Vanity Fair May 2013 : Audrey Hepburn by Bud Fraker

[darri]

I like it

 

[Handbag Queen]

It's time for a long lost dead celebrity cover again!

 

[t-rex]

I'm a subscriber and got the black cover

 

[LabelWhore4]

God this magazine is such a joke that its funny. They are completely irrelevant and they know it.

 

[ForChicSake]

God this magazine is such a joke that its funny. They are completely irrelevant and they know it.

my thoughts exactly, VF is dead

 

[Deleted member 116957]

Dead compared to what? This isn't a "fashion" magazine. It's a pop culture/current events magazine.

They've always had a dead celebrity cover every couple years. In fact, it's amazing we don't see more covers of the Kennedys because Graydon Carter has such a hard on for them. Vanity Fair has many issues now, but I don't know if dead celebrity covers are among the worst.

 

[t-rex]

^ Exactly. It's a magazine primarily for reading and has lots of read-y things like articles and words, not much fashion outside of ads.

Their dead celeb covers never look bad, they always use good photos. Their March 2013 and May 2012 (TV women in bed) come to mind as pretty bad covers.

 

[ForChicSake]

Dead compared to what? This isn't a "fashion" magazine. It's a pop culture/current events magazine.

i know that and it's bad at exactly this that's why imho they are dead and irrelevant regardless of who is gracing their covers.

 

[Luxx]

I wouldn't say that VF is dead per se, but I would say that in terms of relevance it doesn't have the oomph and prestige it used to. A Vanity Fair cover used to be one of the things that sort of solidified a young star as moving into that next level or it served as the ultimate showcase for the best and brightest in entertainment, politics, society, etc. Agents and publicists would fight tooth and nail to have their talent on the cover of the Hollywood issue, whole debates would launch if someone deemed undeserving got a cover, or profile. It was - at least from my viewpoint - the pinacle of the celebrity-focused glossies and always presented its subjects in a manner that was unique and visually interesting.

Nowadays it doesn't seem as essential as it once did. I still subscribe for the in depth journalistic articles and every few months there is a real beautiful one that has a lot of substance, some of the features are also quite appealing.

In terms of cover choice it is a little hit or miss of late the trend towards putting dead golden age celebrities on the covers at least once a year really didn't start up until the late 2000s, but it stuck and now we've come to expect it. This year I think hands down worst cover was that Katie Holmes tabloid image that was downright sloppy and several months after people had stopped caring about her divorce drama. The James Bond cover didn't live up to expectations either, the Kate Middleton cover was another flop better suited for the Sun or National Enquirer.

That said, every so often they're on the money; that Jennifer Lawrence cover was well timed and quite pretty.

 

[pixiedust1603]

I really like that Audrey is on the cover. I think she's one of the rare Golden Age Hollywood actresses who still has an air of mystery around her.

 

[lepetitcouturier]

Frankly it's about damn time they put a dead celebrity other than Marilyn Monroe on the cover. And the cover I think is lovely. I think the red actually contrasts nicely. It reminds me of those vintage covers where they would have to give the photos colour themselves and it always had vibrant colours that contrasted like that. I think it looks beautiful. I may buy it. (I cancelled my subscription last year because frankly I never read it.)

 

[Rigida]

Beautiful cover prefer the black one but the red one is not bad too..

 

[Srdjan]

According to the price tags on the covers, black one is UK and the red one is US. Am I right?

 

[honeycombchild]

Vanity Fair essentially has the monopoly on its genre of magazine, it just doesn't use that fact like it should, there's so much potential there. It's in no way 'dead', it's just gotten very lost.

Basically it's a very nicely packaged tabloid isn't it really? Commenting on pop culture, events, who's dating who.. but doing it in a much higher brow fashion than any of the other magazine. It really should be striving to use that more. Although perhaps it's also a reflection of what the celebrity culture is like nowadays, so pre-meditated, so planned. Most of them have nothing interesting to say or if they do, they're advised not to say it, meaning Vanity Fair no longer acts as that 'classy' place for them to out their opinions or stories.

As the fashion magazines have been taken over by celebrities Vanity Fair lost its purpose a little bit I think. I'm confident it will come back at some point. It could be some time off though sadly!

 

[lelaid]

She reminds me Rooney Mara.

Um, no. Sorry, not to throw shade but, my god, no. Not ever.

 

[vogue28]

I noticed this the other week on the newsstand and I thought I was inside some vintage store for a second. The cover is just so beautiful to look at and stands out next to the modern selection of cover shots, that other magazines are offering us this month.