Anna Wintour - Anna Wintour's Favourite Vogue Cover

Anna Wintour's Favourite Vogue Cover

One of Anna Wintour's favourite US Vogue covers features a model who had put on weight.

The editor recently launched the 'Vogue Health Initiative' - a pact between the magazines' various international titles to encourage a healthier approach to body image - but revealed she has always promoted curvier figures, including on her first ever cover in November 1988.

She told vogue.com: ''Israeli model Michaela Bercu was wearing an haute couture Christian Lacroix jacket with a beaded cross, all very 'Like a Prayer', and stonewashed Guess jeans. The jacket was actually part of a suit, but the skirt didn't fit Michaela; she had been on vacation back home in Israel and had gained a little weight.

''Not that that mattered. In fact, it only served to reinforce the idea to take couture's haughty grandeur and playfully throw it headlong into real life and see what happened.''

Although it was speculated that Michaela's slightly rounded belly was due to her being pregnant, Anna says she showed it off because she thought the world was ready to see a fuller figured model.

She explained: ''None of these things was true. I had just looked at that picture and sensed the winds of change. And you can't ask for more from a cover image than that.''