Vogue Brazil finally got it right last month with Emanuela de Paula, but it takes a step back this month's cover. While the January cover with Emanuela was everything you think a summer cover of Vogue should be, the February cover with (an almost irrecognizable) Adriana Lima is a lot more Modern Bride than Vogue. It is not that I don't like the picture or the angle (the cover was photographed by Fabio Bartelt btw), but the styling is matronly and in need of a lot of help. I do like the idea of shooting Adriana and not featuring her as a sex bomb, but making her look dull instead of sexy is not the way to do it.

And btw, a different vision in the styling department is not the only thing Vogue Brazil needs. It is also begging for a new art director who is good with typography.

I find the styling to be a little unimaginative and bland, but I am thrilled that there are stories with Gracie Carvalho and Emanuela de Paula in the current issue of Vogue Brazil. Such a great change from the usual suspects Isabeli Fontanta, Ana Claudia, and Luana Teifke. View more scans of the two stories after the jump.

The January issue of Vogue Brazil features exclusively black models, and even though the concept of an issue entirely dedicated to black models is nothing new, I am really glad the magazine embraced it. I haven't seen the issue yet, but the cover with Emanuela de Paula is already my favorite cover of the magazine in a very long time.

No, I do not think that spread is groundbreaking in any shape or form, and I find the styling so full of clichés and cheap it is almost insulting. However, I am loving Martha Streck so much lately that I had to post those pictures. The fact that she is joined by Alex Schultz, Israel Hamann, and Pedro Bissi in swimsuits doesn't really hurt either.

Can Santa Claus please bring Vogue Brazil a new staff and decent content for next year?

If you are lucky enough to get to shoot Raquel Zimmermann for the cover of your publication and you come up with the image above, you should be arrested (along with whoever was responsible for the  insanely amount of retouching).

Vogue Brazil may now be published by a joint venture between Condé Nast and Globo, but judging from the past two covers it is still the same mediocre publication it used to be under Carta Editorial. Still hoping the staff will eventually change and it will get better.

Got a copy of the November issue of Vogue Brazil yesterday. I don't often buy the magazine since it is always so disappointing and mediocre, but considering that this is the first issue under its new publisher, a joint venture between Editora Globo and Condé Nast, I thought I would give it a chance.

Is it better than what Vogue Brazil used to deliver? Yes and no. The cover looks more polished and suited for the title, even though Isabeli is a very predictable choice and I would have loved to have seen a girl like Laís Ribeiro on the cover for a change. The three editorials are all photographed by Patrick and Victor Demarchelier, and as much as the images are beautiful and the retouching is flawless, the pictures don't really say anything different, and look more like a catalog than an actual fashion spread. As much as Vogue is an international title, I firmly believe that the first issue of Vogue Brazil under the new publisher should have featured three major stories shot by three great Brazilian photographers and featuring mostly national labels. However, if the idea was to have Patrick and Victor Demarchelier shoot an entire issue to cause a great impression, then the magazine should have also enlisted a top foreign editor to properly style the shoots. Unfortunately, most of the editorial team that used to work under the previous publisher is still there in the masthead, and until most of that team is replaced I honestly don't see any interesting changes happening. I would love to see the youngest editors get a shot to see what they can deliver.

Last but not least, something needs to be done about the paper and the printing quality.  Printing is so bad that some images actually look blurred, and the colors are all off.

I scanned pictures of the three main fashion stories in the issue and posted them after the jump so you can judge for yourselves. View them after the jump.