Kate Middleton graces our August cover in a local design
We were so inspired by her fairytale wedding and her life as a modern-day princess, which is why we elected Kate Middleton as our cover star for the August issue. She’s wearing local designer Clive Rundle on the cover. But upon closer inspection, the cover is – much like her life – more fantasy than reality. The cover is actually a hyper-real illustration of Kate, meant to be a fan art tribute to fashion’s new royal icon. Click on the cover above to see her up-close.
Five local illustrators have gone to work recreating the Duchess of Cambridge in their own style, dressed up in the finest couture from top local designers. Explaining what it is they love about the world’s latest royal, it is clear that these illustrators share a global sentiment: that Kate’s grace, confidence, and warmth have captivated the world as much as her beauty.
“Kate Middleton is, without a doubt, the world’s new style icon,” says Aspasia Karras, editor of Marie Claire South Africa. “We have honoured her with a fan-art tribute, dressing her up in clothes by South African designers and placing her in all sorts of fun, everyday situations.”
The August issue of Marie Claire is on sale from Monday, the 16th of July.
Let us know what you think of our cover.
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So she didn’t actually pose for the cover? How is that a good thing? Aren’t you cheating your readers as well as your cover subject?
That’s not weird at all.
We are giving our readers a fan art tribute to Kate – a celebration if you like.
Aspasia you are my epitome of ELEGANCE and CLASS………super loving your dress sense and the magazine is equally awesome. THANK YOU
It’s not really fan art if it’s commissioned though..?
I’m really not a fan of this idea. Will not be buying this magazine! PS could Buckingham Palace not sue you for this?
I love the cover and thought you guys did a pretty good job here. Unfortunately you will always find people that have something bad to say about everything. But well done Marie Claire, I love cover and magazine.
I’m really disappointed with this month’s cover and I am normally a huge fan of Marie Claire SA. If you don’t get a close look at the cover, it seems cheap and slightly odd-looking. This month I will only be buying the magazine because the articles are always top-notch – but the cover was a bad choice. I’m guessing the publicity it’s receiving in the Daily Mail makes it worth it.
You are basically putting words in Kate’s mouth, when you do not have the right to. I agree that you are cheating the readers. It almost sounded like an insult when you said; “Of course she doesn’t. But she should.” And I don’t have something bad to say about everything, this magazine is actually the one who has done wrong.
Is this a photoshop: superimposing photos of KM onto another’s body or is it a drawing of her head and hands superimposed on a model’s body? This is not made clear at all in this report.
Either way, I feel you have taken unjustifiable liberties and will not buy your magazine again.
I personally think the cover is misleading to your readers and of bad taste. One tends to wonder if the editor was just after publicity, because even bad publicity is a good thing???? A definite NO!
Just like a woman’s magazine and stupidity to air bush, and impose a picture of another fake woman. No you didn’t pay tribute, you wanted to make money. Shut down your magnazine if you can’t print the truth. All your advertizers should quit paying. I will not buy or look at you. Nor any TV sponsored by Marie Clare.
I won’t be buying any of your magazines. This cover is just wrong. Public fiqure or not. You have a world of people that actually want to be on your cover. Work with them. You should set your standards higher. Much higher!
Marie Clare, tsk tsk tsk. Misleading your customers, assuming your “*” is your ‘no offense’ disclaimer. A very unfortunate decision made for the sake of summer subscriptions & sales.
Who’s Kate Middleton? A woman by that name no longer exist. When are the braincell-damaged editors of news agencies or publications FINALLY going to start using the name which was requested the day of the wedding by herself and the Palace? It’s not that hard of a concept to understand. When she’s 60 years old one day are you STILL going to be calling her Kate Middleton thinking it will grab more attention than Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge or whatever position she has? I’d love to see them slap a lawsuit on you not just for the incorrect name and title (yes, this woman has a royal title now and should be addressed as such) but also for putting a fake image of her in a magazine WITHOUT her permission. You’re teeting on a VERY fine line here regarding her picture. Good thing you didn’t do this to HRH Queen Elizabeth, you WOULD be in trouble then. I think it’s going to get to the point where this young couple will require ALL approval of articles using their names. After all, they’ll never be able to count on you getting it right will they?
I don’t have a problem with the ethics of this cover in fact, I think the idea is a good one. The way it’s done however is well below par – the Photoshop work done on it by the “art” department is sloppy and I can’t believe that some sees it as “fantastic work” – THAT is putting the “art” department in fools paradise.
Several processing flaws shouts at you – to name a couple:
1. The extraction of both Kate & the dress realy looks like just “cut & paste” – the worst of which is part of her hair above the right shoulder – not good.
2. The face & hair is oversharpened when compared to the dress.
3. The brighter lighting of the face & hair is not “in line” with the lighting of the dress.
4. The face was processed that it almost looks cartoonish.
5. The smudge tool on parts of the hair (to perhaps cover up Kate’s own dress showing through)is very obvious and not well done at all.
I’m no “guru” in Photoshop but would like to take a stab at what they were trying to do – if you would fwd me the 2 high res images (you have my e-mail) used to “produce” the front cover I’ll accept the challenge to render something better – if I can that is.
What a clever, but dishonest, way to increase the sales of your magazine for the month of July. I also felt cheated and wouldn’t have bought it if I had realised exactly what Marie Claire meant by a “Fan art tribute”. The segment was a total disappointment and extremely uninteresting and uninspiring, even for what it was. (I also wondered how legal it was for MC to photoshop Kate Middleton for the cover….)
I was disappointed with the cover (after I bought the magazine). I don’t always buy Marie Claire because I cannot afford it. I bought the mag because of KM.
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