Vogue Italia October 2020 : Justin & Hailey Bieber by Eli Russell Linnetz

[0st3nd]

We have the winner for this week's cover challenge, 0st3nd!

I refuse to acknowledge this

 

[Marc10]

Stooping to V Magazine level now? Sorry I can't stomach this at all.

 

[Mercury6181]

I hate the Biebers, something about their relationship and them making it all very public rubs me the wrong way, but unfortunately I like this.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

Let's be objective. This is not a terrible cover. This is not the Vogue Italia we all know and respect at TFS.

My new resolution is to move on and spend time on ebay buying what's left of once an iconic publication.

 

[DK92]

You know something is wrong when a cover with Justin Bieber and his wife is one of the best VI covers of the year!

 

[SLFC]

This actually pretty good, shame its the biebers though.

 

[tigerrouge]

It's the quote that is offensive, the audacity to cite Helmut Newton and his lifelong WORKING partnership with his wife as somehow having something in common with this now mostly unemployed pair, unless sharing surnames and who knows what else counts as peak creative productivity in 2020.

For the Biebers, scoring this cover is another high (amongst many others, I imagine), for this magazine, another low.

 

[MagFan]

Vogue Italia October Issue. Letter from the Editor
Di Emanuele Farneti
5 ottobre 2020

Newton and Us

First of all, thank you. Thank you for so warmly receiving our 100 covers in September, for embracing the message, and relaying far and wide the protagonists’ stories of diverse and inclusive beauty. We wanted it to be a celebration of life, and it was immensely satisfying to see it resonate in so many different ways and places.

This issue tells a very different, and in some ways opposing story. After all, it’s in Vogue Italia’s DNA never to go in the direction where you would expect to find it.

This month we celebrate an anniversary: 100 years since the birth of Helmut Newton, one of the greatest fashion photographers of all time, and undoubtedly the most controversial.

Our aim is not to pass posthumous judgements: if he was an absolute genius or just a product of his times; if he considered the women he portrayed in his career, and who made him famous, as objects of admiration, awe, manipulation or fetishism. Instead, we want to take the opportunity to reflect on certain questions that his work continues to raise, and that are now more relevant than ever. At what point does a tribute to female beauty become objectification? When women are described from an overtly male perspective, do they necessarily become passive, or can they exert control over the men who observe them? Is the nude still acceptable in photography, and on what conditions? And what about sex in art and fashion?

We have not only gathered photographers (asking them not to pay a tribute to the great master, or worse to imitate him, but rather – under the creative direction of Vogue Italia – to recount the places, faces and obsessions of his life in order to illustrate the complexity of his character). We have also called on critics, muses, writers, film directors, curators, publishers, gallerists, friends and not friends. This issue would not have been possible without the generous assistance of Tiggy Maconochie from the Helmut Newton Estate, along with the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, whose director Matthias Harder deserves our sincerest thanks. It has been a journey we will not forget.

The resulting pages feature considerations that honestly reach far beyond the trivial. It’s a long story that starts with Newton’s life and unfolds to talk about #MeToo, body positivity, diversity, conformism, morality, moralism, liberty, irony, good and bad taste – and who is entitled to decree which is which.

Lastly, there’s a crucial presence/absence in this issue: June, whose eye (as Carla Sozzani explains) always enhanced and even completed the vision of her husband Helmut. To their love we dedicate our cover with Hailey and Justin Bieber. Not the most obvious choice of protagonists – we like to think he would have approved.

vogue.it

 

[MulletProof]

I loved that collection.. and add some steaminess to it (as much as these two bad-looking pious/pentecostal people are capable of understanding and projecting) and it works for me. The collection alone can do that honestly, they have to do so little and that is this couple's specialty. That third shot in the preview wasted some potential.. had it been shot by Weber, he would've quickly fixed that 'my two hands are right here but looking at the crew waiting for directions' stare.. Vogue in 2020 is no joke, he's probably barely grabbing anything cause.. say no to misconduct.

And I guess the quote came up after picking the dress? that's creative hah...

I've seen so much worse from Vogue Italia and for a celebrity, they're doing great (remember Nicole Richie? ew).

 

[Benn98]

^I think Nicole Richie on VI worked because it was supposed to be deductive. Sort of commentary on the madness that was Paris and Nicole back then. It poked fun by encapsulating her value to pop culture into a generic cover and fashion shoot. This, however, is not the same. In their mind, they think they're so hot/cool/aspirational when half of the viewers are distracted by the clothes and the other half by how she can't book a cover on her own without mentioning him.

... this now mostly unemployed pair,...

FACT! Lol.

 

[WAVES]

Helmut Newton is writhing in his grave right now.

Don't like a single thing about the 'Christian couple' writhing on what looks like cheap satin sheets. Also, his head doesn't match his torso. Very odd!

Where's Justin's 'muscle daddy' pastor? The two of them rolling around 'in sin' would be far more believable.

why them? what are they promoting?
have nothing against either of them but Vogue Italia??? Vogue US it’s a pass even if I think that they’re more W or Rolling Stone or whatever cover worthy and it’s not a bad cover but it’s not amazing either and it’s for sure not Vogue Italia’s best cover this year IMO

every month we stray away from Vogue...

 

[MulletProof]

Sort of commentary on the madness that was Paris and Nicole back then. It poked fun by encapsulating her value to pop culture into a generic cover and fashion shoot.

Well yes, that was Franca's attempt and frankly, I had short tolerance for some of her 'commentaries' on pop culture and society. Vogue Italia was much more prestigious back then and she did exactly what's happening here (except worse because, again, the magazine wasn't pure trash)-: validate some mediocre figure in entertainment that has been desperately trying to become a respected 'fashion' personality through demoralizing means (Hailey being 'the wife', Nicole being 'the pet'), collect the money this will obviously generate and have the audacity to mask it as commentary with a few doses of irony and judgement on the barrel bottom of celebrity culture.

For commentary to work, it has to reach an audience capable of commenting, when irony and an attempt to ridicule is in droplets because publicists won the terms of the arrangement and because it might jeopardize the potential demographic ($) you could've reached by making it more raw or honest to your regular readers, you may think you're judging from above but you're actually another element on equal terms of what you're judging. It may not look so clear in present time but certainly in hindsight, I don't think any average person thinks much on the social commentary behind Nicole Richie's cover, time clarified what it always was: just another milestone for Nicole Richie's career that eventually helped her to build and have a successful lifestyle brand and a career as a (lol) fashion designer.

 

[avonlea002]

Not a bad cover but the subject successively prevents me from liking it. I would have preferred to see a model instead.

 

[mikel]

They are celebrating Helmut Newton’s 100th birthday with this cover...?

I can’t.

 

[aracic]

I've seen so much worse from Vogue Italia and for a celebrity, they're doing great (remember Nicole Richie? ew).

Nicole is an icon. Neither of these two could ever! And the cover story was pure fun.

That being said, the image itself isn't too bad, but I wish Hailey's face was as hidden as Justin's. She looks so dull even tho she's mostly in the shadows... the power of her mediocrity as a model shines through. I can't stomach Justin and his new aesthetic of your regular musty soundcloud rapper. If you really have to put a dull celebrity couple on the cover of Vogue, go for Gigi and Zayn. The Biebers are old news, the Hadids would be a bigger score and at least Gigi would bring some fashion, I guess.
Still wondering who's going to get the first exclusive preview of the new family. Hoping it's Anna! But without Zayn on the cover...

 

[MulletProof]

Nicole is an icon.

my point but better, @Benn98 !

Not what Franca may have fully intended to but mission accomplished. Save this post for when the Biebers are called a revolutionizing force in fashion in 2035 (and I'm not even kidding).

 

[YohjiAddict]

Very pathetic these two, average looks and attention grabbing like no other young couple right now. I don't see what's so special about the cover, it's ok for Playboy or Rolling Stone, not for Vogue.

 

[Sensation]

Not a fan of either of them, but the cover/editorial is not too bad.

 

[MON]

Too cheap to warrant consideration from my end.

Next.

 

[reesewu]

I actually...like it. Minus the cheap layout of course. I even found him hot in several shots. What is wrong with me??!!