Ranking Rihanna, Kendall and all the September cover girls

Vogue ★★

Pages: 800 (32 fewer than last year)

Price: $9.99

Hits: When Vogue finally unveiled its September cover featuring Kendall Jenner last week, many of the magazine’s fans took to social media to voice their displeasure (#RIPVogue was a popular hashtag on Twitter). But Jenner does pull off a dizzying number of styles in the photo shoot inside, from ethereal Valentino to sexy McQueen to sporty Hood By Air. And the accompanying profile goes beyond the standard puff piece, touching on Jenner’s complicated emotional response to parent Caitlyn Jenner’s very public gender transition.

Misses: Aside from the cover, there aren’t any surprises here. Vogue always achieves a certain polish and elegance — yes, even when it puts reality stars on its cover! But there’s usually one shoot inside every issue with the power to utterly transport you, fill you with desire and make you remember why you keep buying the magazine. Sadly, not this time.

News you can use: How should we treat artificial intelligence? A fascinating report investigates a new field of ethics that studies how human empathy and abuse affect machines. Performance artist Marina Abramovic delves into her childhood. Nathan Heller profiles actor-writer-director Nate Parker, whose new movie “The Birth of a Nation,” about the Nat Turner slave rebellion, is the most hotly anticipated film of the year.

Glamour ★★★★

Hits: Cover star Bella Hadid looks fierce in her ’80s-ski-bunny outfits. But the real gem here is the 50-page spread “American Women Now,” a soaring, optimistic and celebratory photo essay featuring an array of ages, sizes, ethnicities and clothes that really lets these ladies’ different personalities shine. There’s Barack Obama’s essay about why he’s a feminist (but you probably read that online already). Also welcome: actually affordable, stylish clothes mixed with the requisite Gucci and Vetements. Never has flipping through a fashion magazine felt so empowering.

Misses: Hadid’s interview is a snooze, but that’s not entirely surprising, is it?

News you can use: Nearly 60,000 applicants for college federal aid were homeless in 2015, and the mag takes a sensitive look at the life of one such undergrad and the subject at large. Gals on the street show how to wear sequins in the real world. J.Crew’s Jenna Lyons offers sage advice on mixing patterns.

HARPER’S BAZAAR ★ 1/2

Pages: 584 (118 fewer than last year)

Price: $5.99

Hits: Forget the clothes. We’re drooling over the architectural backdrops in HB’s high-concept shoots, from John Lautner’s snow-covered space-age Aspen home to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s mirror-ball installation at Philip Johnson’s modernist Glass House. Even better: Linda Evangelista’s sweet styling debut, which chronicles the legendary supermodel’s working-class Ontario youth — starring Raquel Zimmermann as her wide-eyed (if more glamorously dressed) younger self.

Misses: Oh, look! It’s Kim and Kanye taking selfies and looking at their cellphones. Yawn. The only thing more tired than the Kardashian-Wests trumped-up narcissism? The lack of diversity in the book’s other lily-white editorial spreads. What year is it again?

News you can use: Evangelista once worked in a wax museum. Margot Robbie takes beer showers and eats steak for breakfast. Yes, apparently you can make stirrup pants look chic. An article on London’s fitness cult Skinny Bitch Collective offers one of their signature routines.

INSTYLE ★★★

Price: $5.99

Hits: You don’t see James Baldwin, domestic violence and civil rights referenced in many celeb interviews, but that’s what happens when you get the intelligent Kerry Washington for your cover story. (Is it OK to mention that she looks gorgeous, too?) Kudos for tapping Malaysian-born singer-songwriter Yuna as a model — her signature colorful headscarves make fall’s separates sing. And Christian Louboutin opens up his lust-inspiring home in Paris and talks about the worldly objects that influence him.

Misses: The fashion spreads, though beautiful, rely too much on beige clothes shot in neutral landscapes, which starts to feel repetitive. A how-to on mixing textures showcases combos — like a fuzzy coat with Lurex flowered pants — that even Gaga would have trouble pulling off.

News you can use: Editor Eric Wilson does a great job distilling the season’s big trends and offering practical styling advice for an array of budgets, such as taking a leather jacket from the boardroom to the opera. Welcome eye-candy Chris Pratt reveals how he learned to French-braid.

ELLE ★★★★

Pages: 530 (138 fewer than last year)

Price: $5.99

Hits: It’s . . . Cara! The charismatic Ms. Delevingne — and her eyebrows — stars on two alternate covers, pulling off tricky looks (pink fur, ’80s poofs) with Twiggy-like élan. The interview captures the model-turned-actress’ spunk, and is just one of many features showcasing an array of diverse personalities and voices. There’s a series of personal tales of (inner-) beauty transformations, and a photo shoot introducing the season’s breakout actors, dancers and pop stars. For something completely different, LaToya Ruby Frazier’s powerful photo essay about Flint, Mich., examines three generations of women in the beleaguered city.

Misses: The derivative New Orleans shoot looks like a “Lemonade” rip-off, and the styling (lace tights, ruffles, tassels) is silly even by fashion-magazine standards.

News you can use: Anne Slowey schools us on the history of the pantsuit. GOP women talk about the future of the party, and it’s not all gloom and doom! April Long uncovers the mystery behind Crème de la Mer creator Max Huber. The Elle 25 — featuring fall’s movies, music, TV shows, art exhibits, books and more — should keep you busy, and culturally current, till the end of the year.

MARIE CLAIRE ★★1/2

Pages: 316 (94 fewer than last year)

Price: $4.99

Hits: Sarah Jessica Parker looks stunning in fall’s weirdest trends, such as corsets with ruffles, and gives thoughtful quotes — though her admission that she doesn’t consider herself a feminist is sure to rankle some fans. There’s something for everyone, from esoteric Grey Gardens glamour to an occult-themed beauty-products collage to swaggering, sexy suits you’ll want to wear IRL. Also delightful: the three-page ode to bathtubs.

Misses: Some of the fashion-news pieces feel stale, like an article on how much money an “influencer” can make through Instagram (duh) and Nina Garcia’s dispatches from Vuitton’s Rio and Chanel’s Havana resort shows, which were all over the Internet months ago. The essay about being a “sugar baby” also felt old hat.

News you can use: A feature on the gender wage gap won’t just make you mad, it’ll actually motivate you to get up and do something. Plus, it offers guidelines to challenging the patriarchy. Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a competitive cliff-diver? Read on. Ditto a journalist following Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

W ★★★

Pages: 414 (44 fewer than last year)

Price: $7.99

Hits: Rihanna, looking fine as always, poses in a heavily bejeweled face and wreaks havoc in a post-apocalyptic landscape for W’s cover story. It certainly speaks to violent, politically contentious times, though it would be nice if we could see the clothes better. Other features hit hot-button issues, too, like Steven Meisel’s photos of Casil McArthur, a 17-year-old transgender model who was born Danielle Rose. The behind-the-scenes look at the weird, wonderful Lotta Volkova, whose work for Vetements and the new Balenciaga has made her fashion’s most influential person you’ve never heard of, is a must-read.

Misses: We know that aggressively ugly, in-your-face styling is W’s thing, but some of the fashion shoots were not only unpleasant, they were also indistinguishable from one another.

News you can use: It’s all fashion, dahling. Brush up on your obscure new designers in “Ones to Watch”; learn how to master the impractical but fabulous super-long-sleeves trend; and peep at Lebanese jeweler Noor Fares’ enviable home, wardrobe and life.