Lupita Nyong'o On October 2015 Issue Of VOGUE

Lupita Nyong'o is VOGUE's newest cover girl, making her the second black woman to cover the fashion bible rocking a golden Valentino Haute Couture dress embellished with hardware, laser cuts and shiny red details.

Shot by VOGUE photogs MERT & MARCUS and styled by VOGUE stylist Tonne Goodman, the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens and The Jungle Book star is bringing the fabness we've come to love her for.

Lupita is dishing on fashion, her skin tone and Yale: On being discouraged to act in Kenya because of her skin tone: “No. It didn’t ring true. I just thought, I need to find another way.”

On attending her first Couture shows: "When you know a dress is handmade, it completely changes the experience of wearing it.”

On her Yale actor education: “Before, I was just going on instinct, but Yale taught me that it’s about giving yourself permission to pretend.”

On mentoring in her home of Nairobi: “I wanted to go back to Kenya with something to say.”

On America vs. Kenya: “I definitely feel there’s a lot of America in me.  The idea that you can be self-made is very vibrant in America. You can do anything that you want to do. That spirit pushes you on. But it took me leaving Kenya to really appreciate the glory of the place. Ultimately.  I will always be a child of Kenya.”

On having a man and eventually children: “This is my conundrum. When I was back in Kenya this past week, I would be driving along with my mother and she would say, ‘That’s a nice school for children’ and look at me like——” Lupita raises her eyebrows as if to say, My mom wants me to have children now. “But I think that will all be determined when I have that moment. When I have that man.”

On Blackness: “As Africans, we don’t grow up with a racial identity. We grow up with cultural and ethnic identity before racial identity. I never used the word black as a child. It was never a thing. When was I ever discussing black? Why?”

On making Brooklyn her new home: “I live alone there. I lie quite low. I take the subway. I do yoga. I meditate.”