Ever since I saw Dakota Fanning play Lucy Dawson in 'I Am Sam' back in 2001, I instantly had a soft spot for her. Over the few years the young actress has really come into her own and has a legion of great covers and ad campaigns to prove it. That said, along with her recent cover for ELLE UK, this cover for Wonderland is definitely one of my favourites from her so far. The 'Twilight' actress appeared alongside a mouse for the April/May issue shot by Cedric Buchet.
When it comes to British magazines, ELLE UK has always been my favourite. Their features are always spot on (thanks Rebecca Lawthrope and Avril Mair) and their recent covers have been particularly strong. Last year's Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst covers were among my favourite of the year and 2012 started off well with covers from both Dakota Fanning and Alexa Chung.
But it doesn't end there. The magazine's April issue sees Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen appear in seperate covers shot by Alexi Hay and as always, the cover makes sense. Aside from regularly being cited as style icons, the pair are amongst the few celebrities that have managed to carve a legitimate fashion career for themselves so as to warrant covering a 'fashion' magazine and besides, like Alexa Chung, they appeal directly to the ELLE girl.
In the cover Mary-Kate appears [above] appears in an embellished coat from Prada, while Ashley sports a hevily embellished Dolce & Gabbana dress.
It may be New York Fashion Week but in London we're all getting ready for tomorrow's ELLE Style Awards. Now in its 15th year, the event will be held at London's Savoy Hotel and Alexa Chung will serve as host again for the fourth time
"I'm very excited to be hosting the ELLE Style Awards for the fourth time," Chung said in a statement. "It's always a great night and amazing to be in the same room as so many fashion gods!" For the magazine, Chung was the perfect choice. "Alexa is a favourite with ELLE readers for her iconic and effortless sense of style," Jenny Dickinson, the magazine's acting editor, said. "She is a role moel for this generation of ELLE women and we are thrilled that she will be our host again this year."
March has been a good month for magazine covers. British Vogue with Lana Del Rey, British ELLE with Alexa Chung and Harper's Bazaar US with Gwyneth Paltrow have all been particularly strong and are definitely worthy of being the second most important issue of the year. While I haven't been crazy about US ELLE's recent covers, this is the best they have released in a while. Blake Lively looks effortless and natural wearing Victoria Beckham for the Tom Munro-shot cover.
Last year was a big one for British Elle and the Fanning sisters. The magazine churned out a string of amazing covers and the sister duo appeared in just about every magazine that counts and their fashion credentials show no sign of slowing down in 2012. With that in mind, say hello to Dakota's February cover for the magazine's subscriber issue. Wearing S/S12 Louis Vuitton, the cover has got us excited to see the full editorial.
ELLE UK have had a strong year of covers. Off the top of my head six already spring to mind so it comes at no surprise that their December cover is a strong one too.
Michelle Williams is the cover model of choice and subject of a fashion story and accompanying editorial where she talks about her experiences playing Marilyn Monroe in her latest film, 'My Week With Marilyn'. The magazine opted to focus on Williams rather than following American Vogue who styled the actress up as Monroe for their October cover and the departure definitely works.
Call us purists but we've nver been big fans of the celebrity cover star culture that has dominated fashion magazines over the past 10 years. Is it weird to expect heavy 'fashion' content and a model on the front cover of a magazines these days? With that mind, you can imagine our delight when we got our hands on the latest issue of ELLE UK.
Not only is model Agyness Deyn taking the prestigious spot of cover girl, the whole issue is dedicated to models - featuring everyone from Rosie Huntington-Whiteley to Joan Smalls. Agyness Deyn may seem a strange cover choice considering her absence from the industry over the past few years, but that's exactly what writer Alice Wignall gets the model to explain. ‘I just suddenly couldn’t see where Agyness the model ended and where I started,' she revealed. 'It was so enmeshed and I was so busy that that’s all I was doing for ages. I lost my sense of self.’
August is fast approaching so you know what time that it - the September issues are just around the corner. So far covers from Harper's Bazaar Australia and Glamour US have dropped and now ELLE UK have released theirs featuring Kirsten Dunst.
Although Dunst had been on a hiatus from the public eye in recent years, she made a comeback in May during the Cannes to promote her new film 'Melancholia' so it's nice to see the star on covers again.
Last month Nicola Formichetti was the centre of attention after he allegedly made derogatory statements about overweight people to W magazine - an assertion that he vigorously denies. Now the stylist is in the headlines again but this time for alleged ageist remarks. In the latest issue of ELLE Collections Formichetti said, "I think old people should just be old and go away," adding, "It's not about being in the industry for ten years anymore: it's about good ideas."
As The Cut point out, this clearly seems a case of wrong timing. After the W controversy it seems that people instantly interpreted these comments as being ageist when in actual fact, he seems to be referring to people that have worked in the industry for a long time rather than the elderly generally. He made this clear when he added: "[Fashion] still has this elitist feeling — it's really scary ... Me and Gaga, our motto is 'fuck fashion' because we love it so much we want to destroy it and start again and keep it fresh."
