Kate Middleton as cover girl in South Africa?

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The August edition of Marie Claire South Africa featuring an illustration of Kate Middleton has raised eyebrows with some saying the magazine bypassed traditional routes of securing a cover girl.

The magazine cover appears to show the Duchess of Cambridge wearing African-style designer clothes but a closer look reveals that an illustrator and a real-life model were used to create a likeness of Prince William's wife.

The cover claims Middleton wears South Africa's "best local designs" only to acknowledge in a well-hidden small print that "of course she doesn't. But she should."

Some readers on the magazine's website described the cover as "misleading" but others thought it was "pure genius."

Editor Aspasia Karras says the cover was meant to be a playful tribute harking back to the covers of the 1940s and 50s.