I gave this magazine only 3 stars for a few reasons. It does have its good points so I'll start with those first:

- Excellent detail to trends and specifically accessories. A lot of other magazines only give these minimal amount of coverage.
- Good coverage as far as fashion show lines and drawing trends from them.

But that's as much as I can say. I don't subscribe to Elle anymore, but would reconsider if they improved the following:

- Included more debuting designers.
- Stopped or at least balanced the ultra-left leaning articles about social issues and politics.
- Reduced the amount of ads and added more content.
- Focused on fashion and style more and celebrities less.

Overall 3 stars. I'll buy this if I'm stuck in an airport and have already looked through the other magazines. But that's the only time I look at it now.

I have subscribed to Elle for nearly 20 years and I have seen it change in recent years into more of a In Style type mag. There is increasing focus on celebrities, with one on every cover. I find this annoying--if I wanted to see Britney Spears or Posh Spice I would buy the Enquirer or People. I wish Elle would go back to featuring relatively unknown models instead of actresses. I think the recent change in leadership is causing the magazine to have an identity crisis. They can't really compete with Vogue but they're not sure who they should be...InStyle? People? Glamour?

Despite the recent turmoil however, it's still a good magazine. I love the book recommendations, in-depth articles, and of course E.Jean.

OK we KNOW that you have all the "fashion" magazines already or you wouldn't be checking out this review. You might even be thinking to yourself-- how can I possibly justify spending any more of my hard-earned cash looking at pictures of clothes/shoes/bags I will never in a million years be able to buy? The justification comes from something called a "point of view" which this mag has in spades compared to some of the others. They post great suggestions on undiscovered quality literary finds, recognize the difference between looking at a design for it's artistic merits and actually trying to walk in 5 1/2" platforms, wonderful columnists like E.Jean give good advice--basically we are talking about a cross between New Republic/Time/Vogue--with that combo the price makes this mag a great buy!

Elle sits somewhere between Vogue, Allure, and Marie Claire, without Vogue's coldness or narcissistic qualities, and Allure's sometimes vapid and repetitive articles about make-up trends, and with articles that are a bit more intelligent at times than Marie Claire's. I like the fact that Elle also features an "Eco" or "Green" issue that supports and gives recognition to organic cosmetics, etc.

On one level Elle is a lot better than Vogue, it has more in the way of intelligent articles but this can work against it because Elle is known for its fashion, the photography is pretty good (not as good as Vogue mind)and some of the fashion that Elle is advertising could be afforded by the ordinary woman in the street, which cannot be said for what Vogue puts on its glossy pages; I mean come on, how many of us can afford the top brand designer labels like Prada? Not many of us that is for sure!

All the same Elle is not a bad magazine and if there is nothing else on the shelf in the supermarket I will occasionally grab a copy.

A solid three out of five for effort.