This cannot be the best shot they had, from whatever they decided to do.
I can see the digital copy, 198 pages. The editor's letter contains the concept that "a woman over forty on a runway, or in her fifties going make-up free, shouldn't be groundbreaking".
There's an advert for the Elle Collective, "become a founding member for £125", as if you're an investor getting in on the ground floor. I could subscribe to TEN Conde Nast magazines for that money... if there still are ten Conde Nast print magazines.
The cover story is slightly better than the cover shot suggests, but it's still... There are fashion editorials, HOUSE PARTY, then ME AND MR JONES, part-interview with Kim Jones, part-fashion shoot, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR (denim in winter), plus an interview with Michael Kors.
The cover concept seems designed to speak to women at a different age than the rest of the contents do. Being of that age, I would never wear what's being shown on all the other pages, or be at the life stages being discussed - yet the editor is also trying to speak to me, but it doesn't fit, it doesn't work. If I want to see accomplished women who can remember the 90s, I would turn to Bazaar because they do it better, I'm not interested in this chilly nipple nonsense.