Made in Brazil

Helena Christensen by Karl Lagerfeld for the 25th anniversary issue of Elle Brazil. A great achievement for Elle Brazil to have Karl Lagerfeld shoot the cover story of its anniversary issue, but I actually prefer Naomi Campbell’s Vogue Brazil cover this month. Cannot wait to see the stories in this issue though.

Kate Upton by Carine Roitfeld and Sebastian Faena for Harper’s Bazaar Brazil. Another one of Carine’s global covers for Harper’s Bazaar, only this time it makes absolute zero sense for a Brazilian publication.

Ana Beatriz Barros by Paschoal Rodriguez for L’Officiel Brazil. There are so many things wrong with this cover I don’t even know where to begin. Ignore the insanely awful styling and the type, and the biggest problem is that the person in the picture looks absolutely nothing like Ana Beatriz Barros. That is the without a doubt the worst retouching cover job I have seen in Brazil in a very long time.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley by Henrique Gendre and Aline Weber by Jacques Dequeker for Vogue Brazil. Although I do not see the need for two completely unrelated covers, they are some of my favorite covers from the publication produced by Brazilian photographers recently.

Lily Aldridge by Eduardo Rezende for Elle Brazil. It is the first cover under new editor-in-chief Susana Barbosa and I like the direction. It is about time Brazilian fashion magazines start shooting girls other than Isabeli Fontana and Aline Weber for their covers, and start producing more of their content overseas.

Ali Michael by Yossi Michaeli for L’Officiel Brazil. Sorry, but it has been a year since L’Officiel Brazil relaunched under a new editorial team and I still do not get the direction of the magazine (or the relevance of this cover).

Daniela Braga by Gui Paganini for Harper’s Bazaar Brazil. It was about time a national magazine gave Daniela Braga a much deserved cover, but I just wish Bazaar had used any other image from her editorial instead of the picture above. Not only does her head look like it is floating, but also her amazing skin complexion has been over retouched. Best choice of model this month, but bad choice of image and retouching.

Joan Smalls by Kacper Kasprzyk and Carine Roitfeld for Harper’s Bazaar Brazil. How can you go wrong with Joan Smalls in Givenchy? The cover and the accompanying spring 2013 collections story were produced in New York and featured in 26 international editions of Harper’s Bazaar to mark Carine Roitfeld’s appointment as global fashion director of the title. No wonder it is by far the best national cover on newsstands this month.

Alessandra Ambrósio by Fabio Bartelt for Vogue Brazil. I love Alessandra (more than ever after working with her) and I love the choice of the Louis Vuitton look, but the overall styling of the cover feels dated and not exciting. It could have been brilliant had it been done slightly differently, but still it looks much more interesting than the publication did a year ago.

Bruna Tenório by Gui Paganini for Elle Brazil. Sorry, but I don’t get the styling at all and it is one of my least favorite covers of Elle Brazil in a while. Are Brazilian women supposed to want to look like that?

Thairine Garcia by Bob Wolfenson for L’Officiel Brazil. Thairine is back to being a brunette, and delivers the best cover of L’Officiel Brazil since the relaunch of the publication a year ago.

It is that time of the year again. View Made In Brazil’s list of the best (and the worst) ad campaigns, covers, models, and newcomers of 2012 after the break.

This month Harper’s Bazaar Brazil is a clear winner for best cover with their first anniversary issue with Gisele Bündchen photographed by Terry Richardson, unveiled here two weeks ago. Here are the covers of the other fashion publications on newsstands in the country this month.

Constance Jablonski by Henrique Gendre. There is something strange about the angle or the crop of this picture, and I cannot really tell if she is standing, kneeling in the sand, or flying, but still it is one of the best covers Vogue Brazil has released this year. The art direction, on the other hand, is as bad as usual.

Bond girl Bérénice Marlohe by Max Abadian. One of my least favorite Elle Brazil covers this year.

Laura Neiva by Alexander Neumann. My favorite L’Officiel Brazil cover to date, but why so much type?

Luana Piovani by JR Duran. Another failed attempt from GQ Brazil to look super straight and avoid any connection with a much feared gay readership. Why isn’t Daniel Craig on that cover?