無 / A close relationship exists between media and the construction of women’s image, even more so in contemporary society when individuals rely on the written press so much to construct themselves. However, many media are still presenting stereotypical images of women as cute nurturers and housewives. Through content and semiotic analysis, the thesis examines the changes in the representation of women as shown on the covers of ELLE magazine at the beginning of the 21st century. The findings show that while the French edition of the magazine is portraying more and more realistic feminine and casually clothed ordinary women who have an extraordinary destiny and are concerned with human rights, ELLE China is walking a thin line between presenting inspirational images of trendy liberated working women and more traditional ones, and trying to mix them together to develop a more local image of the modern Chinese woman, whose Confucian values are still important. On the cover of ELLE China at least, women can acquire a higher status and develop a modern femininity with distinctive Chinese characteristics (although those characteristics are still in evolution) through consumption while the subjects on ELLE France covers are more substantial and varied and the image of the French women on the covers of ELLE magazine appears more stable. Therefore, we can conclude that ELLE serves as a venue for weaving local and global values together and create an image of the French and Chinese modern women in its respective French and Chinese issues.