Over the past few months, something genuinely exciting has been happening in fashion photography. After years of sterile covers, random celebrities in random dresses and endless clean backdrops, magazines and brands seem to have remembered that a photoshoot can still create an entire world.
And honestly, there is already enough material for a proper list. From Kim Kardashian in a sculptural Allen Jones creation to two completely different Rihanna editorials released within weeks of each other.
Kim Kardashian, Nadia Lee Cohen and Allen Jones
Let’s start with Kim Kardashian, because several strong names came together here.
For the 2026 Met Gala, she wore a sculptural creation by British artist Allen Jones in collaboration with Whitaker Malem. Nadia Lee Cohen was responsible for the creative direction and photography. The central element was a moulded body piece connected to Jones’s long-standing visual language and his interest in the body, fetish aesthetics and Pop Art.
This is also a perfect example of the difference between simply photographing a look and building an entire image around it. The Polaroid format, makeup, pose and the rigid plasticity of the piece all work together. The result feels slightly disturbing, highly artificial and very much within Nadia Lee Cohen’s world.
ELLE and the Women of The Odyssey
Another major project of the season came from ELLE for its Summer 2026 issue. Four actresses from Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey received separate global covers built around the four elements. Lupita Nyong’o represents fire, Charlize Theron air, Anne Hathaway water and Zendaya earth. The portraits were photographed by Norman Jean Roy and styled by Law Roach.
With Lupita, the fire theme is almost literal. A red embellished Chanel look, dense smoke, orange light and images built around movement. Charlize’s cover is much colder: Mugler, white feathers, blown-out hair and pale mist.
The symbolism is direct, but the execution is so strong that it hardly matters. What works best is that the celebrities were not simply placed in front of a camera. Each woman was given her own visual system.
Madonna for Interview
Madonna appears to have absolutely no free time, because the legend has already moved on to a new Interview shoot by Nadia Lee Cohen. The editorial was styled by the magazine’s editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg.
On the cover, Madonna wears Gucci. Elsewhere in the story she appears in Saint Laurent and Valentino. This may be one of the most successful recent treatments of her image. Instead of another attempt to package her as an eternal pop diva, we get a strange, tense, almost cinematic character. Red carpet, men in the background, harsh lighting, a cigarette, plastic curtains and a very specific kind of female aggression.
Nadia Lee Cohen remains one of the few photographers who can make celebrities briefly stop looking like their own public personas. Madonna fits that universe perfectly.
Sarah Jessica Parker and the Fendi Baguette
Casting Sarah Jessica Parker in another Fendi Baguette campaign was almost impossible to get wrong. Her connection to the bag has long moved beyond conventional advertising thanks to Sex and the City and Carrie Bradshaw.
For the 2026 campaign, Parker appeared alongside a wider group of talents including Bang Chan, Emma D’Arcy, Jessica Alba, Sophie Thatcher and Iris Law. The campaign was photographed by Bibi Borthwick.
The images themselves are fairly safe. White background, celebrity, bag. But in this case, the casting does almost all the work. Pop culture has linked Sarah Jessica Parker and the Baguette so strongly that Fendi can simply place them in the same frame again.
Rihanna for 72
Rihanna became the cover star of the Summer issue of 72, Edward Enninful’s media project under EE72. She was photographed by Hungarian photographer Szilveszter Makó and styled by Enninful himself. On the cover, Rihanna wears Dior Haute Couture.
This is one of those shoots where every frame deserves to be examined separately. Massive hair, feathers, complex volumes, dark painterly backgrounds and looks that move between old aristocratic portraiture and full fashion surrealism.
The story also features Alaïa, Givenchy, Schiaparelli Haute Couture and other major houses.
For Rihanna’s first major cover within the world of 72, the choice makes perfect sense. Enninful and Rihanna have worked together for years, and here their shared love of grand fashion imagery is pushed as far as possible.
Rihanna and Baby Rocki for W
Almost at the same time, another Rihanna appeared.
For W Magazine, she was photographed by Tim Walker. Her daughter Rocki also appeared on the cover, marking her first public magazine appearance. On the cover, the baby wears custom Dior Haute Couture.
Rihanna herself moves through a full wardrobe of major fashion houses. The editorial includes Dior, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Balenciaga, Alaïa, Yohji Yamamoto and others.
And Tim Walker does exactly what he does best. Motherhood never turns into a beige family portrait. Instead, we get distorted perspectives, theatrical interiors, exaggerated silhouettes, fisheye effects and a strange fairytale awkwardness. Rihanna remains Rihanna even while holding a baby.
What is especially funny is how different her two major recent stories are. In 72, she appears almost monumental. In W, she becomes a character inside a bizarre Baroque dream.
Olivia Rodrigo for Dazed
And one more shoot that works much better than you might initially expect.
Olivia Rodrigo stars in the Summer Action Issue of Dazed. She was photographed by Ryan McGinley and styled by Doğukan Nesanır. In one of the key images, Olivia wears a Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello dress with jacquard and faux-fur detailing.
On paper, the setup sounds almost too simple. Blue backdrop, red dress, dry grass, a near-advertising sense of frontality. Yet the image works.
Maybe it is the strange amount of empty space. Maybe it is the contrast between Saint Laurent glamour and a setting that feels almost provincial. Either way, it is another reminder that a strong cover does not always need a million-dollar set.
