On the whole, Nicole Kidman is a good cover star. Her one for Vogue Australia's May issue is still one of my favourites from her, so much so that I'm willing to put the monstrosity that was her V magazine cover to one side. That aside, she really did need to pull it out of the bag for her latest one and thankfully she did.

The actress appears on the November cover of US Harper's Bazaar glowing in a gold dress alongside cover lines that ironically say, 'Sexy & Age Appropriate' and 'The Daring Issue.' Even more ironic is the fact that the cover was shot by Terry Richardson. Considering how revealing her Mario Testino-shot V cover was, you would have thought that was more Richardson's bag but credit where credit's due, he's actually done a good job with it.

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With only a few months to go before Carine Roitfeld launches her new magazine, CR Fashion Book, the industry is abuzz with excitment but if recent reports from Page Six are anything to go by, you can cross the powers that be from Condé Nast off that list.

According to the column, Condé’s chairman Jonathan Newhouse 'sent word to photographers including Mario Testino, Craig McDean, David Sims and the Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott team 'remininding' them of their exclusivity with Condé Nast to shoot for its titles including Vogue, W, Glamour, Vanity Fair and Allure.' Even those without exclusivity contracts have reportedly been discouraged from working with Roitfeld on the new venture.

Read more after the jump

Mario Testino/Vanity Fair

Cast your mind back to January and you'll remember that photo I posted showing what looked like Kristen Stewart holding up the middle finger behind Karl Lagerfeld's back. The pair were together at the time as the designer was directing her for Vanity Fair's July cover and now it's finally here.

The actress, who is known for sporting trainers with her gowns on the red carpet, looked transformed in what is definitely the most glamorous we have ever seen her. Naturally then the cover line reads, 'Kristen Stewart: Twilight's punky vampire gets an ultra glam makeover.' The accompanying editorial also touches on the flack she's received for her appearance and miserable expression. She told Vanity Fair‘s Ingrid Sischy:

I have been criticized a lot for not looking perfect in every photograph. I get some serious shit about it. I’m not embarrassed about it. I’m proud of it. If I took perfect pictures all the time, the people standing in the room with me, or on the carpet, would think, What an actress! What a faker! That thought embarrasses me so much that I look like shit in half my photos, and I don’t give a fuck. What matters to me is that the people in the room leave and say, ‘She was cool. She had a good time. She was honest.’ I don’t care about the voracious, starving shit eaters who want to turn truth into shit. Not that you can say that in Vanity Fair!

Robert Pattinson defends her in the piece. 'People have decided how they are going to perceive her,' he told the magazine. 'No matter how many times she smiles, they'll put in the one picture where she's not smiling.'

Watch a behind-the-scenes video and see more images after the jump

Earlier on this week Vogue Paris dropped their May cover starring Laetitia Casta shot by Mario Testino and while the model looks beautiful, the cover hasn't been met with a good response.

The comments in the forum of The Fashion Spot, where the image was released, confirm what we've all been thinking for a while. The magazine under Emmanuelle Alt's direction is a far cry from it's aesthetic under Carine Roitfeld. All you need to do is look at the Roitfeld-styled Casta cover from the December/January 2009 issue to see that. The question is whether the change works? I'm not convinced that it does. Far from being directional, the covers seem to be moving in a commercial way, which isn't a term that you would have associated with the magazine under Roitfeld's reign.

Am I surprised by the change - well no. With her first cover as editor-in-chief, featuring a soft and romantic looking Gisele Budchen shot by Inez & Vinoodh, Alt made it clear that things were going to be different under her editorship. 'I always want a relationship with reality: nothing too sexy, or provocative, or fashion victim. We are French — we can show smoking, nudity. We have no boundaries, and it can be good to have them,' she said at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if the circulation was up as a result of the changes but is that really what Vogue Paris is about?

What do you think?

See Carine Roitfeld's cover with Casta after the jump

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.

What do you think?

Burberry have always been a favourite of mine for their fall collections, especially with their emphasis on great outwerwear and mixed textures, but their S/S12 collection was especially strong.

Tapping into their British heritage, the collection featured exclusive fabrics developed in London and produced in English mills. As we saw Kim Jones do at Louis Vuitton, the brand really separated themselves for the current penchant for fast fashion by involving over 100 tailors in the contructions of each look. With all that said, you can imagine my delight when these images hit my inbox yesterday. The images feature Cara Delevigne alongside Eddie Redmayne sporting the latest collection in their S/S12 campaign shot by Mario Testino.

See the full campaign and videos and images from behind-the-scenes after the jump