We are rarely treated to a Tracee Ellis Ross cover at the newsstand (really, Anna Wintour?) but leave it up to Laura Brown to feature the American actress and comedian on the November 2018 issue of InStyle. With recent covers featuring the likes of Janet Jackson, Serena Williams and Oprah, Brown continues to embrace diverse subjects. Tracee was shot in Paris by photographer Horst Diekgerdes and styled by Karla Welch in a pink floor-length Giambattista Valli Haute Couture creation for the newsstand cover image (below).
The cover generated a host of mixed feedback on our forums. “I adore Tracee Ellis so I cannot fault any of this. I love the newsstand cover, for the breeziness and the pop of fuchsia,” admired dodencebt.
“How is it that magazines can’t seem to take the perfect shot of someone as graceful and stylish as her? I like the newsstand cover a lot, but it needed cropping. And since the background is blurred and as such there would be nothing to see, billow that dress a bit more and get her to pose less stiff. The photographer missed the boat with this one,” Benn98 critiqued.
[ Not a tFS forum member yet? Click here to join! ]
“Loved seeing her in the pink Valentino gown at the Emmy’s, but this looks very cheap,” chimed in Nymphaea.
Also quick to disapprove was forum member Miss Dalloway. “How do you fail a woman as great as her? They had such a great opportunity to do her justice, but this just feels like it came short of promise, sigh!” she commented.
“For how many years now has Horst been producing uneventful unexceptional photography? If they can’t hire an A-List photographer, they could at least give a chance to a new talent,” A.D.C said, suggesting the photography wasn’t up to scratch.
“Aside from the styling, the lighting in the photographs is very pedestrian-looking. With a Jaime Hawkesworth, or Annemarieke Van Drimmelen-like lighting, the shots could’ve come off a lot more cinematic and less Instagram-level insipidity,” added Ken Doll Jenner.
A missed opportunity from InStyle this month? See more of Tracee’s cover shoot and share your thoughts here.
