Vogue releases its September cover

Vogue released its highly-anticipated September 2014 cover Friday, and the featured stars are quite a surprise.

Rather than going the celebrity route, as the magazine did last year — Jennifer Lawrence was featured on the September 2013 cover — it hearkened back to the traditional use of models on magazine covers.

Fashion magazines have strayed from model-heavy magazine covers in recent times, hoping to sell more issues by featuring celebrities with wide appeal. September issues are generally regarded as fashion bibles — not only do they contain the latest on fall collections from Fashion Week, they're also full of more ads than any other month.

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Vogue is making quite a statement by featuring three models — Cara Delevingne, Joan Smalls, and Karlie Kloss — on its most important cover of the year. To be fair, though, these three models have what's essentially a celebrity following of their own, with Delevingne's quest to "free the nipple," Smalls' appearance in a Beyonce video, and Kloss's love of baking. Still, some fashion insiders, like the popular blogger Bryan Boy, are already calling the cover a "return to fashion," so it could have significant implications for fashion magazines. --Meghan DeMaria