Given the pandemic and social distancing restrictions, content shot pre-pandemic is helping magazines produce “new” issues, especially British ELLE. Farrah Storr opted to repurpose a shoot with Margarita Gambles from its German counterpart for last month’s edition. This month, the mag looks to its American cousin for its August 2020 issue recycling a Dua Lipa cover shoot. Originally part of U.S. ELLE’s May 2020 issue, Storr selects a close-up shot of the Brit songstress captured by Zoey Grossman for the bold and eye-catching cover.
The cover sure got a reaction from our forum members. “So damn ugly and dated. Canadian ELLE did a much better reprint of this editorial,” Srdjan pointed out.
“Farrah really wants herself to be remembered as the EIC who brought back reprints in 2020. Her tenure has been infested with reprints. It’s not cute. I mean come on! Reprints were hardly excusable in 2007, what makes her think it’s excusable now? And let’s not blame the pandemic,” proclaimed MON.
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“The highlighted text looks awful! It looks like an old issue of Girlfriend Australia, but worse,” expressed crmsnsnwflks.
Benn98 agreed: “It looks so dated. Most of Farrah’s reprints do.”
GivenchyHomme wasn’t into it, either. “It would have been better without that ridiculous hand. It looks like she’s about to grab her latte from the barista at Starbucks.”
Although not everyone felt the same way. “I like it (highlighted text included) purely for the fact that the art direction takes me back to the good old days of British ELLE circa 2008 when the magazine’s choices in fonts and layout were ahead of the curve. The loudness of this cover reminds me of those times — and I’m not complaining,” voiced vogue28.
Which cover do you prefer? Join the debate here.
