Blake Lively's Vogue Cover: A Bad Sign? (PHOTOS)

"Gossip Girl" Blake Lively graces the February cover of Vogue magazine and gets "a makeover that transformed the sporty all-American girl into a polished bombshell," editor Anna Wintour claims in her editor's letter.

Despite Wintour's enthusiasm, the cover itself is a controversy and possible sign of the magazine's fall, reports the NY Post:

Some are seeing Vogue's "stooping" to put a television star on one of the most coveted press pedestals around as one more sign of an impending apocalypse.

"She's the girl of the moment who also has a hit show that people watch as much for the fashion as for the show itself," says Vogue spokesman Patrick O'Connell, explaining the choice...

The setbacks have piled up in recent months. Brand extensions such as Men's Vogue and Fashion Rocks have folded, and Vogue Living went on indefinite hiatus. Newsstand sales have slipped - 15 percent in the first six months of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007 - and ad pages in the January issue are down 44 percent from one year ago.

Inside the magazine, Lively talks about the fashion on "Gossip Girl."

"The fashion is just unbelievable [on Gossip Girl]. You can watch our show on mute and be entertained."

"Just being here [in New York City], walking around, you pick it up really quickly," Blake explains of her evolving fashion sense. "In New York, you put on skinny jeans and riding boots and a leather coat and handbag, and you take on that posture and character. It becomes very natural."

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Some photos:

Comments

[Helenjohn]

Blake is gorgeous but I was surprised to read here (http://www.projectweightloss.com/index.php) about her biggest weight obsession and how it affects the people she"s working with. This is sure worth gossiping about. XOXO

[inorbit]

Er, they put movie stars on the Vogue cover, why not TV stars?

This is silly. Ads are down because of the economy. Readership is down as it is for all print media. I think whether or not the covergirl is a TV star is irrelevant. All it shows is that Wintour is trying to attract younger readers, and that is a good thing.

[HoosierRadical]

I have never watched the show, so I did not know who she was.

[missjasmine]

vogue is a magazine that needs readers, blake is on a show that's insanely popular... you do the math.
this is a non issue.

[fame]

She's beautiful but so, so boring.

[dragenfly]

I think Blake is gorgeous, but a strange choice for Vogue. I write a bit about her, Gossip Girl and other stuff at my blog: http://sarahcavill.blogspot.com/

[pthalomarie]

What's significant about LIvely as a cover model is that Vogue is notoriously rigid about who it allows to grace its cover. Thus, the reasoning goes, for them to break a decades-long standard of putting a cabe tv star on the cover may signal dire financial desperation.

That said, I think Lively is a great choice for the cover. I've always found it strange how Vogue ignores the fashion going on in movies and influential tv shows. Gossip Girl has been huge deal in the fashion world since it came out, and it's about time Vogue acknowledged it.

Last year, for example, the only movie the mag gave a fashion spread to was Australia, which had poor box office and no impact on style trends. It makes sense that Vogue would acknowledge where trends are happening, even if they are beginning in places other than the fashion houses.

Besides, Lively is beautiful and stylish (though Leighton Meester is moreso). That should be the sole criteria for getting on a fashion mag cover. Note that in recent decades, Vogue focused on models that had enough cache to sell issues, like Cindy Crawford and Kate Moss. There's no harm in putting women on the cover who will sell issues.

[MountPanic]

Gossip Girl is not a cable TV show.

[SeriousBlack]

"Some are seeing Vogue's "stooping" to put a television star on one of the most coveted press pedestals around as one more sign of an impending apocalypse."

Ummm... Trying real hard to see what the problem is here.

Don't we have more important things to worry about? Fashion industry: Get over yourselves. And while you're doing that, try to figure out that no one thinks stick-thin models are attractive except in your tiny little world.

[bartonfink]

her head doesn't look right in either photo. enormous and john mayer-like in the first, and detached and mounted on the end of a pike in the second. I wonder if the media will give this very serious issue the proper coverage it deserves and get to the bottom of things.

start with: what's up with blake lively's head?

[zbig]

Vogue should feature Merryl Streep (dressed up as the Devil wears Prada character).

[zbig]

Blake Lively was in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" 1 and 2.

[sunny555]

Newsstand sales may be down because almost nobody can afford -- or has a place to wear -- the extremely high-end designer clothes they feature in this magazine. Heck, I work in Manhattan, and if I even walk into some of the stores where these clothes are sold, I get suspicious looks.

[ailbhe]

She is very pretty but surely more suitable for the teen fashion magazines? Vogue readers are a bit older and would prefer someone in their twenties.

Teenagers are cute but nobody over twenty is going to be inspired by their fashion sense or attitude!

[sunny555]

Agreed. I wouldn't mind someone on the cover in their thirties, in fact. I also don't appreciate TV stars on Vogue covers.

[ailbhe]

Yes, there are lots of women in their thirties and forties even who are unbelievably hot. It is about attitude and knowledge, that takes years to develop. Style is more important than youthful looks after a certain age.

I agree with you about tv stars, I prefer models or people who are genuinely stylish given front cover.

[MLMW]

She is in her 20's. She was born in August 1987. That would make her 21!

[scubalady]

You've been heard, she's 21.

[ailbhe]

Ha! I thought she was younger! Her image is very young though.

[Alvarofms]

Who gives a F........!!!!

[Gothfather]

Who? Don't even know who this person is to care.