Karim Sadli photographed the 37 year old soccer player for the Spring Summer 2013 cover of Man About Town magazine.
Image via TFS.

Karim Sadli photographed the 37 year old soccer player for the Spring Summer 2013 cover of Man About Town magazine.
Image via TFS.


It seems like Elle UK‘s cover budget is decreasing this year because almost every single cover shot was taken at studio. But who knows, even if it’s taken at studio, perhaps it was located far away from Elle UK‘s HQ. And only God knows the total amount of money they’ve paid to book those major cover stars this year. The budget probably increased instead of decreased.
This year, the Lorraine Candy-edited monthly fashion magazine (Jenny Dickinson helmed the magazine for a brief moment while Mrs.Candy had her pregnancy leave) had two cover shots outdoor, featuring Kristen Stewart and David Beckham respectively. Beckham‘s covers easily triumphed the emotionless front pages of Kristen Stewart. The colors on K-Stew‘s covers were lovely, but she failed to give sparks on the eyes. FYI, David Beckham made history because he was the first solo male cover star for the magazine.
We loved it when Elle UK used colored backdrop, because the results weren’t boring like when they used white. Just look on how boring was the May issue with Emily Blunt (the subs was way better), September with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, October with Gwen Stefani and November issue with Jessie J (her subs also better than the newsstand version). Those gorgeous dresses can’t saved the images from being dull. There’s an exception though. The January covers with Lady Gaga was interesting because of the bright outfits and minimal text.
Young, talented and bright actors Dakota Fanning (our favourite cover star!) and Mila Kunis landed their very first Elle UK cover this year. The 18 year old was photographed by David Slijper, while the 29 year old former face of Miss Dior handbags was snapped by Doug Inglish. The rest of the cover stars are having better subscriber covers than the newsstands, in our opinion. We are loving those simple, minimalist and no-fuss images of Alexa Chung, Ashley Olsen and Cameron Diaz over their newsstands version.
Overall it’s a hit-and-miss year for Elle UK. But, we are looking forward for their next year’s line up already. Especially after they released their first 2013 cover star, Kylie Minogue (her 7th covers for the magazine!), and it looks promising.
Feel free to jump in the comment box below and share to us your favourite Elle UK covers this year.
Check out also our recap of 2011 line up, here, and 2010 line up, here.
Follow our Twitter (@art8amby), Facebook (art8amby) and Tumblr (art8amby) to get the latest news in magazine covers, models, ad campaigns, editorial, fashion news and occasional movies and music.


UPDATED AUGUST 03rd 2012: Added a preview of the subscriber cover.

Esquire UK surprisingly used the similar color palettes for September issue as their competitor, GQ UK. See it for yourself, here.
The football player was photographed by Josh Olins for the cover. It’s refreshing to see him gracing a cover not in suit.
Click here to view last year September cover featuring Daniel Craig, here for 2010 cover with Mickey Rourke and here for 2009 cover with Quentin Tarantino.
Image via TFS.

37 year-old English soccer player, David Beckham, is making history for Elle UK as he is the first male that’s featured for the magazine’s cover. In the past, there were males featured on the covers, but never solo like this father of four children.
The three covers were all photographed and styled by Doug Inglish and Simon Robins respectively.
Click here to view last year July cover featuring Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, here for July 2010 cover with Kristen Stewart and here for July 2009 cover with Winona Ryder.
Images via TFS.

