there's a new ~smart cool media girl~ in town and it isn't teen vogue

Calling it now: ELLE is in 2019 what Teen Vogue was in 2017 — AKA, the latest longtime underestimated women’s lifestyle title that’s been quietly taking up the mantle of smart coverage for modern women while mainstream media continues to flail into the void.

ELLE’s latest profile on The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer is the latest example of this (run, don’t walk to read about one certain Jill Abramson Legally Blonde-sque dog rescue situation), but need we also remind you of:

• Their interview with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, published at a time when everyone was still googling “wtf who is she”

• This giant print & online package on all the congresswomen elected last November

• The national treasure that is R. Eric Thomas’s humor column

• And also this extremely hilarious (and creative) series on fashion week as told through the POV of mostly horrified comedians

And while Teen Vogue’s “awakening” toward activism and politics became clearly tied to the personality and leadership of Elaine Welteroth, it’ll be interesting to see how ELLE navigates this space in the convo without a clear “face” for the mag’s woke side (look Nina García is fab but she’s not an Elaine, let’s be honest). Our guess is that it’s a more structural shift coming from a larger team effort (+ leadership from the likes of digital director Leah Chernikoff and deputy editor Jessica Roy — AKA, digitally native women in their 30s with hard news credentials for days). Whatever it is, we love it, and we should all be paying closer attention to ELLE before she eats and monetizes our lunch.

(**Full disclosure** that we at Deez Links share a Brita filter and lease w/an ELLE writer! Sry it’s true that media really is all in bed with each other! You should still follow her though!!)

((Also: we’re taking next week off, but first: you get a great Deez Interview tomorrow that’s basically gonna be part of internet history. Enjoy!!))