COVER WARS: Women’s Fashion Mags Come of Age this July

On the cover of Glamour 44-year-old Sandra Bullock — the eternal girl next door — throws caution, age and hair to the wind. Inside she ‘busts up’ about the word ‘vagina’ with pal-slash-interviewer Anne Fletcher.

Mediate Grade (B): ‘Sandy’ could stand to act her age, or at least act more like the wife of a tatted-up motorcycle mogul. The girl-next-door routine is growing old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie Claire goes red, white and blue this month to talk about Cameron Diaz’s involvement in the Green movement: “Not to crash anybody’s party, but to actually make the party better… Really, that’s what it’s about — that’s my participation in it.”

Mediaite Grade (B+): Kudos to Marie Claire for not going overboard with the story of Diaz’s  fun-loving Hollywood altruism of convenience. The Al Gore’s of the world are glad to see that a spade is still a spade, even when ad pages are down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harper’s Bazaar goes tabloid this week, running a quotation and reporting-free profile of Angelina Jolie and lifting the newsstand cover off the wire (subscribers saw a model instead). Inquiring minds want to know, and desperate editors want to sell.

Mediaite Grade (C-): We admire Harper’s Bazaar for its sell-at-any-cost ferocity, but once magazines stop producing original (not to mention high-quality and well-reported) content they won’t have anything to sell.  Plus, Wolff’s profile is insultingly bad: “Consider how patriarchal civilization has managed to keep women in hand for all these millennia.” If we wanted to read a St. Joan of Arc wikipedia bio, we wouldn’t have reached for the glossy with a paparazzi photo on the cover.

 

 

Sienna Miller finds this month’s Vogue slimmer than before in her first cover appearance since the September 2007 issue, the fattestVogue ever — 840 pages.

Mediaite Grade (A-): Miller looks great straddling the high-brow/low-brow divide: high-fashion cover to promote forthcoming “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even with no new album in site, fully clothed, 39-year-old mother of two Gwen Stefani beats out the likes of Taylor Swift, Katie Perry, Fergie, Lady Gaga and Missy Elliot for the cover of Elle’s music issue. Kate Hudson’s profile spread hides at the bottom.

Mediaite Grade (C+) :The ‘Women in Music’ cover feints interest in Stefani’s music (what music?), but we can’t help but notice that the decks are built around her look (“The Red Lipstick Anyone Can Wear,” “How to Make Short Hair Sexy”).

 

 

Cover Wars Winner: Vogue wins the week on looks alone, but not because Sienna Miller is almost a full decade younger than the field. Nooo, nothing to do with age. By all means rock on, cover moms.