US Vogue has had a good year as far as its covers are concerned. Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Marion Cotillard are just some of the good cover stars its had this year and by the sounds of it, the magazine is set to end the year on a high.
Last week, Annie Leibovitz revealed that Rihanna and Anne Hathaway will respectively cover the magazine's November and December issue. Who will cover which issue isn't clear but the timing makes sense for both stars. RiRi has just dropped a new single, Diamonds, and will release her seventh album in November and Hathway's new film, Les Miserables (the one she cut her hair for), is out in December.
Vogue recently made the headlines but for all of the right reasons. All of the international editions of the magazine agreed to dedicate their June issues to health and so far so good. British Vogue showed Kate Moss as an Olympian, American Vogue put three athletes on the cover and Vogue Paris showed off Gisele's body in all of it's glory. Vogue Germany, on the other hand, are under fire for not completely following through.
The magazine features an editorial shot by Peter Lindbergh called 'The Naked Truth', which sees 'powerful women' like Nina Hoss, Donata Wenders and Nadja Auermann without make-up or retouching. The black-and-white shoot is undeniably strong and feels like a breath of fresh air from the overzealous retouching we've sadly become accustomed to. The source of the controversy comes from the shot of Nina Hoss who appears smoking a cigarette.
So far the opinions on the issue are split. Some say that the magazine should be applauded for taking such a strong stride in the right direction with the lack of retouching and underweight models. Others haven't been so sympathetic and have slammed them for including one of the unhealthiest practices, which counteracts any positive steps they had taken.
US Vogue's covers have been really good this year and Jennifer Lopez's cover for their annual issue 'Shape' issue is a case in point. Not content with covering the May issue, though, Lopez also has a full on editorial in the magazine's June issue too.
The 42 year-old was shot by Mario Testino sporting a range of swimwear from brands like Chanel and Gucci. It's just a shame that these styles were not used for the cover as opposed to the gold ruched swimsuits that Serena Williams and Hope Solo wear on the cover.
What do you think of the shoot and will you buy the issue when it hits newsstands on May 22?
In more May cover news, Scarlett Johansson has just been revealed as the cover star of the latest issue of American Vogue. The cover, shot by Mario Testino, ties in with the current promotion of her latest film, 'The Avengers'.
There's no doubt that Johansson knows how to rock the old Hollywood look. It's a style that she's been sporting for years and that's part of the problem. All of her covers and her red carpet appearances seem to tap into the same style making none of them particularly memorable. Since US Vogue have been pretty experimental this past year with their covers, going down the expected route with Johansson is a bit disappointing.
Earlier on last month we all saw those paparazzi images of Mario Testino shooting Jennifer Lopez and as we thought, he was shooting her for US Vogue. This morning this images dropped showing the singer against a sea background wearing a dress from the Bottega Veneta S/S12 collection.
Their decision to secure Lopez to cover their annual shape issue makes sense. After all, it's her curvy shape and infamous derriere that helped her steal the limelight all of those years ago before the likes of Kim Kardashian were even on our minds.
Kanye West's fashion line was notably missing in most magazine's this season aside from the fur shoes that we reported appeared in the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar Australia. While this may true, magazine's are still interesting in the man himself as this image has just been released of the rapper's first appearance in American Vogue.
In the feature, titled 'Tisci's Time', West appears along the designer's celebrity muses Liv Tyler, Karolina Kurkova, Florence Welch and Liya Kebede. His inclusion in the mix isn't a surprise. Yeezy has sported the designer's wares extensively in the past and brought him on board to design the cover art for the 'Watch The Throne' album.“I was a little bit scared,” Tisci told Hamish Bowles, “because I’m not an artist.”
This month has been a big one for Adele. Last night the singer from Tottenham picked up five awards at the 2012 Grammys where she also performed for the first time since November after having problems with her voice. But that's not all. Last week we showed you a preview of her cover for US Vogue's big March issue and now the full editorial is here.
In December we confirmed that Adele had finally bagged herself American Vogue's March cover spot and over the weekend, this image of the cover finally dropped.
It's no secret that the magazine has a lot to live up to with this cover, especially since British Vogue had done such a great job with the singer for their October cover last year. That said, I think they pulled it off. Rather than sticking with a head shot like British Vogue did, it's good to see that they didn't crop in so much and instead, opted to show off her rather impressive clevage.
Last year was a hard one for magazines. Ad sales got a real hit, circulation numbers continued to dwindle and the industry continued to be affected by the precarious state of the global economy. At the start of the new year editors were hoping that 2012 would bring good news and based on the figures of the latest March issues, it has.
Most magazines have experienced an increase in ad-pages and Vogue continue to lead the pack. The magazine's March issue had 442 ad pages which is up by 16 pages on the same issue last year. InStyle is up 39 pages and 13 percent from last year while Elle received one of the lowest increases compared to the rest with only a 2 percent rise. “We’re up, we’re pleased, but it’s never good enough for me,” Kevin O’Malley, publisher at the magazine, told WWD. “The key drivers are luxury and prestige. As I’m looking deeper into this year, I see growth in American fashion and more on the European side. And I see growth in automotive — Buick, Infiniti and Acura.”
American Vogue had a really strong year in 2011 with being experimental with their cover stars when it came to covers so when they confirmed that Taylor Swift would be there February cover star, I was disappointed. There's nothing wrong with the singer but it is safe to say that her fashion choices are exactly that - safe.
This week this image of the cover popped up on the Internet and I actually really like it. The 70s feeling really works for Taylor and is the perfect way to introduce all things spring/summer with its penchant for femininity.
