It’s been less than 24 hours since Kim Kardashian mooned us. The reality mogul threatened to break the internet with her ass, brazened proudly on the cover of Paper, a magazine we now all know exists because it has Kim Kardashian baring a buffoonish grin and her entire butt on it. It’s hard to say how much publicity this bottom-feeding, trolling cover generated for Paper, but considering that I’ve seen Kardashian’s butt today with such frequency that I now know it better than my own, I’d say it’s generated a lot. Of course, that’s the whole point of magazine covers, to draw attention to your brand and the conversation it hopes to spark. But it’s hard to give credit to a magazine whose strategy was, "Here’s a famous butt." With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the most visually striking, arresting, and beautiful magazine covers from recent weeks—ones that are more worth your time because of their gorgeous, thoughtful photography and because the stories accompanying them say something far more profound than: "Look at dat ass."
The Daily Beast
OUT shot four typically gorgeous covers for the 20th anniversary of their annual OUT 100 issue, spotlighting LGBT entertainers Ellen Page, Sam Smith, Zachary Quinto, and Samira Wiley in recreations of iconic moments in LGBT history. Page’s cover, inspired by Marlene Dietrich’s tuxedo-wearing, trailblazing girl-on-girl kissing turn in 1930’s Morocco is particularly beautiful, especially when Page’s accompanying interview is taken into account. (Did Kardashian say anything worthwhile in Paper? Did anyone bother to find out?) "We all go through a journey and get where we need to be," Page says, candidly speaking about coming out. "But I really did start feeling guilty. I kind of felt like an asshole."
Courtesy Out100
To give Paper credit where it’s due, it really does accomplish the Kardashian aesthetic. (Which is basically "I have a butt.") But even in that regard, Wonderland exceeds Paper with its Taylor Swift cover for its November/December issue. The cover shot perfectly captures Swift’s straddling of two worlds: her Teen Beat, bubblegum-pink girlie roots and her confident transition into a womanly artist. Of all the covers Swift is featured on this month, this is the one I’d most want to buy. It’s also the most subdued and subtle. Hmm…so subtlety sells as well as sex?
Courtesy Wonderland
The Elle December issue cover featuring Rihanna proves the worth in presenting a cover story in an unexpected way. (Seriously, could there be anything more predictable than a Kim Kardashian cover centered on her butt?) The typically stripped-down and over-sexed singer is shot looking far more natural than we’re used to, with chaotic curls and angular pseudo-bondage pieces of fabric still maintaining her edge. The accompanying interview is hardly illuminating (if she were a piece of jewelry she’d choose to be a choker necklace!) but you take what you can get.
Courtesy Elle
In the wake of Paper’s ass cover, as we pick up the pieces of the internet Kardashian allegedly "broke," it’s worth pointing out the admirable restraint on the part of V magazine in putting Nicki Minaj, another celebrity whose persona is inextricable from her booty, on its cover without reducing the photo shoot to an ode to her bum. The classed-up sexuality of the shot actually does a better job capturing Minaj’s aesthetic—unapologetic female empowerment—better than any ass-centric spread would have. It’s the best Minaj has looked on a magazine cover perhaps ever, making any discussion of her ass in the ensuing pages all the more interesting because they’re not presented as part of booty overkill.
Courtesy V Magazine
Elle U.K.’s December issue is an exemplary exercise in packaging, honestly, in the same way that the Paper cover is: simple, straightforward imagery branded with a simple, straightforward cover line. “This Is What a Feminist Looks Like,” accompanying a photo of that girl from Harry Potter, is just about as provocative as slapping up a picture of a butt with tagline “Kim Kardashian Breaks the Internet.” Better yet, though, are the things that Emma Watson has to say in the cover story about being a feminist. “Feminism is not here to dictate you,” she says. “It’s not prescriptive, it’s not dogmatic. All we are here to do is give you a choice.”
Courtesy Elle
Glamour’s Women of the Year cover featuring Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o isn’t on this list because the cover image is particularly trailblazing—in fact, it seems to have been put together paint-by-numbers style by a designer who recently finished "Creating a Celebrity Magazine Cover for Dummies." But it’s the characteristically winning discussion from Nyong’o in the cover interview that gives this issue its value, with the actress recounting her journey to accepting her dark skin as beautiful.
Courtesy Glamour
Oh hey, it’s the actual most famous person in the world. And she’s fully clothed and talking about politics. Who’d have thought? Angelina Jolie covers the December issue of Vanity Fair in a simple white button-up shirt talking about things like humanitarian work and a future in politics and not her butt. And we’re willing to bet that more people will read it, too.
Courtesy Vanity Fair
There’s something, strangely, both bleak and adorable and somehow provocative about the photo of Tyler, the Creator on the cover of Fader. The teal blue of the hooded sweatshirt he’s huddled in contrasted against the burnt orange cover background is positively striking, and the amount of vulnerability emanating from his eyes make Kardashian’s lifeless, dead-eyed gaze on Paper all the more ridiculous. The Fader cover story headline: “A young boss grows up on his own terms.” With that image, I’d say the magazine nailed it.
Courtesy Fader
There’s a sweeping romance in Harper Bazaar U.K.’s Carey Mulligan cover shot that is rare in the magazine industry and sorely missed in the recent spate of candy-colored glamour shots that are splashed exhaustively on celebrity magazines. It’s sweetly spellbinding, and even a little bit haunting—and a far more enticing choice for a Women of the Year cover than Glamour’s more standard celebrity shots and poses are for its own annual issue.
Courtesy Bazaar
Go ahead and try to tell me that Kim Kardashian’s parading around bare-assed is sexier than Channing Tatum adorably rubbing his bleary eyes. TRY AND TELL ME. Sex appeal comes in many forms, Kim.
Courtesy Hollywood Reporter
