Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau speaks to supporters during a campaign stop in Toronto on Monday, August 17, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese THE CANADIAN PRESS

Soon to be in Vogue? Justin Trudeau

Fashion magazine takes notice of ’Canada’s feminist prime minister’

By Laura Payton

November 17, 2015

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Justin Trudeau speaks to supporters on election night. (Kevin Van Paassen/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

As if Canadians haven’t had enough fun watching the flurry of international media attention paid to our new, apparently handsome, Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau appears to have earned the most important stamp of approval in fashion: that of Anna Wintour, the legendary editor of Vogue magazine.

Maclean’s has learned that the magazine dispatched a photographer to snap Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, in the Library of Parliament last week. The library was closed for several hours during the shoot (UPDATE: the library says the shoot took less than an hour, but the library was closed to public tours for several hours because of tours for the new MPs. The library was not closed to the public due to the photo shoot). The photos are expected to appear in the January issue.

Wintour’s power in the fashion industry is legendary. It’s widely believed she was the inspiration behind the book and movie, The Devil Wears Prada.

The U.S. fashion magazine first took notice earlier this month when it blogged about Canada’s feminist Prime Minister.

Library of Parliament. (Photograph by Jessica Darmanin)

The Liberals refused to confirm the photo shoot and didn’t answer questions about whether it was American Vogue or one of the international editions. The magazine publishes in 19 countries, including Italy, France and the U.K., and boasts 12.5 million readers.

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It’s not the first time Condé Nast, the parent company of Vogue, has noticed the Liberal leader. Trudeau was featured in Vanity Fair a year ago, well ahead of his Oct. 19 election win. That shoot also took place in the Library of Parliament, a breathtaking Gothic revival piece of Centre Block on Parliament Hill. It’s the only original part of the building left after a fire destroyed the rest of Centre Block in 1916. (That wasn’t the only fire to threaten the library, as I just discovered.)

Earlier this month, New YorkMagazine featured Trudeau as a paper doll.

Yes, it’s getting silly.

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Laura Payton

Laura Payton has covered federal politics for eight years. In that time, she’s followed the trials of several politicians and staffers, and written about everything from robocalls to whether our politicians believe Santa Claus is Canadian. Earlier this year, Laura won the R. James Travers Fellowship, a Canadian journalism prize.