over the years, harpers bazaar has gone through quite a few changes. i will always be a fan of the liz tilberis years, with the gorgeously simple covers featuring kate moss and linda evangelista and the typographic genius that is fabien baron. then kate betts took over, and while her tenure (and redesign) wasn’t well received, i still have all of those issues. during the glenda bailey tenture, the magazine has seen various highs (the ronsons as the tenenbaums, the simpsons meet their favorite fashion designers) and lows (britney nude, paris and nicole being arrested), but their july issue has hit new lows. it’s not so much who is on the cover but how she is portrayed on the cover. angelina jolie looks stunning as usual in a strapless black dress and gold earrings…shot by the paparazzi! no sitting with peter lindbergh or patrick demarchelier, or even alexi lubomirski, but a shot that was on gettyimages (it’s even credited as getty images on the bazaar site!) then inside, instead of an interview with jolie, there’s an article by naomi wolf about why women are so fascinated with jolie. um, i am not. sure she’s beautiful and generous and i’m sure a wonderful mother, but i could read a profile on her in vanity fair to know that. or even us weekly. fashion magazines are meant to inspire, show us the runway trends and to be an overall escape. this isn’t an escape, it’s a cop-out. you can’t tell me bazaar, which isn’t some fly-by-night monthly, couldn’t get an actress to pose for the cover. if they didn’t want to get a big name, july is the perfect time to take a risk on a younger, more unexpected choice. i can name a few off the top of my head that have movies coming out next month: zooey deschanel, katherine heigl, olivia wilde…the list goes on. surely any one of those would be better than this.
so here’s what glenda does…she uses angie for the newsstand (since she’s a proven seller) and the gorgeous doutzen kroes for subscribers. why doutzen? according to bailey, she’s “a model whose face is definitely one to watch.” um, doutzen has been one of the highest paid models for a few years now, with major contracts with calvin klein and l’oreal. and if doutzen is good enough for them, why isn’t she good enough for the newsstand? i don’t expect much from summer mags—they are usually thin anyway—but i don’t expect to be shortchanged.
angelina pic from harpersbazaar.com; doutzen cover scanned by luxx at thefashionspot
