Since lockdown began a new found respect for the ‘key worker’ roles that have so often been under-appreciated by society has come to the fore. While this term may instinctively conjure up NHS workers, the last few months have demonstrated that many roles are ‘key’ to keeping life moving. Namely the postal delivery drivers, supermarket workers, cleaners, teachers and train drivers keeping the country running during the ongoing crisis.

So, for this month’s issue of British Vogue, the magazine has chosen to celebrate these key workers and redefine the notion of what it means to be a hero, by placing three such women on the front cover of its July 2020 issue.

An Overground train driver, a midwife working in east London and a King’s Cross supermarket worker were all captured by the photographer Jamie Hawkesworth as part of a shoot that saw him travel round the capital over two weeks with a tripod, a lens, his camera and bike for company. The trio are part of a 20-page portfolio that will be published in the issue, showing some of the portraits Hawkesworth shot.

Twenty-four-year-old Rachel Miller has worked as a community midwife at Homerton Hospital for the last three years while Narguis Horsford has been working for Transport for London for 10 years and driving Overground trains for five. The youngest of the stars is 21-year-old Anisa Omsar, who is a supermarket assistant at the King’s Cross brand of Waitrose.

According to British Vogue: “The July 2020 cover story celebrates the millions of people in the UK who, at the height of the pandemic, and in the face of danger, put on their uniforms and went to work.”

The ongoing pandemic is arguably dismantling the celebrity culture that has been so central to media and consumer culture. Far from leaning on airbrushed celebrities, these covers show ordinary people what extraordinary acts look like. For publications such as British Vogue to recognise this and celebrate this reality is a powerful nod to the shifting culture, the ‘new normal’ in which we all find ourselves today.