30 Years of Cosmo

[Urban Stylin]

Heres an interesting site. I believe their covers have really taken a turn for the worse.

http://www.fashion-iconography.net/Covers-CosmoUS.htm

image from www.cosmopolitan.com

Its also amazing how many covers some people have.

 

[dfl-001]

The magazine is definately not the same! From better days....
Beverly Johnson, Jerry Hall, two with Christie Brinkley
(all from my collection)

 

[LucyInTheSky]

I love the Seventies Cosmo covers. They were so overtly sexy, and were always models (and always shot by Scavullo!!!)

 

[iluvjeisa]

When will they revamp Cosmo to look more exciting again...

 

[tigerrouge]

Actually, sometimes I don't mind the modern covers - what puts me off spending money on the magazine is the state of the content.

It's the change of focus - for me, the older Cosmo was about being a woman with a degree of depth, while the modern Cosmo is about how to turn yourself into the most desirable product in the marketplace.

 

[Jacque Marcel]

Man those old Cosmo's covers were so glamourous, now not so much...

 

[iluvjeisa]

Actually, sometimes I don't mind the modern covers - what puts me off spending money on the magazine is the state of the content.

It's the change of focus - for me, the older Cosmo was about being a woman with a degree of depth, while the modern Cosmo is about how to turn yourself into the most desirable product in the marketplace.

But you can see by just looking at Beverly Johnson's expression, for instance, that she isn't the least concerned about being a product....but much more concerned with just enjoying herself and being professional at the same time, without sacrificing one for the other. An admirable late 70s sentiment The cover is the avatar of the magazine, it shows what the editors had in mind in an important way.

 

[marsmars]

Over three decades of writing, and all that Cosmopolitan can give us is, "60 Sex Skills."

How tragic.

Cosmopolitan, even as a word, means, "international, belonging to the world" it means travel, culture, understanding and maturity. Tigerrouge is correct, the magazine has simply become a magazine devoid of any depth.

The old Cosmopolitan felt a lot warmer, loving and generally positive. The Cosmopolitan of today just feels cold and promiscuous.

The magazine should be renamed, UnCosmopolitan, seriously.

 

[kissmesweet]

The text and font looked really boring, but the covers were really nice.

 

[kisa]

Has anyone else noticed in cosmo how every issue has at least one article that mentions men's nipples?

 

[pinkpalm]

Bonnie Fuller RUINED Cosmo.

 

[SusanSuperstar]

Cosmopolitan used to be so fabulous in the 70s and 80s!!!!!!

gia-carangi.com

 

[iluvjeisa]

And that's the icing on the cake right there...

 

[tigerrouge]

I forgot to mention, with the current issue of UK Cosmo, there's a free zip-up purse in a choice of four different covers. Disappointingly, only one is really vintage, a Farrah Fawcett cover from 1977, but there is a Yasmin Le Bon one from the 80's (pic attached). The other two versions are Daniela Pestova from the 90's and I think it's Kate Bosworth on the cover of the one for the 00's.

 

[iluvjeisa]

I forgot to mention, with the current issue of UK Cosmo, there's a free zip-up purse in a choice of four different covers. Disappointingly, only one is really vintage, a Farrah Fawcett cover from 1977, but there is a Yasmin Le Bon one from the 80's (pic attached). The other two versions are Daniela Pestova from the 90's and I think it's Kate Bosworth on the cover of the one for the 00's.

Thanks for the info!

 

[tigerrouge]

More info from the issue I bought last night - its the March 2007 issue, celebrating their 35th anniversary. I got the Farrah purse (pic attached) but the main issue also has a fold out 1 pg cover with some images of previous UK Cosmo covers (1 pic attached, and then 1 pg close-up). I don't know if the purse will come with issues sold outside the UK...

 

[Sugarmama]

Wow, the older Cosmo issues were so much better!

 

[Korravai]

Bonnie Fuller RUINED Cosmo.

I'm curious about the old magazines called 'Cosmopolitan'...more than 30 years ago (are they related to the newer version?). The very vintage ones are from Gatochy's photostream on Flickr.com and the rest are from vintagemagazines.com

 

[Korravai]

Wow, the older Cosmo issues were so much better!

I also found these unique Italian covers (last few) on vintagemagazines.com

 

[dfl-001]

I'm curious about the old magazines called 'Cosmopolitan'...more than 30 years ago (are they related to the newer version?).

They are the same magazine. I believe in the 1960s when Helen Gurley Brown became editor she updated the entire look and format. Scavullo as photographer and Sean Byrnes as stylist created the look of the covers in the 1970s and 1980s.