Cover Girl: Beyonce for InStyle

Posted on Aug 17, 2011 in Fashion

Beyonce’s on the cover of InStyle and we like the dress, but hate the picture.

Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2011 Collection/Model: Ginta Lapina

This is the only one of the Dolce & Gabbana star-spangled dresses that doesn’t look like a birthday party napkin or a superhero costume. It’s fun and shiny; the perfect party dress. Could have done without all the stars floating around her on the cover, though. Gives her a bit of a Tinkerbell vibe.

As for the picture, we’ve seen much, much better shots of Bey, who’s really learned how to work a camera over the last couple of years. She looks kind of washed out and not quite made up enough. We’re all for a natural, clean look, but we don’t think it suits her all that well, nor does it suit that kind of dress, which pretty much requires party-ready hair and makeup.

[Photo Credit: istyle.com, style.com - Video Credit: facebook.com/InStyle]

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Anonymous

The model looks like she’s wearing a costume from the Phyllis Diller collection! Hard to believe that’s even the same dress, although you know Beyonce isn’t appearing anywhere in a shapeless muumuu.
- Anonymous
  
  haha! Yay!
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MNMVM2GPVUEIOJXBOSLCXKAW4U judy brown
    
    Yes, the dress does look better on Beyonce than on the clothes hanger.
Anonymous

Well, it certainly looks better on her than on the model, I’ll say that.
Otherwise, I’m so over her. I have been over her for a while now, but she just refuses to go away.
- Anonymous
  
  Like and WORD. You seriously cannot escape her. Enough already.
http://twitter.com/#!/Space_Kitty Space Kitty

That dress *screams* for a girl with curves, but something that party doesn’t work with dressed down hair & makeup.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C65IT4K6RYN4TWRMFJOI3VUDAI Olechka Milashka

I am not a fan of the dress or the picture. I think it’s too short and tight on her. And the happy “I will sell your toothpaste” look is not her best.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_T53WBEPGJZ7MMMZC4O563YU5HA Observer

My first thought was how good she looked; very natural and actually younger. The dress is a bit much for this look; something simple and less glittery would have played much better.
Anonymous

It looks exactly like a birthday party napkin, a pretty glam one. Beyonce is one of the world’s most beautiful women, but her hair here has waay too much product, so it doesn’t even look clean. I’m just getting tired of the dress lengths that barely cover the good china, and I used to wear mini-skirts in the 60s. Is my memory failing, or were they ever this short?
- http://profiles.google.com/trashilove { edi } ilovetrash
  
  they were, but mostly in their late stages, ie: very late 60s microskirts & early 70s in response to hot pants.
  i was a little kid during all of this but i do an elephantissimal amount of research as a vintage dealer.
- http://profiles.google.com/trashilove { edi } ilovetrash
  
  they were, but mostly in their late stages, ie: very late 60s microskirts & early 70s in response to hot pants.
  i was a little kid during all of this but i do an elephantissimal amount of research as a vintage dealer.
- Anonymous
  
  I’ve been wondering the same thing. I wore really short skirts in high school (early 70s), but I don’t remember them being that short. My mother hemmed all my clothes, and she certainly knew where to stop.
Anonymous

Too. Damn. Short. The photo has been made too golden, too.
Anonymous

She looks great.

I imagine there’s a whole line of clamps running down her back, cinching in all that extra fabric to make it conform to her body and waist…unlike the the straight and loose fit as on the model.
http://twitter.com/Megan_Burgess Megan

I thought the stars ON the dress were Photoshopped on. Had to look at the runway picture to make sure they weren’t. Dislike it all around.
Anonymous

I actually think the balance of the dress is off on Beyonce (on the model, it looks like a shiny nightgown). It’s too short on her lower half, but the sleeves are too long. I keep thinking that had she worn this at a party, she would’ve constantly tugged the hem down and the sleeves up. I’m not against the hair when it comes to the styling of this shoot, but the make up is really, really not enough. This kind of dress requires a made-up-to-the-nines girl. Where is Beyonce’s smoky eyeshadow when you need it?
http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.parker Sara Parker

I, for one, simply cannot get behind the star-spangled dress look. This cover gets an F from me– generic face, generic hair, gotta-pee pose, juvenile dress on a very womanly woman, lame teenager’s-polyvore-layout– it’s just an epic fail from start to finish.
Anonymous

The dress is certainly tight. Where is the mysterious inch of difference between her thigh and the start of the dress?

And i so agree with the rest of the commentariat that it’s too.damn.short. They are called clothes, people! They’re supposed to cover your ass!
Anonymous

I don’t really see anyone other than Katy Perry or Nicki Minaj in this dress; it’s cartoonish.
Anonymous

Not good! The dress looks cheap, like a bad home economics project with hand-made appliques.
- Anonymous
  
  It looks like a Simplicity “I Just Learned to Sew” pattern made out of gold polyester on the Joann Fabric’s Red Tag table.
http://profiles.google.com/trashilove { edi } ilovetrash

even if it isnt the best dress for beyoncé, it certainly suits her better than the model {who looks like she’s in the early stages of anorexia-based kwashiorkor. either that or she’s two months pregnant}.

edited to add:
once again, i think the real problem is less the actual appearance of beyoncé & more the photoshop priorities of whoever let the cover out.
http://postsomethingcreative.blogspot.com Nicole

All the stars on the cover make it look like a Christmas issue.
Anonymous

Who did she piss off at In Style that they would actually use that pic for the cover?
Anonymous

Ugh. Could she just lose the honey colored hair? It’s so not flattering. And that dress, also in an unflattering color, would be great on a 5-year-old fashionista. But no one else.
- MilaXX
  
  No way is she not going to be a honey blonde. Honestly if it’s a choice between this on the lighter shades she sometimes wears, I’ll take this shade any day of the week.
http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.munoz Sara Munoz

You say “washed out”, I say “whitewashed”….
Anonymous

It looks like 2 different dresses made out of the same material – the fit is so different. Is short, shiny and sparkly the new trend for fall?
Anonymous

I can nearly see her bits!
Anonymous

I can nearly see her bits!
Anonymous

Looks like they photoshopped the left side of her waist so it would look smaller. With the way she’s standing, her sides will naturally have different shapes, but something is really off.
- Anonymous
  
  You’re right. It’s like they tapered her waist from the top, without paying any attention to what her lower half is doing.
Anonymous

Maybe this is totally offtopic, but I would pay to see Bey do at least one good shoot with her hair completely natural. No relaxer, at the very least.
- Anonymous
  
  Good luck with that wish. It’ll never happen…
- MilaXX
  
  Considering we haven’t seen her hair since like 1998, I doubt that will ever happen.
- Anonymous
  
  The closest we’re gonna get with that is see pictures of her sister who went natural (who’s absolutely gorgeous, btw). Bey’s more attached to this collection of honey blonde weaves than a crackhead is to her pipe.
Aly Light

Someone should be fired over this. Her face looks like one of those “awkward teenage years” pictures from a retrospective. But airbrushed.
- Anonymous
  
  Yes! I thought she looked she just got her braces off her teeth.
http://www.facebook.com/CatherineKatz Catherine Katz

The cover says …”the secret to her glowing skin” – so that’s probably why the low-key makeup. And the shortness (cause those legs glow, too.) But even my ivory on it’s best day face would glow golden in the reflection of that dress. Which I do like.
Danny Maza

I used to like the star Dolce & Gabbana dress, but now I hate it, everybody used
Anonymous

The women on the cover in InStyle often look really odd to me, like they’re coached to not be too sexy and to be approachable, but the cover subjects can’t really pull it off.

Her hair is awful. And I don’t like the dress. It looks like a fold-out centerpiece from a discount party store.
Anonymous

So over stars (the shape not the celebs, though some of those can go to).
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_T24URKJGBLJQPBWCRPU37IIHLU Krab Louse

The dress matches her hair and skin for the most part and that’s the main issue with the photo. I had a skanky aunt back many years ago and I remember she came out with one of her own made up “fashion rules” and that rule was: “I like it when my hair matches my skin.” Her skin was burnt and her hair had a frizzy perm with a mid level brown colour which had taken on that washed out burnt orange look so she’d achieved her aim.
Anonymous

The color really suits Bey Bey’s complexion. Her face looks as though she freshly scrubbed it preparing for bed and not for a night out. Unless, that what she rocks when she and hubby Jay Z go to bed…none of my bees wax.
Anonymous

I’m looking at the christmas cover right?

The proportions aren’t working for me, the dress is too short
Anonymous

I’m looking at the christmas cover right?

The proportions aren’t working for me, the dress is too short
Anonymous

Ohhhhhh…that’s a *dress*? I didn’t realize. thought it was a tunic. Of course, she can appear in a star spangled shirt on a magazine cover. Might not be practical IRL…unless you had matching star spangled panties.
Anonymous

The dress is too short, but good lord how B’s curve help it out.
Lisa

I’ll bet it’s 10 AM, and Gwyneth Paltrow is getting all teary-eyed….

(Sorry, just being a smart ass!)
Anonymous

I can’t wait until all the star prints go away.
Anonymous

I dunno. I think she looks like a roll of patriotic aluminum foil.
Anonymous

Nothing says Fall like a lot of tin foil stars. I hate the dress AND the picture.
Anonymous

Nothing says Fall like a lot of tin foil stars. I hate the dress AND the picture.
Anonymous

Giving Heidi a run for her money in the short-shiny-and-tight department. What do we have to do to get her and Gwyneth some pants to wear?
MilaXX

Looks like Bey to me, but I agree about the extra stars though, totally unnecessary.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3CGY36NG25QFIZQOLMH7SQTKLU andrew

Gotta disagree that the natural, clean look does not work. Her face and hair look lovely that way. I’m not a big Beyonce fan– never saw the fascination– but she looks good here. Certainly fills out that dress in a way that puts the runway model to shame. See, ladies, curves are a good thing. Still, it is way too short for my tastes. Even an inch or two would make a difference, actually.
http://profiles.google.com/misslauraschultz Laura Schultz

Dramatically better on Beyonce than the model, for once.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1344922354 Eric Scheirer Stott

She;s coming close to showing an entire set of Good China
http://twitter.com/RocknLox Khadijah James

The dress is a hiddy. Beynonsense is GORGEOUS.
Anonymous

Magazine covers have become all about photoshopping — look at the overly indented curve on her body and the work along her arms. I long for the old days of simple airbrushing. But she is gorgeous.
Anonymous

Magazine covers have become all about photoshopping — look at the overly indented curve on her body and the work along her arms. I long for the old days of simple airbrushing. But she is gorgeous.
Anonymous

She looks tired and drawn. And that dress is way too short – yikes!!! Almost showing her privates!!
Anonymous

She looks tired and drawn. And that dress is way too short – yikes!!! Almost showing her privates!!
Jolene Barnett

Don’t love the dress to begin with, but it looks a thousand times better on Beyonce than the model. See designers, sometimes your designs need curves.
BuffaloBarbara

Good on whoever pulled it in at the waist (whether it’s phoshopped or tailored)–it looks much better shaped than it does as a sack on the model.
Anonymous

the dress is plenty – no need to amp everything up
Anonymous

Boy, they photoshopped the shit out of her waist.
Anonymous

I really love this dress. Both styles can work on the right women, but the straight version is not going to work on someone with the body of a 12 year old (for real. She looks a little like I did at that age, except even then I had more meat on my bones), especially with oxfords and black socks.

Is it weird that I, a whiter than the Queen white woman, am put off by how white(ish) Beyonce looks? I don’t mind too much that she lightens her hair/wears light wigs, but this is too light. Also I wonder if her skin is getting lighter too. She seems to be something of a role models for little girls, and she’s set herself to be one as far as I can tell. What is she saying to the young African-American girls who look up to her?
- Anonymous
  
  Maybe that’s the secret to her glowing skin?
  - Anonymous
    
    Her skin does glow. Actually, it looks like the most sumptuous velvet you could find. The woman is a freak of nature.
Anonymous

Beyonce looks like she’s been walking through the humidity in this picture. Hair is just wrong.
Anonymous

i LOVE love love the dress- yes, it’s about an inch too short on B, and looks like a sack on the model… a happy medium would be perfect. people trashing the dress should probably take their clothes a little less seriously. i agree with the general consensus on hair and make up… way too toned down for the look.
Judy_J

Looks like the cover of a Christmas issue.
Anonymous

The cover of InStyle always looks awful.
Anonymous

I think they were going for the same contrast D&G were. Look at the runway model. Just washed hair, minimal makeup and oxfords with ankle sox. Not exactly blinged out. The dress is enough of a party, anything else would be excessive.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3AJ237ND3GAHDQJZ4TLCO4WLRA Emily

Beyonce looks really beautiful though – young and fresh.
Alyssa

i’m just glad they didn’t make her face as wide as her torso.
Alyssa

i’m just glad they didn’t make her face as wide as her torso.
Cheri Lee

The dress fits Beyonce really well. And I mean it hugs her curves and she IS a star!
Anonymous

The model is soo pretty, platinum pale Swedish look. beyonsy is cute, but the model is gorgeous..can’t get over the wigs, the heavy makeup, leotards, pantyhose, high heels, long nails. Nothinng fresh and young about all that on a woman, esp. in the 30′s. And I think her skin is always terribly greasy looking. Not blessed w/ the matte shine free complexion of a pre-pubescent. , compared to the model who looks clean and just wash, not oily.
Anonymous

Ok, Looking at the model, who is a blonde Wednesday Addams, I believe the concept was “All that glitters is not gold” Scroll down to the black socks and footwear. It’s not mad to be loved. It’s not worn to be showy. If anybody needs to body this dress its the Courtney L. circa ’92, summer of..Beyonce is awkward. The photo angle isn’t proper, and this faux Jennifer Lopez/ Shakira thing is old. She needs to redeem and get someone with an original thought. It looked promising when she teamed with Mugler, but she re-hashed his roll out look featured in Georg Michael’s ” Miss Too Funky” The glowing skin thing is a tongue ‘n’ cheek response to people saying she is getting lighter and lighter in her media. In that Sammy Sosa, not MJJ sort of way. She is not making the covers like her machine had projected. J-Lo’s divorce photos nipped that in the MK Ultra bud just in time. So the quota filled, we will go back to the Perry take over to hold out for Gaga to do something audacious. Beyonce is not the star they need for the harvest. That actually saves her life. At this point she should take what is left of her youth and plan her Vegas review. Synchronize your Swatches you know I am telling the truth. It saved Celine.. it will do wonders for Beyonce. Yes, i don’t like her, but I know she could do better…if she tried… something original.

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Cover Girl: Beyonce for InStyle

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