I do agree with RanThe. They started off strong, then when the pandemic and other global issues happened, it was evident that their covers changed. Here's my personal ranking from my favorite to my least favorite cover this year:
14: Simone Biles • August 2020
(I don't like how Annie overly-saturated the first cover while the other one lacks soul even though Simone's pose was powerful.)
13: Rose • June/July 2020
(This was the time when fashion magazines became pretentious to keep up with the social issues. It's cute, but that's just it. On a good note, though, at least it wasn't a blank page, right Mr. Farneti?)
12: Naomi Campbell • November 2020
(By any means, I have zero issue with Naomi Campbell on the cover of Vogue since she was on my wishlist for their September 2020 issue, but I couldn't love that image, ffs. This was a missed opportunity.)
11: The strong Black women according to two visual artists • September 2020
(Another ostentatious attempt of their team to attract notice. Looking at it with other covers, these are actually decent. It's just that their "Hope" team was too overambitious for me to take it seriously. . . and most of us know that they failed on doing it.)
10: Florence Pugh • February 2020
(It's a beautiful cover, but we've seen this exact kind of concept on their cover for the past five years that it's getting boring now.)
9. Ugbad, Adult, and Kaia • April 2020
(Perhaps a little adjustment on the contrast, Mr. Tyler, maybe? Like Naomi's, this was also a missed opportunity. I waited for Adut to appear on the cover of their magazine for years, and then what I got was this.)
8. Lizzo • October 2020
(It isn't really a bad cover if you compare it to the others, but it kinda looks like she was performing "My Toes, My Knees, My Shoulders, My Head" here.)
7. Billie Eilish • March 2020
(Harley Weir and Ethan James Green's covers were magnificent, while the other one doesn't really capture Billie's weird and gloomy aesthetic.)
6: Ashley Graham • January 2020
(Beautiful but not the best.)
5. Harry Styles • December 2020
(The cover without the captions is nearly perfect, but the end result was kind of disappointing as the text literally took away the attention from the cover star. This is the same issue that I have with one of Rihanna's covers.)
4. Stella Mccartney • January 2020
(The structure of this photo is perfect. I can't fault this one.)
3. Cardi B. • January 2020
(I love the way the colors red and green compliment each other on this photo of Cardi and her baby. It was also very festive which was fitting knowing that they released this issue just in time for the Holidays.)
2: Greta Gerwig • January 2020
(This cover encapsulates Vogue USA's tackiness (and by that, I mean the #VogueValues project) and the essence of fashion in one photo. This is also very calming. I was smiling when I first saw this cover on this forum last year.)
1: Gal Gadot • May 2020
(To make this short and direct, I'll just say that this cover is a classic. Everything is on-point here.)
I'm sure a lot of us would love to see all the covers in one place. Much grateful in advance!
