Cover Girl: Lea Michele for Cosmopolitan UK

Posted on May 17, 2011 in Fashion

Lea Michele graces the cover of Cosmo UK in Marc Jacobs and we’re gonna do the girl a solid because she gets raked over the coals for her constant attempts at Blue Steel and for once, she decided to let a little personality show.

Good GOD, we feel like we’re being assaulted by an army of fonts. We’re pretty sure our senior yearbooks had a cleaner design than that. Ladies, if you want a good laugh, say the phrase “love-your-body bikinis” out loud. HIGH-LARIOUS, amirite? Almost as hilarious as “GET A FLAT TUMMY IN 6 DAYS.” The trick? You have to start off 2 pounds overweight.

Anyway, Lea’s always sucking in her cheeks and trying too hard when she gets her picture taken and we’ve all been bitching at her for the last year to stop with the divatude and stop trying to be a sexpot, and just be the fun, talented, adorable girl people expect her to be. We don’t actually love this cover. The lighting seems harsh in her picture and the naughty skirt-lift pose is so very tired, but she’s smiling and she looks cute and we’re struck by how great her hair is. Seriously, how come no one ever mentions what great hair she has? We don’t actually think most women could pull off that Marc Jacobs, but it suits her to a tee.

[Image Credit: lovingleamichele.com]

Tags:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=548830913 Darien Nevulti LeDisko

I agree, but i absolutely hate that her mouth is open so widely.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=548830913 Darien Nevulti LeDisko

I agree, but i absolutely hate that her mouth is open so widely.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=548830913 Darien Nevulti LeDisko

I agree, but i absolutely hate that her mouth is open so widely.
- Laurie Neilsen
  
  Yeah, I hate that this is pretty much the only way she smiles. Either she’s pouting, or she looks ready to swallow her fist.
http://profiles.google.com/sauchih Sau-Chih Feng

I like her face in this picture, even if the lighting is harsh. Agree with you on the skirt thing, but it’s so great to see a picture of her laughing and being fun and adorable and sweet! I do like the outfit, just stop flashing us your thigh!
ailsieengland

Really? I’ve been walking past that cover in shops for a couple of weeks now and it makes me cringe and grate my teeth every time… Sure, she has nice hair, but she sort of looks like she’s in a very bad horror movie, backed against a wall screaming, as the axe-wielding maniac steps ever closer – but she knows this is the only scene she’s getting so she’s going to do her best to make it sexy.

Also, I don’t think baby-pink blusher is for her…
ailsieengland

Really? I’ve been walking past that cover in shops for a couple of weeks now and it makes me cringe and grate my teeth every time… Sure, she has nice hair, but she sort of looks like she’s in a very bad horror movie, backed against a wall screaming, as the axe-wielding maniac steps ever closer – but she knows this is the only scene she’s getting so she’s going to do her best to make it sexy.

Also, I don’t think baby-pink blusher is for her…
ailsieengland

Really? I’ve been walking past that cover in shops for a couple of weeks now and it makes me cringe and grate my teeth every time… Sure, she has nice hair, but she sort of looks like she’s in a very bad horror movie, backed against a wall screaming, as the axe-wielding maniac steps ever closer – but she knows this is the only scene she’s getting so she’s going to do her best to make it sexy.

Also, I don’t think baby-pink blusher is for her…
Oli

AGAIN with the nose job thing?

and yeah, what’s with the tonsil exam pose
Oli

AGAIN with the nose job thing?

and yeah, what’s with the tonsil exam pose
Peri

i always wonder just how much of these types of poses are the photographer saying something like “ok, honey, now grab your skirt” or ” just smile a little bigger” or something like that. She isn’t a model, i suspect that she is just doing what they tell her to. Overall, she does look cute. like “ok, honey, now grab your skirt” or ” just smile a little bigger” or something like that. She isn’t a model, i suspect that she is just doing what they tell her to. Overall, she does look cute.
- Peri
  
  now how did that happen?
scottyf

Sorry, can’t look at Lea right now. Waiting for your post on “28 CELEB MEN STRIP NAKED FOR YOU.”
- Anonymous
  
  C’mon — no need to hate on Cosmo’s attempt at serious journalism ; )
- margaret meyers
  
  Yeah! Bring on the 28 Celeb Men.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RK5MAF2VNT32ULNYFIXDANTEC4 Terence

She’s got the face, but is she SMIZING? Tyra says “No.”
Lolo

i actually believe her face is much more beautiful than it appears in this picture. the angle paired with wide-open mouth, add odd lighting, make for an unflattering shot.

but tlo is right, her hair is gorg.
anon

She has dead eyes. Not smiling at all. She needs a crazy Tyra lesson.
- Thijs
  
  My thoughts exactly! She looks cute, but her eyes are DEAD.
http://visceralresponse.com Dina dV

I always think she looks pretty, even with the divatude and Blue Steel. But then, I also invariably chose the vixen over the virgin in those matchups, so I guess I find warmer, sultry looks more appealing than elusive blonde perfection. Unless it’s Eva Marie Saint. It is nice to see her looking young and happy, though.

And she does have spectacular hair. It’s that Italian/Hispanic hybrid. Individually you MIGHT get good hair, but together it’s just so shiny, lustrous and touchable.
http://twitter.com/pinup_ghoul Pinup Ghoul

She looks cute! But I think that she always looks cute when she smiles. Also: she could be really, really fierce if she wanted to.

I hate Cosmo, though. One of the most ridiculous and often sexist publications ever aimed at women, and why it has such an immense readership will never fail to confound me.

As for the continuous hubub about her nose, I guess it doesn’t surprise me. Female stars who don’t look like what one would expect a star to look like are often subjected to this kind of interview. Sarah Jessica Parker gets interviewed often about opting out of plastic surgery, as does Uma Thurman, and Christina Hendricks gets questions ALL OF THE TIME on her figure (can someone find me an interview that doesn’t bring up her figure? Does one exist?). I’m too young to have ‘been there’ for this, but didn’t Barbara Streisand get lots of comments about her prominent nose, too? Good for her, though. I think she’s adorable.
- Oli
  
  You’re right on that… it’s just that it seems to be that Lea herself brings it up, as if she were a hero for not going under the knife (granted, not easy pressure to resist to).
  
  BTW, I’ve been watching reruns of SATC and it is so clear to me that SJP did get a nose job (still deciding on whether it was accompanied by chin intervention); only it’s a subtle one. Her nose is still large but more defined and thin.
Lori B

Ugh, her face looks like South Park’s Mecha Streisand.
andyleigh

Another open mouth on the cover of a magazine. Quelle surprise. At least she doesn’t look like she’s going to drool on her pretty polka dots.

People don’t talk about her beautiful hair because she’s always posing in such a way to distract from it, like grabbing her skirt and hiking it up in the vicinity of the good china. If she could get away from that and just take a normal picture for once someone might notice.
mjude

TLO says “assaulted by an army of fonts” LOL.

i think she is adorable but still not sure about this photo??
Lulu

I suspect nobody comments on her truly beautiful hair because we’re all too busy being annoyed at how she thinks she’s a diva even though she hasn’t really earned that right yet.
Wannabe

WAY too much cleavage with pink polka dots and ruffles. It looks like an effort to sexualize a young girl (which it sort of is, given that you are talking about an older girl playing a teenager who is constantly trying to distinguish herself as a young woman by emphasizing her porny attributes). Her hair is beautiful, she’s beautiful and talented, but I wish to god she’d hike the top up a tad and leave the hem where it was.
Anonymous

What a mystifying cover: That is an awful photograph. She is so much prettier than that. And the lighting isn’t the worst of it: The photographer caught her very unflatteringly in an off/fake expression. There is no decisive moment here. And there’s really no excuse for this anymore: If they were shooting digital in the studio, they could see what they’d gotten on the screen before she’d even left. If THIS is the best that photographer came up with for a cover shoot, he should not be rehired.–GothamTomato
- http://twitter.com/pinup_ghoul Pinup Ghoul
  
  The UK Cosmo does, however, appear to have better airbrushers than the US publication. At least she still looks like the same person. Or a person at all.
  - http://twitter.com/monsterhoodie laurel fiske
    
    I like the photoshop attention (or lack their of) to her stomach area- hooray for no fake abs or skin that miraculously doesn’t touch fabric! But I feel like her boobs got the standard a.k.a. SuperFake photoshop treatment.
Fordmandalay

How the HELL does a major magazine let a photographer get away with such horrible, hard, single source light??? Aw crap what’s the point of even trying anymore (smashes cameras)
MilaXX

It’s a very busy cover and the phot isn’t great, but I’ll take this over another sexpot or O face shot any day.
Mac

I don’t like the face but I always envy the hair, it’s just so shiny (bitch).
Vaniljekjeks

She looks really awful here, and I am really tired of her.
elleg929

Usually her hair looks really bad with off-color extensions so it does look really nice here. Bad cover though.
http://vhanna26.typepad.com Vera

Cute outfit, great hair, hate the open mouth. So glad I’ve outgrown Cosmo. Way too many fonts on the cover, way too much pandering to young women’s insecurities.
- http://twitter.com/pinup_ghoul Pinup Ghoul
  
  I agree. The magazine paints all men as cheating douchebags and all women as passive-aggressive, high maintenance children (and often goes so far as to encourage petty, dishonest, and passive-aggressive behavior). Their readers deserve better!
Anonymous

HORRIBLE expression, absolutely darling outfit. Hair to die for.
Anonymous

I think you’re being too kind. I hate the open mouth forced “I’m having so much FUNZY!” thing. Her eyes look dead, and that outfit is ugly, tacky and a terrible color. Feh.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3AJ237ND3GAHDQJZ4TLCO4WLRA Emily

She does look cute, but also hate her mouth is open so wide.
annoyed kitten

she looks like she’s going to bite someone’s head off. And that pink blush looks ridiculous. This whole cover is bad, but what do you expect from a magazine that encouraged women to make their male partner sneeze during sex?
http://profiles.google.com/mochizukisan kyasarin mochizuki

I’d like the smile better if it reached her eyes.

God, I’m being such a nasty bitter kitten today.
Lauen newman

She looks really cute. looks really cute.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_S7N55GXQY4WFFWFG54B3XBO37E Stephen

Boys…I’m surprised at you. Ms. Lea’s outfit looks like a home ec project. But, she is pretty in pink.
Judy_J

She does look cute, but that outfit looks like she got it at Target. I’ve got nothing against Target….I shop there alot myself; that’s how I know it looks like she bought it at Target. Maybe she was going for an “every girl” vibe?
Anonymous

Sorry, but photography issues aside, I just cannot get over the cheap-looking outfit she’s wearing. I know it’s Marc Jacobs and all, but it looks like it’s from Forever 21′s end of the season sale rack. It’s also a skosh too small. Silly me. I suppose it’s supposed to look like that.
http://profiles.google.com/kbryna kbryna frogboots

I just don’t like her or her character and I can’t see past that. Her mouth is open too wide, and the hiked-up skirt is annoying, but more to my point: what in the hell is she WEARING? The high-waisted skirt doesn’t work with a bare-midriff top, and either the top, the pose, the lighting or the airbrushing have conspired to make her breasts look like waterballoons made with those oval or elongated balloons and not the rounder kind. Just not a good look. I wish they’d stop trying to make her into a cover model, because in my book, she just doesn’t have IT yet.
Lisa

TLo said: “Ladies, if you want a good laugh, say the phrase “love-your-body bikinis” out loud. HIGH-LARIOUS, amirite? Almost as hilarious as “GET A FLAT TUMMY IN 6 DAYS.” The trick? You have to start off 2 pounds overweight.”

Yeah, standard Cosmo. I’m embarrassed to say I used to worship that magazine when I was 20. I finally gave it up around age 28, and I never looked back.

And Lea unfortunately looks like the standard Cosmo cover. DULL.
Sharon Zakhour

Her smile does not look natural and I don’t like the pose. ick.
- margaret meyers
  
  Yeah, it looks like they told her “Now make a YEA! face. Hold it. Hold it. Just a little longer….. snap.”
http://profiles.google.com/trashilove { edi } ilovetrash

she looks fine but it is a real contempo casuals knocks off betsey johnson circa 1983 sort of outfit.
Laura Ramsey

That skirt is wretched. It looks like granny panties trying to escape a homemade window valence.
Anonymous

I find her strangely attractive and I would never be able to tell you why. Even with the bobbing-for-apples mouth and the annoyingly pulled up granny skirt and the polly pocket blush she’s working in this…still attractive…I like your hair explanation though. Maybe I’ll just blame it on the hair.
Anonymous

I love her hair, I hope she never dares to dye it or even highlight it, I don’t think the bangs suit her as much as she probably thinks they do, I think long and slightly wave with the fringe on a side makes her look super pretty

I would also like to sit her down and tell her: girl, you don’t always have to be sexy, or try to be
foodycat

Don’t you think it looks like her jaw has locked open though? She looks pained.
Anonymous

ohmygodwHYIS IT SO PINK?!?
Anonymous

And the coroner’s verdict is: “Death by an army of fonts.”

Followed by a cautionary statement from the public health department.

[smiles happily]

Share This

Cover Girl: Lea Michele for Cosmopolitan UK

Archives

Follow us

Archives