What’s happening with the September issues?!?!

I am not back in Milan yet, I am still at the beach house south but I couldn’t wait to write this and so here is my quick notes about the 2026 September issue covers.

If you've been reading me for a while, you know I usually stick to facts and keep my opinions out of it. I'm making an exception this time, because I am the person who waits for the September issues. The September issue are among the magical pieces of this industry. They are iconic, they are the pieces we are supposed to collect, the pieces that make every fashionista excited to read to get inspiration from and any aspiring fashion professional study (like I used to from my bedroom while dreaming of becoming part of this world one day). It has a meaning.

Even after I have been in the industry for over a decade now, first inside Alexander McQueen, Yoox-Net-a-Porter and Kering and then running the academy Glam Observer, and I still wait for them excited to see what the industry creates: the magic, the inspiration.

The September issue is historically the most important one in the industry and the biggest. Also the covers should be the best of the year.

The 2007 issue of American Vogue ran 840 pages and got its own documentary. The 2012 one hit 916 and set the record everyone still quotes.

For twenty years the industry has quietly competed over who makes the biggest book and the best cover.

Which is why I’m sad about September 2026. (Vogue Italia hasn’t dropped yet, so I’m reserving judgment there.) I keep scrolling through these and thinking: nobody is going to remember them. Or worse, we’ll remember 2026 as the year without a great cover.

Fashion journalism has been shrinking for years. The Devil Wears Prada 2 made a whole plot out of it. And you can see the smaller editorial budgets in these covers more clearly.

Here is what I think cover by cover.

Elle US, Rihanna in Dior.

I was trilled about the idea of Rihanna on a cover and especially if she wears Dior, but I think there are stronger images inside that editorial that could have made a better cover.

One of these 3 images below of the cover story would have made a better cover. We just needed her looking straight into the lens, because a cover needs the eye contact, and boom, a wonderful cover.

Harper’s Bazaar Spain September 2026 cover is…nice???

Nothing crazy but it’s something compared to the others.

Vogue China: Anne Hathaway. We love Anna but the Edward Scissorhands vibe is NOT what we like especially for a September issue. Put her in Schiaparelli, or Blazy's Chanel, or Dior, and this becomes a masterpiece instead of a mood.

Harper’s Bazaar US — Céline Dion in Gucci. My favourite of the season: the vibe, the dress, Robin Galiegue’s light.The Gucci dress: that is a September issue piece.

Vogue US: Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere by Steven Meisel. The casting is smart: thirty-four years after Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere shared a Vogue cover, and tied to The Shards. Meisel in Chanel. But we want the budget back for outdoor shots. That duo on the streets of New York would have worked so much better than a studio backdrop. This is also Chloe Malle's first September issue in charge of American Vogue, which makes the safety of it sting a bit more.

Vogue CS: Magical Realism is a nice theme but not for the September issue. We are all back in the city ready for fall.

Vogue Netherland has the autumn vibe but I miss the wow factor of a September cover.

British Vogue: Nicole Kidman. The right choice of subject. Nicole is exactly who you want in September. But the cover shot isn't covering — the internet has spent a week arguing about whether it even looks like her, which tells you it isn't doing what a cover is supposed to do.

Vogue Deutsch I have no comments honestly.

What’s your favorite September 2026 cover and what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.