Cover girl
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A cover girl is a woman whose
Types of cover girl
Women are on the cover of the majority of general-interest magazines in the west for both men and women, with exceptions as discussed below.
Some magazines for women feature an unknown model that represents the style of the magazine, such as Seventeen. A parallel to this trend is reflected in men's magazines like Men's Fitness or Sports Illustrated.
An intermediate category is the use of a model or
In most cases, the objective is to maximize sales and differentiation, while also expressing the brand values of the title.
Editorial approaches and the market-place
Editorial decisions concerning the positioning of the magazine in the market-place are a key influence on the portrayal of women on the cover.
In the 20th century, numerous women's magazines would feature royalty or aristocracy on their covers. In the 1980s and 1990s,
New men's style magazines founded in the 1980s, like
Later Peter Howarth, UK editor of
The rise of
The choice of model depends in some part on one's potential recognition in the market-place in which the title is sold. For example, Lucire Romania saw its sales and profile increase after using a local cover girl, Monica Gabor, rather than those photographed by the "master edition" in New Zealand.
While familiarity is a desirable trait for magazine covers—hence the top models and celebrities can charge large amounts for a photographic shoot—there is always the problem of overexposure and dilution of one's image. If, for instance, the majority of covers featured a small handful of celebrities, then the differentiation becomes minimal (e.g. in certain months in 2005, Paris Hilton featured on numerous covers), and there would, in theory, be a tendency to promote lesser known faces.
In the 2000s, some have predicted the demise of the actress or celebrity from fashion magazine covers, citing overexposure and growing cynicism. However, with the success of magazines such as InStyle, which uses celebrity covers, there is little evidence that the predictions are being realized in the middle of the decade.
Image editing
Image editing is common practice for photographs used in advertising and publicity, and cover images are no exception. Image editing is an ongoing process of styling and selection, which invites debate on issues related to the representation of women. Arguably, advertising and cover images can help perpetuate an unattainable ideal of beauty, sometimes aided through methods of
A contrary viewpoint has been put forward by some[who?] in the trade, saying that a retouched photograph is actually more representative of the subject. The theory is that when one is in the presence of the person, one does not notice the blemishes. Retouching, therefore, restores the "energy" of the subject.
Cover girl style through the ages
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cover-girls -Vanity Fair(1914).
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Cover girl - Cosmopolitan (1917).
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Barbara Stanwyck - Photoplay (Sept.1931).
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Durelle Alexander - Radio Guide, (1936).
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Li Zhuozhuo - Chinese magazine The Young Companion(1934).
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pin-upgirl of Yank, the Army Weekly, (1944).
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Isabel Sarli - Antena TV (September 1960).
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Deborah Allen - Nine-O-One Network Magazine (Nov. 1986).
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Toma Barkova - Bambi Magazine (about 2010) (vintage 1940spin-upstyle).
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Paz de la Huerta - S Magazine (issue 11 - 2010).
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Angelina Jolie - Ms. Magazine (2015).
See also
- Airbrush
- Retouching
- Photography
- Photoshopping
External links
- CBS News story regarding cover girl images, including the retouching of the Kate Winslet GQ cover
- More coverage of retouching stories
- Web page showing differences between actual photos retouched images such as ones used as cover girl images (mouse over images to see original image)
- [1]
- [2] Esquire magazine's Cover Gallery
- [3] Evening Standard article
- [4] Evening Standard article