I've often wondered how Americans feel about the continued Anglification of US Vogue's covers...The disconnect comes when you'll find that most of these women (Sienna and Carey especially) hardly booked any US glossy covers beyond Vogue. That's when one can gather that the majority of Americans probably don't know/care for them.
I think you've inadvertently answered your own question. I believe the fact that we haven't seen more of Anna's British faves on other covers just points to the notion that other EICs actually have to worry about keeping their jobs and chose/choose cover subjects who they believe would sell accordingly or would resonate with their American readership, but Anna got/gets away with it doing whatever she wants, sluggish sales (such as the November cover, which is sure to bomb) not withstanding, just because.
I think a huge misperception many have on these forums is the idea that just because someone lands multiple Vogue covers, they must sell well. We know for a fact this is not the case (Blake Lively's first cover selling poorly but Anna giving her multiple covers after the fact). Outside of Kate W and maybe Keira since they actually starred in American blockbusters, I wouldn't automatically assume the British stars sold decently - I can't imagine too many people rushing out to get a Carey Mulligan cover.
But what Anna had (which I hope is rapidly decreasing) is the invincibility of editing the fashion bible and so
she gave people what
she wanted and readers were conditioned to accept it. Because if you have some aspect of yourself that identifies with being a Vogue 'reader' you bought it habitually/were a subscriber. But the public doesn't have that loyalty anymore, hence why the entire magazine industry is struggling in the social media age, including the invincible Vogue. And everyone knows this - subscribers buying subscriptions and getting 12 issues for $10 are not making up for the decline of people who would pay full price purchasing multiple issues at the newsstand - the math doesn't add up. But Anna is a relic regarding her cover stars who refuses to change and get with the program, hopefully to her impending detriment.
Regarding my original post and deserving American actresses who should've landed the November cover. Viola could've been a possibility with Widows coming out next month. But she didn't land a single cover this month (I thought she would've at least landed one of the Elle covers) so I doubt she'll land any solo January or February awards covers, especially since it doesn't look like she's in the top 5 in terms of possible Best Actress Oscar nominees, at least from what I've seen.
And Kerry is currently on Broadway, starring (and producing) a new (award winning) timely and important American play directed by a tony award winner. Sienna Miller in 2009 and Amanda Seyfried can land covers for their (underwhelming critically) plays (because they didn't land those covers for G.I. Joe and Ted 2, that's for sure).
And on top of that, Kerry was featured in Vogue when she was on Broadway 9 years ago. But nothing this time around. Especially surprising since Anna is such this big champion of Broadway. Kerry's play may very well be both a critical and commercial success (on social media, many people are saying they thoroughly enjoyed it) and it looks like Anna's magazine may ignore it entirely (a 250-500 word write up in this month's issue or an article on Vogue.com does not count). It's quite bizarre.
And I guarantee either of the aforementioned would've made a much bigger splash for November than Anna's current offering.
Despite people no longer buying magazines, covers are still important (I'm referencing the article posted in the Business of Magazines thread with the GQ/Timothee Chalamet anecdote). It just really gets under my skin that deserving people are ignored for absolutely no good reason at all, even if I do think Vogue is increasingly becoming a raging dumpster fire, it still holds on to some degree of prestige (but hopefully not for much longer).
It's moved past the weird and 'highly suspect' stage for me, I'm now left wondering if there's a degree of mean-spiritedness regarding Anna's refusal to put these women on her covers. She has no valid excuse not to, none whatsoever.