The beauty of Elle subscription covers.

So, two good things came from visiting home this weekend. Number one - a home-cooked meal. And number two - I picked up my latest copy of Elle, which annoyingly, still gets delivered to my home address. As I peel back the plastic covering, tipping out the endless amounts of leaflets and brochures that accompanies the 'oh so wonderful' magazine, there it is. My favourite part. The cover. As a subscriber of Elle, the limited edition covers are fantastic. Unusual, interesting and pieces of art in their own right. What makes these covers so special are that they are free from the 'coverlines' and advertisements that are usually splashed across regular cover fronts, with a much more cutting edge and artistic feel to them. Elle subscriber issues take risks that are simply not part of a mainstream fashion magazine’s vocabulary.

Some of my favourites include the April 2010 cover, which featured fashion icon, Chloe Sevigny perched on a stool with her own scrawls and doodles surrounding her. I liked how this cover conveyed the fun and carefree aspect of Chloe's personality and it gave me the idea that she didn't take herself and life too seriously. This was also supported with the styling choices as she wore a mixture of Miu Miu, Chanel and Marc Jacobs (to name a few) with a strong focus on fun injections of colour and extremely short shorts to accentuate her amazingly long legs. Her hair was kept soft and natural, which again emphasises the idea that she doesn't take herself too seriously and is very chilled out when it comes to fashion. I also really liked the controversial Kylie Minogue cover in June 2010, where Elle featured a extremely blurred and hazy image of Kylie herself with the headline; "Kylie: Come into my world" being the only clue as to what the image illustrated. However, I appreciate the uncertain and indistinct image concept as I thought it was a soft and stunning representation of Kylie Minogue and perhaps portrayed the idea and sense of mystery. I believe it successfully intrigued the reader into her so called "world". I feel this was a very memorable cover shoot and admire Elle for taking such a risk.

I would strongly advise any regular Elle reader to subscribe to the magazine if you havn't already done so, if not only for the bargain price but also to collect these fabulous and imaginative covers, which I can certainly say I look forward to the nice post man delivering each month...

Kylie Minogue cover, June 2010. 
http://www.designscene.net/2010/04/kylie-minogue-by-david-slijper-for-elle.html 

Chloe Sevigny cover, April 2010. (A comparison of the normal and the subscription cover)
betseyj.com/.../2010/03/FotoFlexer_Photo4.jpg