In case you haven’t heard, Marie Claire South Africa featured Kate Middleton on it latest cover. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed a major turn of events, as it’s not the real Kate Middleton – it’s actually a Photoshopped version of the Duchess of Cambridge, which the magazine is calling “fan art”.
The cover, as well as the editorial, features Kate’s face superimposed on a number of models’ bodies, so it looks like she is wearing outfits created by South Afircan designers. Needless to say, the cover got mixed reactions, but the magazine has now explained its motives…
“Our newest cover, featuring a hyper-real, fan art tribute to Kate Middleton, has been dubbed a ‘bad Photoshop’; a way of faking it till you make it,” reads a statement on the website. “However, the cover is neither of those things. The ‘model’ was our sub, her face, an illustration, and the designer proudly South African.
“As Marie Claire South African editor Aspasia Karras said, ‘We wanted to recreate the classic fashion magazine covers of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s where illustrations were used to pay creative tribute to icons of the day.’
The daring use of art — especially hyper-real art — has incited one of the first discussions about a local magazine cover in a wider forum. Karras explains, ‘There is no more internationally iconic woman than Kate at the moment and we wanted to celebrate her through a series of illustrations whilst bringing her to South Africa on a much desired state visit,’ she continues, ‘Call it wishful thinking with the added bonus of presenting her in South African designer outfits. She has an immediate impact on fashion sales in the UK and we wanted to rub some of that magic dust off onto our own designers. The whole thing is a fun fantasy, challenging perceptions playfully.’”
What do you guys think? Should magazines be allowed to do this or should they seek the muse’s permission first? And is Kate Middleton’s ‘shoot’ clever or creepy?
