Florence Welch covers the January issue of Vogue UK
TFS

Yesterday, when I opened the envelope carrying the January issue of Vogue my first reaction was good. I love the fact that Alexandra Shulman finally put Florence Welch on the cover of British Vogue. It also makes me very happy that the cover text has been reduced a little and that they've changed the fonts, it feels more neat and more expensive –more Vogue. The colours are also excellent. the greenish greyish blue works fantastically with the sort of brass gold and white fonts. So far so good.
The only problem, a big one, is with the cover picture itself. First of all, Shulman needs to realise there are more photographers out there other than Mario Testino, it's like she's got the Anna Wintour virus! But even that wouldn't bother me that much if it weren't for the ridiculous photoshopping going on poor Florence's face! Her skin is so airbrushed it's almost like it doesn't fit in her frame. And the pose doesn't really help.
Despite this flaw I will say that there is some hint at an aesthetic change happening at Vogue UK, which makes me happy. Hopefully this is only the start of a whole new array of 2012 covers.

Best Dressed of the Weekend: The former and new queens of Boho Chic
JustJared

This weekend it was super easy to put the Best Dressed of the Weekend together. I knew even if it was just for one of this ladies I would make the post. Everyone seems to be making more of an effort now that it's winter and so here we have three very different but successful ways of looking great this season.

1. Florence Welch, the new queen of Boho Chic. I can't get over how good this look it. Florence wore this to her little studio appearance at BBC Radio 1 earlier this weekend. I love the navy and maroon colour palette. She's done such a great job balancing the colourful paisley print of the maxi dress with a more muted coat and fedora hat. I love the texture that the black suede boots add and the pop of colour of the bag. Kudos to her.

2. Miranda Kerr. Her look is a bit mid-seasonal but I love it. I guess New Yorkers can still get away with this. You can never go wrong with a breton stripe top, khaki trousers and a biker leather jacket. You throw a classic Céline bag into the equation and success!

3. Mary-Kate Olsen, the old queen of Boho Chic. I guess she's not over the style that she made famous and that made her famous. She looks great (not as skinny, which is good) and I am loving this rockstar look she's got going on. The boots are a big hit!

FashionGoneRogue

I feel like some of the big magazines really miss the point with their choice of cover picture. I can tolerate bad choices when the shoots inside are equally as bad but when the editorial is full of stunning pictures it really infuriates me.

This is the case of the October cover of Interview magazine, which is probably my favourite publication ever. They tend to do a lot of really dark close shots that they crop even closer, which is a little repetitive but usually looks beautiful enough to be overlooked. For the latest issue they had Craig McDean shoot Florence Welch styled by Karl Templer. I must say that despite the catastrophic piece of crap that the cover turned out to be I could appreciate their trying to do something new –i.e. not a super close crop.

The shoot inside, however, is a completely different story. They've played a lot with the editing in terms of filters, saturation and contrast and I am in awe. I especially love the black and white shots of Florence and there is something very attractive about the blue one too. That would have made a brilliant cover for this issue!

TFS

I don't quite understand how the timing of Vogue Japan works. I remember having a copy of the September issue in my hands at the beginning of August and now that all the September issues are coming out they release their October cover? Confusing.

In any case, Florence Welch in Ralph Lauren on the cover is genius. As it is the fact that Karl Lagerfeld shot it. He should do a lot more editorial work because he's such a good photographer. In fact, I am more keen on his photography than I am on his Chanel collections sometimes.
Their August cover was excellent but their September one was a bit of a disaster –I hated the styling and the pose– so it's great to see them back in shape.
Just as they did with the Vogue Paris cover, people have been complaining about having a celebrity as the face of the issue. The way I see it, if you do mostly models and you pick your celebs because you really want them on the cover, what's the problem? Despite even the crowded text, this is a brilliant cover!