[Mathewthew]

I love the cover, not care whos kissing who . It's look good, but not a fans of the background colour, could be better.

[fee de foret]

this makes me very curious to see the bieber cover and i kinda wish the image was in color...it would grab your eye even more then it already does.

[tanii94]

It sounds like a great idea. But it just looks awkward and staged. If Bieber was is Kate's place it would me so much better.

[Bertrando3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thefrenchy I don't know if it's just me or if anyone else feels the same but that kind of cover leaves me completely cold. A black & white photograph of two girls kissing. WOW BIG DEAL! ... Yeah, what's next?

I hear you totally what I'm thinking, it's a blah cover

[flyingace]

I feel indifferent about the cover, I didn't know who this Lea T was before I came to this thread and I don't want to know anything else about her, but the poll made me laugh. Thought provoking?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Northern Star I would imagine most members here at TFS would be aware of Lea being transgendered and would view the cover with this in mind, but most folks that buy the magazine will not be and would view it as Kate Moss (assuming they are aware of her) kissing another woman.

quite true, if this cover is actually a desperate call for attention it's quite a bad one. I don't think many people are going to get it.

[AgrenateD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thefrenchy I don't know if it's just me or if anyone else feels the same but that kind of cover leaves me completely cold. A black & white photograph of two girls kissing. WOW BIG DEAL! ... Yeah, what's next?

that completely summarizes my feeling towards the cover. it is indeed, a beautiful, even arresting, image in itself if we were to not dissect it to bits. but the actual essence of the shot is already an epic cliché rehashed in varying degrees of friskiness. it's old news, in both fashion and printwork especially in a generation so sexed up as ours. i can't wait for the day when Love finally produces covers devoid of gimmicks and dubious castings and pixelbypixel previews

on the other hand i always enjoy reading through Love's threads. Grand must really think we are all after her plus Biebs landing on the cover of Love's Androgyny Issue.. well he's always looked like a lesbian so not much surprise over there lol

[Mchunu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Style Souk I adore this interpretation of a visual metaphor in which the old gives her stamp, her literal kiss, of approval to the new. It allows the image to transcend any connotations of being deliberately incendiary or provocative in a cheap 'What Will Get People Talking?' gimmick.

Everything is open to interpretation and a number of different interpretations could come from this image. It's nice to try to keep positive and as I said before I can see the where one could interpret the kiss as a metaphor, but why should we pacify ourselves of our preconceptions of the magazine and Grand's work that may be negative? Are we really that touched by Kate Moss kissing Lea T that we can disregard the reputation that LOVE has set up for itself? Frankly, I don't find the cover that beautiful to the point where I should be so forgiving.

[Mchunu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Sex Friend oh c`mon it`s only fashion.

that's exactly what they want you to think

[Alien Sex Friend]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mchunu that's exactly what they want you to think

You seriously think what another try to provoke or shock audience has a big idea under it? even contemporary art doesnt, and fashion is very deutero comparing even to art.in fact, it`s just another `variation` of nude covers in s/s 2010 to sell the magazine. yes it sounds corny as hell, but sex and scandal sell well

[alonsoJonathan]

is this argument really going on?
lol i seen many pic like this i donno what the big deal is.
it is,what it is. everyone will think different of what the pic cover is. i mean c'mon

[Mchunu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Sex Friend You seriously think what another try to provoke or shock audience has a big idea under it? even contemporary art doesnt, and fashion is very deutero comparing even to art.in fact, it`s just another `variation` of nude covers in s/s 2010 to sell the magazine. yes it sounds corny as hell, but sex and scandal sell well

if you read my response (or lack of) to your post ASF you'd see that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously (sorry if there was a misunderstanding there). And if you read my previous posts, you'd see that I was one of those arguing that the cover image is all about visuals and totally superficial.

We're a fashion discussion forum though, so I don't see why we can't analyze images with the understanding that in the vernacular world they do have a lot of meaning, whether there's an intention by those creating it or not. We see hundreds of images daily and I'd say for the average person at least a quarter of those images are product of the fashion world. I think it's important to be able to understand all types of images filtered into everyday society because they really do have that much of an impact on the way we live and think.

Yeah, you said it already-by speculating we've already given it most of it's power. But with it just being published and being exposed to the world, it has power on its on. (I may not make much sense at this point because it's totally a more broad subject i'm touching on, but yes I believe that these magazine EIC have a responsibility-and when you filter out more waste into public, it's up to those receiving it to decide what to do with it-you can dismiss it, ignore it or embrace it for what it could potentially mean-but don't think you aren't subject to it).

i hope that makes some sense, because it did in my head when i was typing it

[blueorchid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thefrenchy I don't know if it's just me or if anyone else feels the same but that kind of cover leaves me completely cold. A black & white photograph of two girls kissing. WOW BIG DEAL! ... Yeah, what's next?

Yeah this is exactly how I feel about it.

In 2010 androgyny is such a BORING concept to me.

[tigerrouge]

I wonder if there'd be more excitement in the shot if it had captured them about to kiss - sometimes that moment is far more erotic than the embrace itself, when there's still a small distance before lips meet, and in that tiny space, the electricity of intent between two people. Though I imagine that's immensely hard to capture in a photograph.

[Psylocke]

I like the cover image itself, it's a beautiful picture of two beautiful women. And if this had been the cover of some other magazine I would have looked at it as what it is - a nice cover. But this being LOVE it all seems a bit contrived and absurd. I fear this whole androgyny, transsex/-gender thing is becoming some sort of a 'trend' and that irks me because it shouldn't be a phase, we should all already be accepting of these people anyway.
Lea T is a beautiful woman and there's no need to always refer to her as "the transsexual model". Same goes for that "He/She" debate about Andrej...Would it even matter if he was indeed transgender or gay or whatever? I don't think fashion people see anything shocking in this image (after all we've seen Lea T nude in VP before) but I'm sure that's the effect Katie Grand is trying to achieve among the general public and it's kind of lame.

Also, I do love the idea of an androgyny issue and can't wait to see the editorials but Bieber being on the other cover and all makes me fear the whole issue will be quite gimmicky and awkward.

[KissMiss]

The only reason why this cover is going to gain positive feedback is Kate Moss' huge fan base. I don’t want to offend anyone but at the moment liking Moss is kind of stylish. I am not even going to indulge and comment about the fact of overusing her. I would personally use someone new or less scandalous. We know what Kate can do and cannot but it feels like in this conservative society they are prepared to forgive her anything but let’s not forget about ‘the tall poppy’ syndrome that happens a lot. The axe might not be that far.
I said what I thought about Grand she is completely desperate...
The idea of attracting readers or marketing ideas with shocking fashion images became seriously overused and boring. People who will struggle to accept this idea don’t give a monkey about fashion, models and especially, LOVE. If the only purpose is to sell then it becomes cheap and worse, manipulative which I believe is seriously wrong.
What does this image is trying to imply or what does it incur? OMG the straight woman is kissing a transgendered model, WOW! And?! If they are trying to imply the idea of liberal sex, I could not be happier but at the same time they should have bothered to execute the idea in more natural terms rather than offering this ridiculously unreal kiss. More importantly, they should have tried to remove the shocking value because it works against the idea of so called ‘normality’ and suggests that this image is shocking.
My conclusion is the following:
A desperate attempt of gaining popularity through manipulating with homosexual images.