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Adele’s Entire Body Hidden From View On British Vogue Cover

We love Adele (and if you don’t, we can’t be friends, because 21 changed our lives), but there’s no getting around the fact that the British singer is not a thin lady. This is something she is comfortable with — and we are too. But the people at Vogue UK, which Adele will cover next month, aren’t. We know this because the October cover is basically one big picture of her pretty face that crops her curves from view.

This would be understandable if Vogue UK was a beauty magazine primarily concerned with how you choose to apply your liquid liner. But in most British Vogue covers, you get to see the cover girl’s waist and shoulders, if not her entire body. This is because it’s a fashion magazine, and fashion magazines exist to do one thing: sell you clothes. How is Vogue UK going to sell you the sweater Adele is wearing if the only thing you can tell about it is that it is a lovely shade of green?

Putting Adele on the cover without acknowledging her as a person of size is a lame attempt to reconcile two opposing forces. All magazines want to be seen as timely, and it’s clear that as far as British music is concerned, Adele’s time is now. However, when you Google image search “Vogue UK cover,” mostly you get images of pin thin models and actresses posing against a bright background.

We’re sad the magazine decided to only show her face, but we’re not surprised. Like most everything in the magazine business, this has been done before. Last year, when Elle put actress Gabourey Sidibe on its 25th anniversary cover, it obscured most of her body from view, too, and probably for the same reasons.

So while we’re happy that Adele got a cover, we’d be even happier if Vogue had chosen to show her in her full figured glory. And we just don’t understand why they wouldn’t. Take a look at the full cover below and tell us if you can figure it out.


[Vogue UK via Catwalk Queen]



  • http://twitter.com/lisajohnsonMUA NashvilleMakeupHair

    Fashion dislikes anything that isn’t a size 00 – 4 at the most it would seem.  I think it’s a bit hypocritical.

  • bozekmm

    I totally agree that they can’t really sell clothes if we can’t see them. But Adele is not a model. Maybe they just didn’t like any of her poses and decided to crop the cover and make it just her face? I’d have to see the whole picture to make a choice as to offensive or not offensive.

  • Cedarblu

    i can’t recall in the last decade where i’ve seen a model on a cover of a magazine – it’s always been about celebrity vs. model. – celebrities killed the supermodel. so the argument that adele is not a model is moot. are those piece of *krap kardashian family members models? is lauren conrad? is britney spears? is the cast of glee? is julia roberts? is brad pitt/ angelina jolie? jennifer aniston?  eva longoria? audrina?!?!?!?!  adele is 20 times more beautiful than kate moss; who, remember, got a full frontal of boobs, waist, and full on ‘i’m a sad waif opened mouth pout’ cover of vogue’s september issue. i guess the weathered post addiction look is more attractive to editors than a seriously gorgeously naturally talented woman. 
    the offence is that we weren’t given an option to choose, bozekmm. they chose for us. 
    lame. 
    and offensive. 

  • bozekmm

    I’m not saying that people who aren’t models can’t pose. Maybe Adele just isn’t good at posing. Even some of her promo pics and CD art are just of her face. Should we be upset at her management company or whoever for not showing her body? Perhaps. I’m just saying that it’s possible (unlikely, but possible) that the decision had nothing to do
    with her size and that everyone is jumping to conclusions.

  • Cedarblu

    understood, bozekmm. totally. peace. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LASIK3PT7Z4QXQGTN4G4GZ3QYY Nayith

    On the very first moment I tought “God, my beauties at Styleite are being dramatic”, then looked at the cover and then think again. Yes, you are right. It’s not good. Adele is what she is and the publis adores her by what she can do. Her look is atonishing. One amazingly beautiful woman. I would prefer that they have pute her full on the cover to show other “curvy” women that just because they are “curvy/big/thick (whatever they want to call it)”  doesn’t mean they have to be “not-georgeous”.
    I love Adele, and we will keep loving her no matter of her physical aspect. Besides. She is born talented and beautiful.

  • Anonymous

    but her butt-chin is not hidden

  • Anonymous

    Styleite. Get over yourselves. Adele is quite beautiful. She/Vogue chose to use her face full-on. Now, let’s move on to FNO — and the money it helps raise to keep American fashion in the forefront.

  • Mashaj

    Fashion doesn’t only embody clothing – it embodies the art of makeup as well. I think she has a beautiful face and a beautiful body — and besides. People will open the magazine because she’s on it, regardless of whether its a cropped photo for a full-body one. I don’t see anything wrong with the cover.

  • Mikkola0109

    I think it’s ok… The concept is way better than “photoshoping” her body for the cover…

  • Saintruthanne

    I just looked up UK Vogue covers and i saw many covers featuring only a face….among them were Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham…soooo….point is MOOT end of discussion i’d say

  • http://profiles.google.com/cutegirle14 Elise McLaughlin

    Why do you care? It’s a gorgeous cover. Maybe that’s why they used it eh? Why try and divine the supposed intent behind it?

  • eveline

    Who reads vogue anyway. Boring boring.

  • Anonymous

    Seems like she tries to sound like Aretha Franklin, and look like her, too. Fail.

  • Becky

    The fact that Amy Childs is mentioned on the cover just shows you the direction Vogue is heading in, losing all its credibility as a high-end magazine.

  • Lisa

    she is fat that is something everybody have to accept and nobody wants a FASHION magazine with a fat girl in the cover. For me Adele is super overrated. 

  • Sophie

    I am not a fan of celebrities being in the cover of fashion magazines. People and Us Weekley, yes. But Vogue is a FASHION magazine. It’s supposed to be centred in fashion, not pop culture. That is why models should be the ones gracing magazine covers, as they are the ones who really model the clothes. I don’t know who the heck buys a magazine because your favorite singer or a funny actress from a sitcom is in the cover. Are you just going to admire the cover, read the interview and toss the rest? People don’t take fashion seriously nowadays. I’d like to see more Gisele Büdnchen and less Kim Kardashian in fashion magazines. 

  • Allie

    Vogue is a fashion magazine. Fashion tends to put appearance before all. Her face certainly is a lot better looking than her body (though I must say I don’t like either). Most of her covers on her own works are visage-only as well, so Vogue really isn’t doing anything different. Besides, the readership of Vogue consists of mostly thin, high fashion-oriented girls. Adele has no place being on Vogue because she doesn’t fit the magazine. Put her on a magazine that covers a wider variety of fashion (like plus size).

  • Anonymous

    for real.

  • Tnsarah08

    Actresses and singers really shouldnt be on the cover of magazines…thats what models are for

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