Saturday 8 March 2008

Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years

Wow. This will be my first real post in weeks. It feels so good to be writing about fashion, beauty and all things pop culture again! I thought, before I do a post on my favourite shows from Fall 08 which I missed out on blogging about during my absence (I've been looking at all the collections and compiling a fairly extensive post, as far as I'm concerned. Lol), I would blog about one of my other favourite things: magazines! I came across this list, which unfortunately is from 2005 (but I don't recall any particularly ground-breaking covers being published in the last 3 years, feel free to put me in my place if I'm wrong lol), of the American Society of Magazine Editors' list of the Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years. I thought it would be all covers from indie-artsy mags, don't get me wrong there's plenty of those lol, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few fashion magazine covers made the list.
#1
Of course, number one was this image of John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Rolling Stone magazine, January 22, 1981. It's a pretty powerful cover, I think.

#9 -- #15
Wow two Harper's Bazaar covers in the one list. Left (September 1992): made the list because it's a "creative typeface and avant-garde image of Linda Evangelista". Right (April 1965): made the list because it's an "emblem of the sixties".

#32
This cover, May 2004, shows Nicole Kidman wearing a Christian Lacroix oyster satin backless dress, and was the first cover shoot for Vogue by photographer Irving Penn since 1989.

My personal favourite of these four is the Vogue with Nicole on the cover. It's so beautifully shot and styled and the small amount of writing is a welcome change. Which is your favourite of these? Or any others out there?

Catch.

Romany

[photos courtesy of magazine.org]

13 comments:

ellastica said...

i was wanting to do a similar post.
pretty much every liz tilberis/ fabien barron era HB are works of art. still very much ingrained in my brain. their collabaritve vision inspired my love for style and fashion.Paris Vogue visually isn't as simple nor does it have the same impact but it's fabien's influence which still excites me.

Ella Gregory said...

I love all the old Bazaar covers, they did some amazing and arty things!

... said...

Hi Romany !
You like Fashion I see
Thanks for your comment on Easy fashion.
Did I took all these pictures ? Yes !
But it's my occupation so I have no merit ...
Thankx again and nice day

Fred

discotheque confusion said...

so iconic that Rolling Stone cover. I wouldn't say the Vogue Kidman one particularly springs to mind though.

Hmm.

Kira Aderne said...

Nicole Kidman is pure glamour, but in the big screen i am stills scared about her in the movie, the Others...remember?
it´s her best movie, for me :)


a kiss and a hug for you dear!

Kira

Aisha said...

Mhmhm I loved Bazaar's covers. Not really feeling the Nicole's cover =L

hannah said...

i love all of those covers. especially the bazaars, and of course the yoko and john one.

great post.

Tinsley said...

i read this a couple months back - quite interesting.
the kidman cover was iconic as was the rolling stones

sigh, i wish vogue was still amazing

EvaAmarri said...

I like the rolling stones cover.

Romany said...

I agree - it was strange to put the Vogue cover on the list (especially so high on the list). It's a gorgeous cover, don't get me wrong, but I don't particularly think of it as one of the best of the last 40 years.
Methinks it has something to do with the fact that it was a big moment for the photographer, Irving Penn: his first vogue cover shoot in 15 years...
Kira: oh yes of course I remember her in that movie! ;) I still have nightmares about ghosts...
ellastica: wow, you really know you stuff - you should definitely still do your post about it. I can't wait to read it! :)
Thanks for all the comments! :)
Romany
xx

Elizabeth said...

I like all those: especially the Linda Evangelista. I was so relieved when that Vogue with Nicole Kidman arrived—because it was devoid of the usual coverline clutter—that I wrote to Vogue, thanking them for the break.

Monika said...

I really like that Leibovitz Cover!! :-)

WendyB said...

That John-Yoko photo is awesome...I still have a copy of that magazine! The Linda Bazaar cover is one of my favorite fashion covers ever, though I prefer one (that I also kept) of her in a yellow Galliano gown.