Texas as a Portrait of America: Tyler Mitchell and Carlos Nazario's Vogue Road Trip
Vogue
For Vogue's summer 2026 issue, which marks America's 250th anniversary, photographer Tyler Mitchell and fashion editor Carlos Nazario spent several days traveling across Texas. They wanted a single state that could stand in for the whole country, "the good, the bad, the ugly," and one that felt politically relevant right now. The film follows the shoot from a hotel-room fitting to a Houston university campus, a church, a Black-owned ranch, a line-dancing bar, and finally Big Bend National Park. Throughout, the team keeps returning to the same idea: the pictures should come from real time spent with real people, not from staging.
Why Texas, and Why Time Was the Hardest Part
Asked what the hardest part of the multi-day shoot would be, one of the team answered that it had already arrived: time. Texas is not New York or Los Angeles, they said, where work goes "bang, bang, bang." Here they needed time with people, and they were working against both the clock and the budget.
The scale made that harder. Over three days, the team estimated they would photograph about 70 people. Counting Ocean of Soul, the Texas Southern University marching band, the total came to about 370. They also expected to shoot at roughly 20 locations and said they would be "constantly in a state of motion." One team member said that working well under stress was among their strongest traits.
Carlos Nazario explained the choice of Texas during the opening fitting. The state offered different landscapes, different groups of people, and a rich history, and he said it "checked all those boxes." The aim was to tell a story of America as it is now. The fashion direction was "southern charm, western style, but done in a really modern way." One voice in the fitting described a preference for clothes that "feel like someone loved making them," pieces where the attention to detail, fit, and fabric is visible. The cast was deliberately wide: young and old, men and women, Latin, Black, white, and Cherokee participants.
Three Texan Narrators
The issue is framed around three models who are all from Texas: Sarah Grace, Ruth Deng, and Erin Wasson. The brief, as described in the film, was to cast people who were "genuinely" from Texas rather than "importing a model" who lives in New York or somewhere else. The team hoped the three women would show "the togetherness of Texas" and perhaps a story that isn't often seen or heard.
Each model was chosen for a particular story. Sarah Grace reached high-fashion stardom on her own, the team said, but is "really just a girl from Dallas." Erin Wasson was described as a "living legend" with an illustrious career who has chosen to build her life in Dallas and Texas. The team saw that as going against the pressure successful models feel to stay in fashion centers like New York, Paris, and London.
Ruth Deng was presented as an emblem of the diaspora and of the many people who have found home and refuge in Texas, in her case the Sudanese community. The speaker said that, as they understood it, her parents belong to the "Lost Boys and Girls" generation who fled Sudan during conflict. The team said they wanted to highlight that immigration story "subtly," through Ruth's beauty and her family's radiance. Her family appears later at Big Bend.
One of the models said they were proud to be from Texas, that the state is so vast it holds endless stories, and that they were grateful the shoot shows both how diverse Texas is and "the poetry of the place."
Texas Southern University: Cheerleaders, Drum Line, and Chasing Spontaneity
At Texas Southern University, the team photographed cheerleaders and the Ocean of Soul marching band. One speaker was struck by how "in possession of their physicality" the young cheerleaders were, "confident and open, but still quite strong," and joked that being around them made them feel old.
This stop shows the working method most clearly. The team said they were enjoying "moments of spontaneity" most. A formal, composed picture is "iconic to have," but they expected the looser moments to work better in the edit, like the cheerleaders chatting and fixing each other's hair between setups. During the band session, someone asked whether the musicians could play during the shoot, as a way to make it "a little less staged" and bring in some energy.
A band member said they first thought the Vogue invitation was a joke. Once they learned the magazine really wanted the band, they knew the group could "rise to the occasion."
Mitchell connected the setting to his own background. He grew up in Atlanta, where drum lines and marching bands were central to how he understood football and school culture, and he said he understands why photographers are drawn to them. In his view, music turns into energy in photographs, and the band shoot was "more about translating that energy than anything else." Because the drum majors and others responded strongly to music, playing songs became a way to "wake them up" for a picture or draw out a particular reaction.
For Ruth's styling here, the stylist said they wanted to bring her into the students' world with something "a little collegiate, a little bit preppy."
A Working Partnership Built on Openness
Between setups, the two collaborators described how they work together. They said they want to show people "living, doing interesting things, gathering, sharing," with everyday people mixed in among the models, and that "that's how Carlos and I see the world." One of them said the goal of making images is to connect with people, the goal of portraiture is to put people at ease, and that ability is "kind of our superpower." Their way of working, they said, depends on staying open to what happens in real time and then making small adjustments to improve it.
Mitchell said Nazario is like family, like a brother: they "bicker like brothers," but they share a language that "doesn't need to be explained." The footage matches this. At one point Nazario checks whether the models are centered for Mitchell and then physically moves them into place while Mitchell calls out the positions.
Quinceañera and Dance
The team pointed out that the quinceañera is a big part of the local culture, and one scene features Latino dancers alongside Sarah Grace, who was asked to try some of their moves. Sarah Grace said they have "two left feet," but the dancers helped with the rhythm and were "super sweet."
Church and Choir as Community
At St. Joseph Church, the team photographed the Community of Faith Voices of Faith Choir. One of the collaborators explained the thinking: they saw the church as a gathering place where special moments happen, and the choir as a community where beautiful sound is made, which they love capturing in a photograph. They said they believe in that "specifically for Black people in the South," and also for people in America at this moment, and that they find it exciting to portray.
A choir member described what that energy means. In the South, they said, "we love to have church," and the energy it takes is outstanding, enough to captivate an audience. Someone who has never experienced it would need encouragement, love, and uplifting voices from the choir, something to "touch their hearts." Spreading and giving love, they said, is "an amazing feeling" for someone who has never felt love through worship.
Bruno's Triangle 7 Ranch: Black Cowboys, Charros, and Generations
The next stop was a Black-owned ranch where the team photographed Black cowboys. One of the collaborators acknowledged this is "not a new conversation" but said they were interested in this particular community. The mood on set was "tired, but excited," and several people complained about the oppressive southern heat.
A participant who grew up on the Navajo reservation said they were speechless when they and someone named Dennis got the call. It took them back to being eight years old, looking through a magazine and wishing they could see themselves in it. Now they were on set. They said it was good that, on a platform like this, people from tribal and Indigenous lands, in this country and around the world, "can finally see themselves."
A cowboy on the ranch said: "I want the world to know that black cowboys do exist." He described it as his everyday life. The culture runs deep in Black families, he said, and he knows of families going back seven or eight generations. His newborn son will ride too and will be the fifth generation of cowboys in his family.
A charra rider, connected to the Charras de Agua Santa, described a similar inheritance. Her father was a charro, and she rides his horse, Regalo, which means "present." She described the horse as a gift from her father that connects her to horses and to the passion of riding. It is what motivates her to teach her daughter, and knowing the tradition "comes from generations" fills her with life.
"Texas Is America": Participants on State Identity and Juneteenth
Several participants spoke about what Texas means to them. One said "everything bigger in Texas" comes down to "our style, our culture, our swagger." Another said, to laughter, "Texas is America." A third went further, calling Texas "its own country itself": it has ports, culture, music, and food, "everything." They said Texas is part of the United States but "we can carry ourselves."
Asked what Juneteenth means to them, one participant called it the day of emancipation, "black people's 4th of July." They described the celebration foods, red soda water, watermelon, and red velvet cake, and explained that the red stands for the blood shed on the land for them. It is, they said, "a celebration of us being free."
After this stop, one of the collaborators said that "today we really feel the purpose of this shoot," which was to bring all of these worlds together.
Neon Boots: Line Dancing Meets Cumbia
At Neon Boots, a line-dancing bar, the team expected 200 to 250 people for the Thursday night line dance, which they described as a community tradition. Along with the locals, they photographed a band led by Bonita, a cumbia singer popular in Texas. They framed the evening as a collision of two cultures, Mexican and Latino culture on one side and line-dancing culture on the other.
The team was openly unsure how their presence would land. The weekly dance is something the regulars look forward to and "something that's theirs," one of them said, so having "some Yankees in green short shorts" come in and interrupt their flow "might be great. Might not be great. We're going to discover it together." The night included a surprise: people the team had met earlier on the trip showed up unannounced, which one collaborator took as a sign they were "making friends along the way."
Big Bend: Beauty, Exhaustion, and a Political Statement
The last location was Big Bend National Park. The mood was mixed. One team member said they had slept half an hour, needed a shower, and were "very cranky." They described the park as breathtaking and also, jokingly, as "the scene of every crime," the kind of place where people disappear. They quickly added that they were joking and that "the looks are making me feel great." Others were moved by the landscape. One said environments like this remind you "how small you are," and another said they were getting emotional.
The team explained that choosing a national park was deliberate. They said they wanted to highlight one because the current administration, in their view, is stripping resources from the arts, culture, parks, and nature, and seems to have little regard for the nation's ecology "in certain ways." They wanted a park that excited them visually as a "playground" for the photographs, shot with the awareness that places like this don't get the support they should.
Ruth Deng's family took part at Big Bend. Ruth said her favorite part of the shoot was watching her family interact with the crew and get their makeup done, and she joked about barely recognizing her mother afterward.
The Journey Over the Picture
Near the end, one collaborator said Texans are deeply proud and culturally rich people, and that the food, music, entertainment, and spirituality "exceeded my expectations."
After the final shot, one collaborator asked the other for a favorite moment from the trip. The answer was the journey itself. They said they would remember the conversations more than "the actual crafting of the thing, even though that's amazingly important": talking with their partner, getting to know people like Antonio and Michaela. By the end, they said, it felt "kind of a school field trip."
The other agreed with the phrase and summed up the aim as "memorable pictures in memorable places" that are both beautiful and grounded in "an important urgent history." They concluded, "I think we succeeded," and added that they would never forget this shoot.
What do you think the most challenging part of this multi-day shoot is going to be?
It's already upon us. It's just time. When you come to a place like this, like Texas, it's not New York or LA. It's not like this. It's not bang, bang, bang. We need time with people. And so, that's been hard because you're up against time and you're up against money.
Over the course of 3 days, I think we'll probably shoot something like 70 people. And if you count Ocean of Soul, we're shooting about 370 people. It's a lot to do. I think one of my strongest traits is that I work really well under stress.
All right. We're only going to do check-ins all week.
You'll see.
Today, we are doing a fitting for our summer 2026 issue commemorating America's 250th anniversary. And so, Tyler Mitchell and I decided to go on a road trip through Texas.
I'm going to change your top really quick.
Okay.
Yeah. I'm good.
We wanted to find a state that we felt represented all of America. So, the good, the bad, the ugly, and somewhere that felt that it was politically relevant in this moment. We wanted to tell a story of America right now. Different types of landscapes, different types of groups of people, rich history. I think Texas checked all those boxes.
So, we have three models who are going to sort of be our narrators, Sarah Grace, Ruth Deng, and Erin Wasson. All three of these women are from Texas. If there's one thing these women are going to show us, it's the togetherness of Texas and perhaps a story that we don't commonly see or hear.
What we're thinking is, you know, southern charm, western style, but done in a really modern way. I like clothes that feel like someone loved making them. And you can tell when someone paid attention to the details and the fit and the fabric and that's what draws me to a garment. Like someone really loved making this dress. You can feel that.
We're shooting a really vast array of people. So, young, old, men, women, Latin, black, white, Cherokee. It's a lot to think about. It's a lot of moving parts. We're shooting at probably 20 different locations. So, we're going to constantly be in a state of motion.
That's your one, two, three.
These kids are full of life and joy. It's very impressive how in possession of their physicality they are as such young women. Confident and open, but still quite strong. I'm impressed by all of these young people. It's really amazing and I feel quite old.
I think the fits are good. Yeah, they can keep them in. Yeah. And these young ladies can come in as well.
What we're liking the most are these moments of spontaneity. Like we'll get this really formal picture. It's really iconic to have, but in the end in the edit I think what's going to feel better is things that feel a bit off the cuff and spontaneous and you see them now just like chatting and fixing each other's hair. Like that's the energy we're looking for.
Real close. And it goes one.
Today we are doing a photo shoot for Vogue magazine.
Vevo magazine.
I honestly thought that it was a joke, but then when I found out that, you know, they wanted to include the band, I realized that it was 100%. And I knew that we were going to be able to rise to the occasion.
Ryan, we also can we do some playing here also?
Sure.
I'm just thinking of ways to make it a little less staged if there's some energy in some way.
The third.
Big two.
Real quick.
They're wonderful. I mean, I grew up in Atlanta where drum lines and marching bands were a big part of how I understood like football, which was a big part of school culture. And I understand why people are so drawn to photographing them.
Music translates into energy in photographs, and I think with the marching band was really more about translating that energy than anything else. With the drum majors and with some of the people I met, they were really responsive to music. So, to wake them up for a photograph or sort of get a certain reaction or a response, it felt important to play songs.
Yeah, really pretty.
We're here to portray people that are here living, doing interesting things, gathering, sharing, everyday people mixing with models. That's how Carlos and I see the world.
I wanted to bring Ruth into their world, so I thought, you know, something that felt a little collegiate, a little bit preppy. Nice. Chin up a bit, Ruth. Beautiful. Even more. That's cute. Now we got it. Thank you, guys.
The whole goal of making images is to connect with people, and the whole goal of making portraits is to make people feel at ease, and I think that's kind of our superpower.
I know.
I know.
Eyes here. Beautiful, guys. Great. Really nice. Our dynamic and our whole way of working is about being open to what happens in real time. And then you guys are just like in the middle really like like that. Cool, let's try that. Just a little little adjustments to sort of make it better. Make it better. Wow, you guys are great. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. That was perfect. Good job, brother.
Good job, bro. Thank you. Carlos is like my family, he's like my brother, you know, we bicker like brothers, but we also really just have a language that it's understood, it doesn't need to be explained.
Quinceañera is a big part of the culture here.
Antonia, do you know how long on Sarah Grace?
Try to show Sarah Grace some of your moves.
I am one of the worst dancers ever. I have two left feet, but the guys were really helpful and like helped me out with the rhythm and everything. And they were super sweet.
Come a little bit closer to each other. Okay, cool. Is that center for you, Tyler? Kind of? Okay, I'm just going to physically move them. You tell me where. Okay, we got that. So cute.
The frame was like, "Who's from Texas genuinely? Not importing a model who lives in New York or from another place." And so each of them have really interesting stories. I mean, Sarah Grace has risen to, you know, high fashion superstardom on her own, but she really is just a girl from Dallas.
Yeah, nice. Beautiful there.
Erin has had such an illustrious career and like is such a living legend and has centered her life down here in Dallas and in Texas in a way that again goes against the pressures, so to speak, after you find success in modeling to stay in one of these epicenters New York, Paris, London.
I'm so proud to be from Texas and it's so vast and there is so much storytelling to tell within the state. I'm just really grateful that in a really beautiful way it is both shining light on how diverse Texas is as well as like telling the poetry of the place.
Okay, we got it for sure.
And I think Ruth is just this amazing emblem for the diaspora here. For really the range of people that have found home and refuge in Texas and that is the Sudanese community in her case. You know, her parents from what I understand are a part of the Lost Boys and Girls generation so they fled Sudan during conflict. That story, story of immigration to this country is like one that we were interested in highlighting subtly through Ruth's beauty and through her family's radiance.
Inside. Yeah.
We looked at the church as a gathering space where special moments happen and we looked at a choir as a community where beautiful sound is made and I think I really love that in a photograph. I really believe in that specifically for black people in the South. I really believe in that for people in America at the moment and I do find that exciting to portray.
Jesus.
Jesus.
Well, in the South we love to have church and I would say the energy that you need for that is outstanding. Energy that can capitalize and captivate the audience. Someone who's never experienced it would need encouragement from the choir. Someone who's never experienced it would need love from the choir. Would need uplifting voices. They would need something that would touch their hearts. So, when you spread love and you give love, it's an amazing feeling for a person who's never experienced love through worship.
Today we're currently at a black-owned ranch. We're going to photograph these black cowboys. Not that that's a new conversation, but we were interested in this community in particular.
How are we feeling today, Tyler?
Terrible.
The vibe is tired, but the vibe is excited.
We're excited. We're hot.
The oppressive southern heat is definitely
He doesn't like it.
Ugh, I can't.
When Dennis and I first got the call, I was actually speechless, but also it brought me back a full circle moment of me as a young little girl on the Navajo reservation looking through a Vogue magazine. I went back to that moment of looking through this magazine at 8 years old and wishing I saw myself in it. And now being able to actually be on set.
Beautiful, no? I mean, you guys look amazing. Gorgeous.
Anything for the shot.
So, it's good to see that with this type of platform, people that look like me, that's from the tribal lands, that's from the indigenous lands of this country and around the world can finally see themselves.
I want the world to know that black cowboys do exist. This is everyday lifestyle with me. The culture runs pretty deep for black families. I know generations as seven to eight generations. Like me personally, I have a son that just born and he definitely be riding on this way also he'll be the fifth generation cowboy in my family.
My dad was a charro. So, I'm riding his horse and his name is Regalo. Regalo is a present. It's this Regalo that he gave to me to connect with the horses, to feel the passion when riding. It's what really motivates me to teach my daughter. It's just something that fills me with life knowing that it comes from generations.
I would say everything bigger in Texas it comes down to our style, our culture, our swagger, the way we move and treat ourselves.
Texas is America.
Texas is its own country itself. We've got everything here. You've got the ports, you've got culture, you've got music, you've got food, you've got everything. We're part of the United States, but we can carry ourselves. We can take care of ourselves.
What does Juneteenth mean to you?
Juneteenth is a day of celebration where we were emancipated. It's our 4th of July. It's black people's 4th of July. With red soda water, watermelon, red velvet cake, all those things that accent the blood that was shed on the land for us. So, that's what those red things represent. It's a celebration of us being free.
I think today we really feel the purpose of this shoot, which is to bring all of these worlds together.
We are at Neon Boots, a line dancing bar. Tonight there's going to be about 200 to 250 people coming to do the Thursday night line dance, which is a tradition in the community. In addition to shooting the locals, however, we are shooting a band. The singer is Bonita, she's a cumbia singer, quite popular here in Texas.
This is gorgeous.
I love this.
I love it.
Right? I mean we should try this. So, it's sort of this collision of two cultures, Mexican Latino culture and line dancing culture. I think this is something that they look forward to every week and something that's theirs. So, to have some Yankees in green short shorts come in and, you know, interrupt their flow, it might be great. Might not be great. We're going to discover it together.
Wow, look who just walked in the door. Wait, what are you guys doing here? That's amazing. Did we invite them here or did they just... That's amazing. I'm so excited to see you guys. You know, we're making friends along the way.
So, how's everyone feeling? Oh, really? I feel like
I'm tired. I slept 0.5 hours. We're in Big Bend, which is so breathtakingly beautiful and it is also the scene of every crime. This is the place where you disappear, where no one ever hears from you again. So, to answer your question, I'm tired. I need a shower. I'm very cranky.
Hard to look like you feel better.
No.
No, I'm joking. No, the looks are making me feel great.
This is wild. When you're in environments like this, it just reminds you how small you are.
I'm like getting emotional. This is really gorgeous.
We wanted to highlight a national park particularly because of the way the current administration is stripping resources from arts, from culture, from the parks, from nature, from the way this administration seems to have little regard for the ecology of this nation in certain ways. And so we wanted to find a park that excited us visually as a playground for our photographs, but also with the background knowledge that there are spaces much like this in our country that don't get the sort of support that they should.
You're nice there. That three-quarter is beautiful, Ruby. And so does every now and then look towards your sister cuz they're coming towards you. Beautiful. And then look to China again.
Nice. And then look back here over your shoulder. Nice.
Look at each other.
Beautiful. Yeah, find each other. Yeah. Exactly. So beautiful.
My favorite part about this shoot has been seeing my family interacting with people and getting their makeup done. And like I see my mom and then I was like, "Mama, is that you, boo?"
Separate yourself a little bit.
No way.
A little bit more. Beautiful. And then maybe just touch her like that. Gorgeous. Nice.
Texans are such deeply prideful, town-tailed, and culturally rich people. The food, the music, the entertainment, the sense of spirituality here, it exceeded my expectations, I have to say.
After having just done the last shot, what was your favorite moment of the past few days?
I enjoyed the journey. Like I will remember more the journey and the conversations more than, you know, the actual like crafting of the thing, even though that's amazingly important. It's like I'll remember chatting with you. I'll remember getting to know Antonio, getting to know Michaela. It was like kind of a school field trip by the end.
A school field trip. We wanted to make memorable pictures in memorable places that are both beautiful and grounded in like an important urgent history, and I think we did that. So, I think we succeeded. I'm never going to forget this shoot. That's for sure.
Article published