MediaSlut (@MediaSlut)’s choice of the best international and South African magazine covers this week:
- Esquire (Spain)
- Food and Home Entertaining
- Huisgenoot
- The New York Times Magazine
- Time Out New York
Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @Marklives and @MediaSlut.
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Esquire (Spain), May 2016
The director of Esquire magazine in Spain, Andrés Rodríguez, says it himself, “Am I at risk for suggesting this cover? I think twice about. Will I sell fewer copies? I think about it a third time. Will I lose advertisers?” He woke up one night just thinking that “the world is upside down” and sparked the idea for him to use his platform to show how much and to, make a further point, also publishing the name Esquire in mirror-reverse. It’s far removed from its other covers, and looks like something belonging on a newsweekly rather, but after dropping his letter and reasons into Google Translate, you may clearly see where he’s coming from, and how strongly he feels about the current situation.
The cover line reads: “Breaking News: The World is upside down”.
Food and Home Entertaining, June 2016
Beautiful styling and photography, and a brilliant short-and-sweet main cover line, make me want to buy this issue and ciao down into it all!
Huisgenoot, 19 May 2016
In case you don’t know, Huisgenoot is turning 100 this month. Yes, 100 years! And to celebrate it, it’s produced an amazing “Huisgenoot 100 — Spesiale Gedenkbook” to look back at some of the highlights and very (very) sad stories covered over the years, as well as digging up some very humorous stories and readers’ letters. You may buy the digital issue here.
So, 40 years ago, April 1976, Anneline Kriel featured on the cover; she was crowned Miss World in 1974, in case you need a reminder. But her little polka-dot underwear is what made most people sit up and take notice, and also vent their anger, and which has made that 1976 cover one of Huisgenoot’s most-iconic covers. In this week’s Huisgenoot, Minki van der Westhuizen recreates this iconic cover — absolutely pulling it off!!!
Here are some funny letters received in 1978 to show how far we’ve come, and how much has changed…
26 MEI 1978
AFSTOOTLIKE FOTO
Wat ’n teleurstelling was dit nie vanoggend toe ek die posomslag van Huisgenoot afhaal en sien watter afstootlike foto van ons “mooiste meisie in die land”op die buiteblad pryk nie! Hoe kan ek toelaat dat ons skool se mooi jong seuns en dogters na so ’n afdruk kyk? Waaraan sal hulle nie dink nie?
MEV. E. GOUWS, LAERSKOOLWALVISBAAI
16 JUNIE 1978
MEELSAKKIES
Toe ek eers klaar na Anneline se mooi gesiggie gekyk het, sien ek die broekie raak. Dit het my weer laat dink aan die dae toe ons gemeenskap arm was en vir meisietjies broekies gemaak het van meelsakkies. Ons was natuurlik taamlik skaam daaroor. Een oggend waai die wind, en toe ‘n vriendinnetjie haar rokkie vasgryp, sê ‘n ondeunde skoolseun so ewe droog: “Toe maar, ek het klaar gelees: 5 lb. meel.”
MEV. E. FOUCHEE, HARTSWATER
The editor of that time later wrote to say that they also received a lot of positive feedback (“especially from the men in the army!”), so Huisgenoot is going to publish a double-page poster of the picture, the week following. Classic!
The New York Times Magazine, 8 May 2016
New York magazine did something similar with its 27 July 2015, when it published the images of 35 of the 46 women who’ve accused Bill Cosby of sexual harassment, and it made such a massive impact all over the world! It also made the no. 1 position on my list of Best International Magazine Covers in 2015.
The New York Times Magazine is now also hitting it out of the park by showing the faces behind the age-old debate about prostitution and, with it, has produced an amazing body of work and facts and information in its main cover story…
Time Out New York, 27 April 2016
Having just returned from New York, I picked up this free issue from one of the subway stations. Although it’s expensive to be a fan of Bacchus while in New York (especially in restaurants), I definitely got the sense that the revolution has arrived, and quite a few of our South African wines are helping in this movement. This cover is a corker, with wine corks illustrating Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
MagLove by @MediaSlut is a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week, recognising well thought-out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three-in-one) covers and celebrating the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them. The (for now anonymous) blogger behind MediaSlut knows way too much for his own good about media in South Africa, magazines in particular. His mission is to show when SA magazines fail but, most importantly, also when they succeed. If you’re looking for a library about SA magazines and news, this is your one-stop pitstop.
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