Carrey Mulligan and the Great Cover Debate of 2011

I love Carey Mulligan. I can't wait to see her as Daisy in the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby. I also like her style. And I am slightly swayed by her engagement to the awesome Mumford of the Mumford and Sons band. Partisan as I am. So all good. But I really, really hate the cover she shot for W magazine. I am not even that keen on the rather overly dramatic inside spread, although there are moments that I like. Like the first one where she is smiling and looks like herself.

I'm not convinced that she needed to be in a bra on the cover, you know? It doesn't add anything of significance to the story and doesn't do anything to change my perceptions of her. She is a fine actress, has a canny sense of style that is real, unexpected and accessible. And she is elfin beautiful. She simply doens't need to be in a bra. Right? It's just annoyingly gratuitous.

Of course it is better than this cover. The same one on three separate international fashion magazines — Vogue, Elle and Glamour. Really? So wrong. Once Vogue US has done it, you simply can't do it as everyone will have already seen it — or close enough anyway. You could probably go to the most distant town in the land and find US Vogue on a bookshelf somewhere. I saw the latest one in Hermanus on Tuesday. Seriously. Hermanus. Poor show peeps, poor show. But we still love Carey. What are your thoughts on this? Let me know.