I don’t know if there was ever a time in my life when I didn’t like flipping through a good magazine. In the past, publications like BOP and Tiger Beat were my favorites; Obsessing over photos of Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Leonardo Dicaprio took up a lot of my time. While I still really enjoy a great snapshot of these former teen hunk from time to time, I have set my sights on the kinds of reading materials that correlate best with my current age group. When I was in my 20s, I replaced Tiger Beat with the glossy pages of fashion magazines and oversized JTT poster images with trendsetting article designs. It is so incredible to me that these magazines have inspired such a large audience to follow their advice month after month that I have decided to take a closer look at their editorial history.

fashion

Believe it or not, Vogue magazine made its first debut in 1892. After changing ownership, the American publication went international in the 1920s and enjoyed great success in countries such as Spain, Great Britain, France and Italy. Vogue has featured prominent pop culture icons in modeling such as Twiggy and Lauren Hutton. Today’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is an emblem of the fashion industry even having a fictional film based on her lifestyle and work in “The Devil Wears Prada.” If you’ve done the math correctly, this year marks the 120th anniversary of Vogue.

Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan or as it is more commonly known “Cosmo”, was founded in 1886 in the United States. It started out as a family-oriented magazine until around 1889 when it underwent new management transforming it into something more like a literary magazine that offered reviews of books and pieces of fiction by famous authors such as Edith Wharton, Rudyard Kipling, and Ambrose Bierce. Who knows? It wasn’t until 1967 that then-editor-in-chief Helen Gurley moved the focus of magazines away from literature and towards a new target audience of women. Gurley intended to focus on sexual issues, a still relatively taboo area of ​​American culture. At the time it was very controversial, today however it is one of the leading national magazines in fashion, health, beauty and relationships.

Her

Although not as old as Vogue or Cosmopolitan, Elle was founded in France in 1945. It was not until the 1980s that the magazine made its transatlantic trip to the United States. It was only a matter of time until Elle became one of the largest and most widely disseminated company magazines of all time with 42 international editions. Its readership is estimated at 4.8 million, and its websites average 26 million visits per month.

Fashion

With a circulation of 1.7 million, you would be surprised to know that InStyle has only been around since 1991. Although relatively young, the magazine has made some pretty impressive and bold moves to stand out from its competitors. Instyle has been one of the first to have artists and musical actors on their covers instead of models. They also offer a celebrity starter section for their magazines, in addition to other areas including fashion, beauty, health, entertainment, home, and charities.