year Van Ness spoke openly about his gender identity in an interview with Out magazine, saying: “some days I feel like a boy and some days I feel like a girl.”
“I didn’t really put [my behaviour] together with ‘gender non-conforming’ or ‘non-binary’ or owning that as an identity until recently because I think I just thought that I loved skirts and heels and like a kind of Whole Foods Face,” he told Out's Fran Tirado.
“I just am either like gender-bendy or non-conform-y or non-binary and some days I feel like a boy and some days I feel like a girl. I didn’t think I was allowed to be non-conforming or genderqueer or non-binary - I was just always like ‘a gay man’ because that’s just the label I thought I had to be.”
