Fashion & Beauty /\ Top Ten Controversial Covers

Fashion & Beauty

Top Ten Controversial Covers

Published on 26 May 2015

words Alice Casely-Hayford

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Women have been breastfeeding for nearly 200,000 years, yet in 2015, the image of a mother feeding her child still causes major offence. When Elle Australia released pictures of the June issue of the magazine featuring  model Nicole Trunfio with her son Zion last week, it provoked an instant buzz on social media. The magazine was criticised for only sending the breastfeeding cover to subscribers whilst the newsstand cover features Trunfio holding Zion, but fully clothed in Prada.
When will the taboo surrounding something as natural and necessary as breastfeeding be broken? Elle Australia’s editor-in-chief justified the cover image, stating: “This wasn’t a contrived situation: Zion needed a feed, Nicole gave it to him, and when we saw how beautiful they looked we simply moved her onto the set.” Should such an image need justification? We think not. Here we count down ten other magazine covers that have divided audiences. 

PAPER (December 2014)

Remember when Kim K broke the internet? Course you do. Last year Mrs West bared her infamous derriere on the cover of Paper magazine, shot by Jean-Paul Goude. In one image she stands naked looking cheekily over her shoulder, pulling down her dress to reveal her hyper shiny and polished behind. In another image Kim rests a  champagne glass on her backside in homage to Goude’s ‘Champagne Incident’. Upon the release of the images, parodies and memes abounded, with pretty much every celebrity and publication weighing in on the shoot. Got to give it to Kim for courting controversy like a true pro.

Esquire (April 1968)

When this provocative Esquire cover image came out in 1968, Muhammad Ali had been stripped of his boxing title after refusing to join the U.S. Armed Forces and serve in the Vietnam War. Having converted to Islam, the heavyweight champion believed that the war was against the teachings of the Qur’an. As a result, he was arrested, tried and found guilty of draft evasion however, the case was later overthrown in the Supreme Court.
For the men’s magazine cover, Muhammad Ali, pierced by six arrows, poses as a martyr in praise of conscientiously objecting to the war and the image soon became a protest poster hung in college dorms all over America. Inspired by Saint Sebastian, the Esquire cover was one of the most iconic images of the decade thanks to designer George Lois and his poignant depiction which tied together Vietnam, race and religion.

Vanity Fair (August 1991)

Vanity Fair‘s covers have consistently been provocative and contentious, but few have caused as much of a stir as  Demi Moore’s August 1991 shoot. The actress who was seven months pregnant poses proudly holding her bump, wearing nothing but some diamond jewellery. The portrait was taken by Annie Leibovitz and though Moore covers herself with her hands, the image was widely considered indecent. Despite this criticism, the cover went on to inspire a wave of pregnancy photos and cover shots of expectant mothers.

Purple Fashion (February 2010)

For the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of French magazine Purple, Lindsay Lohan posed on the cover with arms outstretched mimicking Christ on the Cross. The actress additionally wore a thorn crown and white draped gown in the image shot by Terry Richardson. Naturally many Christians took offence at Lohan’s Son of God impersonation though we can only assume the shoot was drenched in irony as the troubled actress isn’t exactly  the celebrity model compass.

Dazed & Confused (September 2012)

Renowned for her outspoken lyrics and Twitter spats, Azealia Banks isn’t one to shy away from controversy and her cover shoot for Dazed & Confused magazine in 2012 certainly caused mass offence. In the cover image the rapper inflates a condom under the headline ‘Azealia Banks blows up’. The issue was subsequently banned in India, Singapore, Dubai, Malta, Switzerland and Thailand for being too risque.
Following the furore surrounding the cover, Dazed editor, Rod Stanley stated “Azealia liked it, and we thought it would be fun and suited her because she’s a strong, provocative character. I knew this cover would be talked about, but didn’t expect a confident, young woman posing with an inflated condom to cause this much fuss. It’s funny that in a world where extreme images are so accessible, someone posing with something that is used for safe sex is what we get worked up about.”

W Magazine (March 2012)

For the self-titled “Fashion Bible”, Kate Moss was captured by Steven Klein in the guise of the Virgin Mary.  Inside the magazine Moss could also be seen holding a crucifix between her legs in the shoot that was heavily criticised for being wholly sacrilegious.
At the time, Dan Gainor from the Culture and Media Institute told RadarOnline.com. “Everything W has done here, from making the issue the ‘Fashion Bible’ to having Moss hold a crucifix provocatively between her legs, is designed to provoke controversy and mock religion. We get it, hating Christians is certainly in fashion. … Interestingly, W tried to create twin covers showing a good and a bad Kate Moss. Given how twisted W is for mocking religion, they should have stuck to just one cover — the bad — to reflect the magazine itself.  Instead of high-brow fashion, readers get low-brow bigotry.” 

Candy (September 2010)

Actor and Hollywood heartthrob James Franco shocked his teen fanbase when he appeared on the cover of Candy magazine dressed in drag. In the image shot by Terry Richardson for the self-proclaimed “first transversal style magazine,” Franco wears thick makeup, women’s clothing and a latex glove. Unsurprisingly, the cover shot garnered international attention, affirming Franco as a maverick actor and non-conformist artist willing to break down social barriers. Franco, you’re a bit bonkers but we applaud you.

Vogue US (April 2008)

American Vogue presumably thought they were being groundbreaking when they put basketball star Lebron James on the cover of the April 2008 issue (he was the first black man to appear on the front of the magazine). However, the magazine quickly came under fire for coupling him with supermodel Gisele Bundchen, when comparisons were drawn between the cover shot and images of a snarling King Kong grasping a white damsel in distress, condemning the magazine for being racially insensitive. The backlash increased when an image emerged of a far more elegant and  “civilised” James that did not perpetuate stereotypes of aggressive, animalistic black man, and a beautiful white woman. Despite the uproar, James dismissed the controversy, revealing that he was pleased with the cover and was “just showing a little emotion.”

Rolling Stone (January 1981)

On December 8 1980, Annie Leibovitz photographed Beatles singer John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono at the couple’s Manhattan home for Rolling Stone magazine. Leibovitz had originally wanted to shoot Lennon alone, but the singer insisted they both be in the photograph, much to Annie’s annoyance. After Leibovitz asked Lennon to pose naked and curl up next to his wife, apparently Ono offered to also take off her top, but the photographer told her to keep her clothes on.
The resulting image of a nude Lennon cuddling his clothed wife “captured our relationship exactly,” Lennon reportedly said after seeing a Polaroid.
A matter of hours later and Lennon was shot dead outside the Dakota Building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side . The photograph was the cover of Rolling Stone‘s tribute to Lennon, and in 2005 it was selected by the American Society of Magazine Editors as the top cover of the previous 40 years. Though many believed this image to be the last picture of Lennon to ever be taken, the final photo of John was in fact taken a few hours after Liebowitz’s, by a fan waiting outside Lennon’s apartment. That final photo captured John immediately after signing an autograph for Mark David Chapman, the man who would later assassinate him.

Love (February 2010)

LOVE magazine surprised readers with its first ever cover, featuring a nude image of Beth Ditto. And in 2010 for the fourth issue, the magazine again caused outrage with more nudity, this time in the form of eight naked supermodels in black and white standing legs apart with their arms above their heads. Editor Katie Grand explained “For this issue of Love, we took eight women who are generally acknowledged as the most beautiful in the world, got them to show off their bodies—widely regarded as the most perfect in the world.” However, critics argued that the shoot actually promotes thinness and make woman conscious of their own bodies. But surely that’s nothing new for a fashion magazine…

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