Winnie Harlow and her vitiligo
Canadian fashion model Winnie Harlow has appeared on two Vogue covers, her skin condition completely undisguised.
Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin condition that causes depigmented patches of skin to appear randomly on the body. It happens when the cells responsible for giving your skin its natural colour, melanocytes, are attacked and destroyed. The result is milky white patches of skin.
Anyone can develop vitiligo, which may appear at any age. However, vitiligo often starts before age 20 years.
“I happen to have vitiligo and I’m proud of it,” she told Fashion Week Daily in late 2020, “but I’m also not a spokesperson for it just because you want me to be, or just because I have a skin condition.”
“That’s not how life works. That makes it difficult. It’s not about me being private about my skin condition.
She continued,
I love talking about it. But it’s not the only thing about me.”
