Newly-appointed editor-in-chief of InStyle Laura Brown hasn’t exactly received a standing ovation on our forums lately, with Reese Witherspoon‘s December cover being the latest to disappoint. So, it comes as no surprise that the newly-unveiled January cover has received a bit of backlash. Newsstand dynamite and fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker is Brown’s latest cover conquest, taking time out of her busy schedule designing a successful shoe collection and filming HBO’s Divorce to pose for InStyle-regular Thomas Whiteside.
The newsstand cover (above) left our forum members far from impressed. “Yikes, this could be Redbook! It’s not bad, but the backdrop doesn’t suit the color at all. It actually looks poorly edited,” critiqued Benn98 at once.
“I give Laura three more months until she returns to more natural looking backdrops. This is getting hilarious,” added a disapproving dodencebt.
Also quick to dismiss the cover was A.D.C.: “Where the hell is the effort in this? Magazines are on the brink of extinction and instead of bringing out the best in people it’s like everyone is just throwing up their hands and producing their worst. This is so lackluster it’s almost offensive. With so much free online content they expect people to pay for this crap? Bye Laura.”
SallyAlbright shared the same sentiments. “Everything under the new editor has been horrible so far! Do not like anything she has done, with the covers or the content of the magazine,” she dismissed.
“Why did Laura leave Bazaar, when this is exactly Bazaar with a different backdrop? On the other hand, SJP can’t make a good cover nowadays. Maybe it’s the smile or the eye makeup, I don’t know,” described Srdjan.
“It seems as if magazines either try to appeal to teenagers or grandmas. Where’s the middle ground?” questioned kokobombon.
A photo posted by instylemagazine (@instylemagazine) on
Ouch! Looks like Laura and the rest of the staff have some work ahead of them to win back tFS forum members. See more from the shoot and join the conversation here.