After a dazzling debut cover in December, we couldn’t wait to see what Edward Enninful had planned for the January 2018 issue of British Vogue. As expected, he pulls out all the stops for his second issue as editor-in-chief, securing Taylor Swift for the cover, photographed by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott. Taylor tries on a new look for the dark and moody cover shot, wearing a studded red leather Saint Laurent dress, a dark makeup look from Isamaya Ffrench and wet-look waves styled by Paul Hanlon.
IMAGE: VOGUE.CO.UK
The question remains: did the effort meet our forum members’ high expectations? Unfortunately, no. “Trainwreck. How can you go from the December cover to this?” asked Conbothsides after seeing the cover for the first time.
“Oh, Edward… you let me down big time,” sighed kokobombon.
“Absolutely dreadful. After last month’s high, this comes as a severe downer. Taylor’s face can’t handle haute makeup. She looks like an ANTM reject,” mocked Vitamine W.
Also quick to express disapproval was Phuel: “Second issue in, and it’s already comfortably generic-Vogue looking!”
Brikin wasn’t exactly thrilled, either. “I’m a big fan of Taylor but I’m not really feeling this cover. After the December cover, I had such high expectations for the new British Vogue but this is pretty disappointing,” he stated.
“I don’t like it. Awful cover subject and boring photography,” added anlabe32.
“Meh. Thought Edward would rather use models on his covers. Why Taylor Swift?” asked StockholmFW.
“It’s his second cover, I mean, give him some slack, I say. There’s nothing to say he won’t be using more models, only time is going to tell. But one thing is for sure, he will never just be using models and no celebrities because that just isn’t how the world works,” honeycombchild reasoned.
Are you an admirer? See more from Taylor’s cover shoot and add your thoughts here.