When thinking of artist/celebrity pairs to create a magazine cover, the duo of Britney Spears and Takashi Murakami is not one of the more obvious choices. But Pop‘s Winter 2010 cover (they’re really ahead of the game) shows Britney looking Japanime envisioned by Mr. Murakami himself. (Todd Cole was behind the camera.)

Since Dasha Zhukova’s appointment as EIC, Pop has taken an artsy tone, its Summer 2010 cover shot by Richard Prince. The strange coincidence is that both Prince and Murakami gained major fashion world fame because of their collaborations with Louis Vuitton. Maybe Marc is consulting on these covers….

Next season, I’d recommend super-famous-in-real-world-moderately-famous-in-fashion-world-celeb Julian Schnabel for their next cover. Because honestly, the Palazzo Chupi would be the perfect backdrop for a summer spread.