Cover Girls

Having just read this article on the magazine covers that sold or bombed last year, it seems that WWD Media are asserting that figures show Lady GaGa to be the cover girl to shift copies of your publication.

It's interesting and somewhat gratifying to note that a celebrity I despise reading about, Taylor Swift, is a sure fire way to ensure your magazine sells poorly.  It seems that her smug face is so off-putting that people just can't bring themselves to pick it up off the news stands.

It does make sense, a cover girl is meant to embody what the magazine is all about.  If I see Swift on the front of a magazine it conjures images of lacklustre and blandness, leading me to assume the content of the issue will follow suit.    The women that magazines choose to adorn their front covers intrigues me for these reasons.

I somewhat understand the appeal of Cheryl Cole, apparent sweetheart of the (generally unopinionated and easily led) British nation, but this does not explain why she's gracing the cover of January Elle.  Elle is a well-respected UK fashion magazine.  Cheryl Cole is an unimaginative mannequin with a stylist.  And not even a good stylist if this year's X-Factor outfit choices are anything to go by.

The perfect Elle Cover Girl is someone like Alexa Chung, who graced October 2010's issue.  In her behind-the-scenes video she tellingly uses the collective pronoun when discussing the theme of her cover, leaving the viewer fully aware of her artistic input into the sixties-influenced look she is donning.

She also appears incredibly articulate, interesting, irreverent, and even funny.  She can discuss fashion with ease, without sounding vacuous and boring, 'My style icons vary, sometimes it'll be someone in a film like Julie Christie in Darling, sometimes it'll be someone that I see on the street that I think looks really rad.'  

Alexa also gets top marks for being able to pull off the use if the word 'rad' unironically.  She's a hero.  A really rad one.

Quite the opposite of Cheryl Cole/ Tweedy with her blase mutterings about vests; 'you can never beat a white or a black vest'.  Yeah, whatever Cheryl, I think you probably can.

I'm about as ambivalent about vests as I am about you.  Yawn.

Image 1: NY Daily News 
Image 2: David Vasiljevic

Image 3: Mister Neil

Ombre!

My hair is currently naturally attempting to channel the ‘ombre’ hair look that’s in vogue, but is doing it really badly.  The sunny hues it acquired on my South East Asia travels are growing out, giving it a two-tone effect a la Drew Barrymore.


 Except in a very watered down way. (You could even say it's dishwatered down as it's such a dirty blonde colour right now).

I want to dye it a bright Nordic blonde and have it cut into Leigh Lezark’s asymmetric style but am worried about the upkeep.

  I'm no good at effort.

Apparently the best part about the ombre look is that to keep it looking good you only need to visit the hairdressers every six months for the upkeep.

So, I think I'll get that Nordic blonde colour on the ends and on a few face-framing strands, as soon as the snow clears and I can make it to the hairdressers.

I love the dip-dyed intense-colour effect seen above but in my post-teen age feel that I should probably embrace the trend in a more subtle way.  I dyed the ends of my hair pink when I was thirteen, and it did not look good.  I think I hid for the rest of the summer holidays and listened to Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill on repeat.

Alexa Chung of course does ombre well, but I think that Rachel Bilson does it best.

It's not just about the colour, it's all about that dishevelled and unkempt effect too.  

I'm going to be one of those people that takes photos to the hairdressers, more wanting to be the celebrity rather than just emulating their hair....

I might even post a picture if it goes well, or if it manages to turn my face into Alexa Chung's.

(Image 1: Beauty Editor, Image 2: Zimbio, Image 3: Lisa Malanij, Image 4: Refinery29, Image 5: Refinery29)