Vogue Philippines magazine has unveiled the cover of its April 2023 issue featuring a personality who smashes an age record for a person who made the cover of the reputable magazine.
Apo Whang-Od, a 106-year-old Filipina artist, becomes the oldest person to cover the magazine.
The one who specializes in tattooing is recognized in her native country, and in particular her native region, for her tattoo design on different personalities.
If in the past she only made them on native warriors from the province of Kalinga, today an international clientele comes to consult her for her too displaying corporeal masterpieces. She would have made thousands to this day.
According to Whang-Od, who also goes by the nickname Maria Oggay, the art of getting tattoos in her precise way can only be passed down from generation to generation, by family members sharing the same blood.
And she would now be the last of her family to still master this art. This is why she gives lessons to her grand-nieces, aiming to teach them how to do things.
“I’m not afraid that the tradition will end, because I train the next mistresses of the tattoo!” she told CNN in 2017. “The tradition will continue as long as people keep coming to get tattoos.
Before Whang-Od, the oldest person to appear on Vogue magazine was Judi Dench, in 2020, at the age of 85. She had appeared on the cover of the British edition of Vogue.