Cover Girl: Meryl Streep for Vogue

Posted on Dec 12, 2011 in Fashion

Does Annie Leibovitz just cart all celebrities out to the same small stretch of beach to take pictures now? Can she no longer afford studio space? At least she didn’t destroy any gowns this time.

Meryl Streep covers the January 2012 issue of Vogue magazine photographed by Annie Leibovitz in a Carolina Herrera dress.

And we bet the part of Miranda Priestley is never mentioned in this profile. Great picture of Meryl, though. She’s getting all kinds of Oscar buzz for that Margaret Thatcher movie but every clip we’ve seen makes it look like a campy bit of mimicry.

[Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz for vogue.com]

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Anonymous

Funny I thought Anna Wintour was amused by her portayal
- Anonymous
  
  But “amused” means something different for Anna Wintour .
http://joyouslifesf.wordpress.com Kiltdntiltd

I loves me some Meryl. And this shot is only okay. Nothing fabulous going on at all.
- http://profiles.google.com/thisiscelia Celia
  
  Agreed. Would it have been so hard to glam this up a little? A pair of earrings, a snazzier belt, a touch more makeup…? This is Vogue, after all.
Anonymous

I agree on the camp thing. And most still photos are cringe-inducing — they make it look like she’s playing Thatcher as part of an SNL sendup.
- http://twitter.com/Athenabast Athena Bast
  
  Shoulda got Helen Mirren.
  - Anonymous
    
    I still fondly remember John Cleese’s send up of Thatcher from an interview he gave The South Bank Show way back when. NOw Cleese as Mags would have been absolutelly fabulous…
- Anonymous
  
  I’m afraid I agree, although I have loved Meryl Streep as an actress from the git-go. I’ve seen trailers of the Thatcher movie, and it makes me cringe. An SNL sendup–a perfect description, from what I’ve seen. She needs to stop doing biopics and do some indie films for a while, to get her groove back.
Judy_J

She is the epitome of class.
scottyf

From The Desk of Anna Wintour

Annie dear:

Why don’t you take Meryl out to that small stretch of beach you like so much to do her photo shoot?

…and if she happens to fall in the water and gag on a couple of mouthfuls of seaweed after the shoot is over, there’s another ten grand in it for you.

xoxoxoxoxo
A.W.
- P M
  
  I’m with you. This looks like a deliberately badly done cover.
  - Anonymous
    
    It really does.
- Anonymous
  
  Scottyf, cher, your comment made my day!
Anonymous

I like this photo of Meryl Streep. I know there’s always some photoshopping going on, but this is one of the few covers I’ve seen recently where the person actually looks like a human being.
Marie Drucker

Odd the way her head is attached to the rest of her. Like two separate photos.
- Anonymous
  
  Any woman of Meryl’s age – 62 – is NOT going to have a neck and decolletage that is as smooth and firm as what we see in this photo. We (I’m a year younger and pretty unflinching about the mirror) don’t have the collagen or the dermal elasticity. A bit of liberty was taken in producing the final product. BTW, Ms. Leibovitz (check out her neck, she’s 59 in the photo in the linked article),as of two years ago was in a world of financial hurt from bad investments, excessive spending and poor management of her photographic business http://nymag.com/fashion/09/fall/58346/ so she needs to work and work a lot.
  
  From the NY Mag article: “In February 2009 New York Times ran a front-page story reporting that in order
  to secure a loan, Leibovitz had essentially pawned the copyrights to her
  entire catalogue of photographs. … Her debts now total a staggering $24 million, consolidated with one
  lender with whom she is engaged in a lawsuit and due in September [2009].”
Anonymous

Is her face out of focus?
- http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.munoz Sara Munoz
  
  Looks straight out of a daytime soap. Or a Barbara Walters special.
MilaXX

Nice picture, but really kind of ordinary and been there, done that.
P M

The photo looks awful, and has all kinds of desperate written all over it. Like, why is Meryl’s shirt unbuttoned to *there* in such a clumsy fashion?
Anonymous

Girlfriend’s been photoshopped within an inch of her life. Haven’t seen her look like that since Kramer vs. Kramer. That being said, I love Meryl Streep and I think she should be on every magazine cover. She’s one of the few real talents of our generation.
- Anonymous
  
  Note to photo editors: Women over 60 who are supernaturally talented are allowed to have a wrinkle.
  - http://beautyforrealgirls.blogspot.com/ accidental housewife
    
    You deserve at least 1000 “likes” for that.
Anonymous

Eh. She looks like she’s about to sneeze. And you’re right. I can’t help thinking that Charlize Theron is lurking somewhere off to the left ruining a couture dress with salt water, while Annie’s getting ready to yell: “Next!”
http://twitter.com/KalisaHyman Kalisa Hyman

IDK, that gown on the cover probably won’t be able to be worn again.
http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.munoz Sara Munoz

The Academy is awfully predictable. She’ll get nominated regardless.
- Anonymous
  
  And predictably she will deserve it…
Anonymous

is it just me or does her face look like a painting? also she looks freezing! who’d wanna go to the beach on a cloudy windy day like that? they couldnt have photoshopped a sun in there? jeez…
Anonymous

I am SO sick of the overphotoshopped faces of cover models. Leave it alone, already!
- Anonymous
  
  There’s an easy solution to the PhotoshopPhreakout that infects every cover shot on fashion magazines: Return to the days of illustration, and drop the celebs. There was a nice piece on “CBS Sunday Morning” about the publication of a book showing every VOGUE cover since its founding. The covers with fashion illustrations were sublime, and the covers with actual fashion models–taken by the likes of Irving Penn–were also pretty fabulous. Then, along comes Anna Wintour, who decides that the best way to sell magazines is to keep putting celebrities on the cover. You want to see overworked Photoshop? Check out the Oprah cover!
  
  Meryl is no fashion model. And that may be the understatement of the year. And this is a bland, boring shot with a Photoshopped face.
  
  Feh.
Anonymous

streep is fabulosity incarnate, but this cover is just ok. i cant help but think about how awkward it must have been to be sitting there with wet panties.
- P M
  
  Ok now I feel really bad about the shoot (see my previous comments)
Anonymous

Why did Anna make her face look like she’s had work done ?
Now I am The Bee

Ach mine Gott I just love her–she’ll always be my hero…
Anonymous

Are you sure she didn’t destroy any gowns? Isn’t Meryl sitting with her ass in the surf? Isn’t she wearing a wet dress? Or is it just a “special effects” trick?
Anonymous

It isn’t that it is a bad cover, but when you Leibovitz photographing Streep together, why isn’t it fantastic?
Anonymous

Really? THIS is the best Leibovitz, Wintour and her army could produce??!! I’m kind of mad they did this to her. Meryl is gorgeous and especially gorgeous for a woman over 60. But it’s a SHONDA to put her outdoors in murky light, on a windy, wet rock, in a thundercloud-colored dress and expect something spectacular to happen. It’s practically sabotage… how could she possibly look her best? Where’s the color? Where’s the joy? She’s our greatest actress, but even she can’t act like that shoot didn’t suck. God, she looks uncomfortable! Maybe they thought they could ‘Shop her back to fabulous, which is of course impossible — a bad original photo can be improved, but not transformed into a beautiful one. This was a flawed plan from inception. Boooooo, Vogue!
foodycat

Meryl Streep and Greta Scacchi are the only two celebrities I ever get told I look like, so I am keenly interested in their portrayal. I think she looks beautiful, I love her dress and I hope to have similarly flawless skin at her age!
Anonymous

Her face looks out of focus and she looks uncomfortable. I think annie has lost her touch. And why the unbuttoned shirt ? To showcase her photoshopped neck?
Anonymous

She looks like the wind is in her eyes. And also, I bet $10,000 of Mitt Romney’s money that that background is courtesy of Photoshop.
Anonymous

We’ve almost got an Elaine Benes ‘nip’ going on here. Annie=Kramer?
Anonymous

She looks like Margaret Thatcher dressed as Meryl Streep.
Anonymous

She looks uncomfortable and strained, which is unusual for Meryl. I like her best when she’s natural and sparkly, like in “Defending Your Life.”
Anonymous

She is 62. My god, I wish I looked as good as she does when I reach that age.
Anonymous

This picture shows Meryl right after she slipped and fell on some wet rocks, causing her bosom to heave and pop her top button open, and she is feeling a little sheepish. But it’s OK, Meryl, you deserve to be on the cover anyway.
Anonymous

The only thing I really don’t like here is the expression on her face. She looks like she was trying very hard not to squint in the bright beachy light, often seen even on a cloudy day, but the lovely expressions she is known for were as fleeting as a winter breeze and AnnieL (bless her heart) was unable to capture them on film. I’m sure it is over-pshopped, but Meryl still looks like herself, and has no oddly proportioned limbs. I don’t especially care for the hair either, but at least it is not defying gravity. And it’s a very lovely dress.
Anonymous

Shut up haterz! Meryl is a goddess and can do no wrong!

But seriously…That dress will be toast. Salt water and rocks?
Anonymous

Nothing exciting going on here and her odd expression isn’t helping. Awkward.
http://twitter.com/omg_dora Dora K.

As far as I can tell, Annie Leibovitz is someone who does boring, unflattering, badly photoshopped celebrity photos on fake beach backgrounds.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3AJ237ND3GAHDQJZ4TLCO4WLRA Emily

Meh. It looks like it’s too windy.
Anonymous

This is not a good shot of Meryl Streep, one of the most beautiful and interesting women of the 20th-21st C. Why did they pick it for the cover? Annie Leibovitz is so overrated.
Anonymous

“Tlo said: And we bet the part of Miranda Priestley is never mentioned in this profile.”

And I wonder if, after that, when Annie carted her out to the oceanside, did it at least pass through her mind that she might be about to swim with the fishes (as they say in Jersey)??

–GothamTomato
Anonymous

every single publisher needs to have Photoshopped ripped from their hands and then beaten with the case because holy fuckballs I am sick of every “flaw” being airbrushed out. And celebs, get over “flaws” too while you’re at it.
Anonymous

I think she’s thinking “I don’t give a shit.” I like that grey shirt. I want it.
- Anonymous
  
  Yes. I like the dress. I’m fair and it wouldn’t look any better on me than on Meryl (worse, I’m shorter than she is) but I don’t care.
Anonymous

I like this photo. Of course, it looks more like Streep probably looked at 38 or 40 (without much makeup, lighting or photo-manipulation) than she does now. But blah blah magazine covers blah blah.

I just wonder why get a famous and no doubt expensive photographer (except of course that the subject feels important & cared for) when the final result is going to be so different than what she must have originally shot? I mean, who *cares* what they can do with light & shadow & depth & color & composition?
Anonymous

i wonder how many of charlize’s gowns were actually ruined. she couldve been photographed anywhere, then stuck into the backgrounds real quicklike by someone who does their job well. in certain fundamental ways this wouldve beaten the destruction by at least half, particularly in the economy we have now.

then again, meryl’s dress is also wet & this time, i think, verifiably so. then again, again, it’s the best she’s looked in years, photoshop or no. never did like watching her act. i cant see how the thatcher movie could be any worse than sophie’s choice, but, again, that may be just me.
Julie Mazziotta

I like how the article on “Faking your way to flawless skin at any age” headline is right next to Meryl Streep’s super photoshopped head…
http://asskickingadviser.com/ Ass Kicking Adviser

This is a very weird cover. I love Meryl and she is so photogenic but they did something strange in the after-editing/photo/shopping that makes it look, um, well, not like Meryl. The make-up is too pale. This woman is aging more gracefully than 99% of the human population. Why did they try to make it look like she just got an eye-lift. Very odd.
http://twitter.com/xuvious Advaita Waikar

Flawless person. Dull cover.
http://twitter.com/karenrubyleo Karen

This is one Meryl Streep movie I’m not that excited about but I absolutely adore her. If only girls looked up to women like her rather than Kardashions.
AMartel

She looks cold and unkempt. Button up buttercup. Why is she sitting in the ocean?
Anonymous

Meh Leibovitz photograph.
Meryl is awesome.
But, what an odd cover for Vogue.

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Cover Girl: Meryl Streep for Vogue

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