A couple of weeks ago my aunt Guillermina gave me as a very special gift, over 100 covers of Cosmopolitans dated from early 1900 to 1930’s.
From my point of view as a graphic designer, I had lots of fun with the graphics and the text of these covers, as an interior designer It was very interesting to find out what were the HOT items from a century ago and how they used to promote them. Those were the times when a purchase was made for the rest of your life time.
The idea of this blog entry came to mind when I saw the most recent Cosmopolitan magazine on the grocery shop.
Back in the day all the covers of Cosmopolitan where artfully illustrated in pastels promoting femininity and the main topic of each magazine was to review the latest works of literature.
It is a bit of a departure when you put a 100 year old Cosmopolitan cover in contrast with the latest cover of Cosmopolitan featuring Britney Spears. From Class to White Trash - Back in the day a hot chick was considered to be literate and classy; now a hot chick is the one who knows how to have sex, what she needs in bed, the one who knows how to inhale a whole pizza, and the one who doesn't want to let him go.
It's Britney B!#ch!
What are your thoughts???
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8 comments:
It makes you wonder how much and how far things will change after the next 100 years... ~Terri
As for Terri's comment...I don't think we can go much farther than this, but I may be wrong and in any case I will not see it, fortunately. Ivan, I am totally with you on this and I feel pity for young girls having "role models" like Britney & Co.
Life is too precious and so is your aunt Guillermina!
First of all, what a wonderful gift! Secondly, it is sooo sad to read those headlines on the current Cosmo compared directly to the vintage ones! What a loss of culture and class.
PS. I did have to giggle at your last line It's Britney B!#ch!
eh, bien, don ivan,
what a great gift. wish i had an aunt willie, too.
years ago an uncle did give me a huge pile of national geographics, and i did a term paper on antique advertising of cars. wish i had kept all those pages to put into frames. wonderful colours and style, almost as good as the cars themselves.
pheh! la spears is a tramp with the stamps to prove it. front and back, yet. yeah, i believe in very open sex and sex education, but not from such a cheap role model.
and while i know happiness is a bed full of sweat, i'd rather not roll around in crumbs and pizza sauce. axle grease is much more amusing.
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In comparing what it meant to be cosmopolitan 100 years ago vs what the magazine is implying what it means today I'd go with 100 years ago.
One can easily tell that those with class at the magazine, hopefully there are still some, cannot fight with the reality of the bottom line. Sex sells and unfortunately it sells better than class and quality publishing.
Thanks Ivan, laughed my a*% off at your post this morning! It is quite sad how the view of sexy has changed for some, and to think that the opitamy of sexy in the 21st century is Britney almost makes me physically ill - and I don't believe most of the real world agrees with Cosmo on this one. But it does go to show that what sells magazines sure has changed!
I do totally agree with Jeffito.
Cosmo is no longer a women's staple as it was once known to be (with advice on all kinds of topics; not just sex and being skinny), it's a lot trashier now - and it didsn't take long! I am only 25 and I remember copies of the magazine my mom used to have when I was kid with much more diverse subject matter.
I bet you could find many more points of view from the male perspective and what they want in a woman than anything about female empowerment, which seemed to be more the view of the "retro" issues.
That being said, I'm not going to lie, I may peruse the odd issue of Cosmo; but it's more for a good laugh, I'm not really expecting to get anything out of it.
What a nice aunt you have to give you such a great gift! As far as Cosmo today - it is not on my nightstand and won't be in near future. Enough said :)
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