Charlotte Wales shoots Botticelli-esque editorial for British Vogue's September issue

Fashion favourite Charlotte Wales is no stranger to the pages of British Vogue but after a string of portraits, front of book and beauty stories, the September issue marks her first main fashion shoot – and she’s off with a bang. Collaborating with the publication’s senior fashion editor, Poppy Kain, the images have Charlotte’s signature high-gloss, high-octane touch. The model’s porcelain skin and red hair hint at the renaissance but Poppy’s styling, with elements of 20s flapper girl, 90s ruffles and noughties body-con, combined with statement make-up by Hiromi Ueda bring it firmly into the modern-day.

When Edward Enninful took the editorial reins at the title, one of his promises was to inject Britain’s fashion bible with a variety of shapes, sizes and skin colours – an all-round deluge of diversity, and about time too. It’s a delight to see him making good on his word, signing off on the casting (by bookings director, Rosie Vogel) of model Tess McMillan, a model who, it’s safe to say, might not previously have featured in the illustrious magazine.

The 18 year old Brooklyn-based Texan has only been on the modelling scene a year but is already a name to watch, signed to Muse Management and featuring in Marc Jacobs beauty campaigns, alongside editorials in Re-Edition and Alla Carta. She tells Vogue’s online team, “I really, really wanted it, but all I could think was, is it realistic?” Despite having a self-proclaimed “love/hate relationship with social media”, she used Instagram to contact a photographer she admired (Heather Hazzan), in the hope she’d share her images with people in power. Fast forward a year and her dream is not only realistic, it’s fully realised.