Cleaning out the attic, I came upon a box dating from when I was a teenager, which as sure as anything, should have predicted that I would end up with a career in magazines. Great covers–brilliant covers! The concepts, the execution, the photograph and illustration. Makes my heart go pitty pat!
Your collection of magazines here reminds me of some of my favorites, including the March 1977 issue of Esquire, which featured a grinning Jimmy Carter (minus a few front teeth) and the cover blurb: “Kicking Carter While He’s Up; Why wait four years when in just five minutes you can find out you’ve been had.”
Under the guiding hand of art director extraordinaire George Lois, the celebrity covers of Esquire in the 1960s and early 1970s didn’t just feature pretty pictures of the Hollywood elite (like the magazine’s current issues) but made provocative statements about politics, pop culture and civil rights.
Each of the covers above tells a story about where we were as a nation at particular time and place. They are part of our shared experience. Unfortunately, in today’s society the shared experience refers to reading what someone had for lunch on his or her facebook page.