I was waiting until my issue arrived before passing judgement on the subscriber cover, but even now I'm still not sure if I like it. On the whole I think (once again) that the newsstand cover is better, but I have a feeling the alternate version will grow on me. I must say I was quite surprised at how low-energy Rihanna looks in her story. She normally brings it in her photoshoots, but something isn't quite connecting for me here.
Overall it's a great issue. The colours in Mert and Marcus' shoot are amazing, they really jump off the page. I also really like David Sims' and Alasdair McLellan's contributions, even if it's the same thing as usual from each of them. Age of Opulence by Charlotte Wales is my favourite of the issue though, it's just gorgeous. I've never seen or heard of Tess McMillan before but she really delivers here, it's so great to see some energy and great posing when a lot of shoots nowadays are so...slouchy.
There are some stunning images accompanying the Sarah Burton article; I especially love the landscape shot with all the tree trunks and Adut in the middle; the pop of pink fabric against the green grass is stunning. I think it's a really solid issue, although I can't really see much that separates it from some of Alexandra's stronger issues (which isn't necessarily a bad thing because she did have some real triumphs in her time) but I am surprised at how much #NewVogue resembles the Vogue that came before.
