Cover(ed) - will the real K-Mid stand up...

"Fashion's new royal icon wears SA's best local design" - these are words splashed boldly on the August cover of Marie Claire South Africa next to the image of the Duchess of Cambridge clad in Clive Rundle ensemble. But that is not really Kate Middleton. It's actually a fan art tribute to Kate, because the Duchess just does not pose for magazines. Marie Claire does acknowledge the fantasy on the cover, however, with a "Of course, she doesn't [wear local designs]. But she should." PS. The reaction from newspapers and websites around the world is telling:

"Fake Kate Middleton Covers Marie Claire South Africa"
"Marie Claire's 'big scoop'"
"Marie Claire explains THAT Kate Middleton cover…"
"a Frankenstein cover featuring the head and hands of Kate, stitched onto the body of a fashion model"

Marie Claire's editor, Aspasia Karras, has tried to explain that, "The cover is actually a hyper-realistic illustration of Kate, meant to be a fan-art tribute to fashion's new royal icon,"

"We approached five illustrators with the idea and asked them to have some fun imagining what it would be like if Kate came to South Africa on a state visit and decided to wear clothes by our favourite local designers," she says.

"We chose Clive Kirk's hyper-realistic drawing for our cover."

But of course, the controversy remains. I don't know about this cover. I am a Marie Claire fan, but the cover definitely did strike me as strange. Creative, but strange. Maybe something to put inside the magazine, but on the cover - I'm not sure.

What do you think? Is this really the false advertising it is being made out to be? Or is this just genuine creativity?