Lupita Nyong’o is on the cover of the July 2014 issue of Vogue and it’s gorgeous — in a slightly disturbing exotified way. She was photographed by Mikael Jansson and, in the accompanying piece by Hamish Bowles, describes her rise to supestardom.
As we are serenaded by the hypnotic chant of the Gnawa musicians in the adjoining courtyard, I suggest to Lupita that she must have had a completely surreal year. "Indeed I did," she says, laughing. "It just feels like the entertainment industry exploded into my life. People who seemed so distant all of a sudden were right in front of me and recognizing me–before I recognized them!" Her first real intimation that her life was changing–probably forever–came after the SAG Awards in January, when she arrived late one night at the airport and was mobbed by paparazzi. "For a split second I looked behind me to see who they were flashing at–and it was me!" she remembers. "That was, I think, the beginning of the end of my anonymity."
She also talks about making her own prom dress in high school and styling her short hair. Read more.
Take a look at some photos below: