LOVE - 4th Edition

Knowing that it only comes out twice a year, the magazine LOVE would be mistaken to not multiply its covers with every edition - even more so when it provides the occasion to develop an idea without even having to open the cover.

In the image if its editor in chief, Katie Grand, LOVE likes to take a position that is out of step with the physical standards holding sway. In the past, the voluptuous curves of Beth Ditto and the severe face of the geekette Tavi have made the glossy cover of their magazine.

For its 4th edition, the jewel of the Condé Nast crown continues to question beauty standards and their representation by putting forward women who are sublime, but different, each one supposedly illustrating the label added to their portrait: Agyness Deyn (The Rebel), Gisele Bündchen (The Bombshell), Lauren Hutton (The Heroine), etc...

While we appreciated seeing the unretouched lines on the face of the American Gigolo actress, we particularly savored the pointed wink on the part of the magazine to the fashion industry. By subtitling a photo of a completely retouched Barbie doll with the words "Ms Perfect - The Mannequin," LOVE denounces with finesse the anorexio-photoshop-ian trends of the moment.

Faced with such unique characters as Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Alessandra Ambrosio and Agyness Deyn, this silicone doll appears simultaneously inhuman, glacial and far too perfect. Lost in the middle of these flesh and blood models, her presence seems completely incongruous, so impossible is it to identify with her.

At a time when we feel more than ever inundated with unreal images and visual mystifications endlessly pushing the limits of morphologically acceptable, we can only rejoice in the choice of putting forward intense faces with their sublime imperfections and bodies full of life. The only regrettable detail in this pretty portrait series by Mert & Marcus is that it does not include any women of color...

On the stands on August 23.