Taking out first place in the best magazine cover of the year was Bernie Madoff - the king of greed - on the front of NY Mag (I subscribe... It's my little piece of Manhattan and it makes me so happy!). As Time notes, the cover was timely and emotionally resonant, making it the cover of the year.
Taking out 4th was a fantastic cover for W magazine's art edition, with Linda Evangelista baying for someone to be responsible for it. Whatever "It" is...
The "it" is the big mystery of the cover. What does a beautiful woman decked out in gorgeous clothes care? What is It anyway? Is it the recession? Climate change? Her inability to catch a cab? And why is she holding a sign that should really be held by a homeless man with a tin cup, begging for money. What mercy is this beautiful model begging for, really? I think the cover is an interesting follow-up to the Madoff cover, who sits smugly the Joker who ripped so many thousands of people off. Could it be that thse two magazine covers suggest that the end of the noughties represents the birth of the quest to discover the meaning of life? Or is it the teenaged curiousity, as we learn that indeed each action has an opposite and equal reaction? How far can we push our luck, and what is the fall-out for others? Since we've had it so good for so long, who are these people who destroy and why are they doing it to us?
Or am I reading too much into this? I tend to think perhaps not. With climate change alarm bells ringing ever louder in our ears, as financial woes grip the globe, and as wars continue without an end - nor an outcome - in sight, we in the developed world are starting to feel the pinch, be it financial, the result of poor health due to pollution, obesity and diabetes (as our diet becomes too good for our bodies to process) or stress as we work longer and harder than ever, or as a result of some type of climatic upheaval affecting us firsthand - raging bushfires, hurricanes, drought, flood. Do you think we are entering a new age of vulnerability (as opposed to fear for the future, which I think is rather different - I think most are embracing the future... Just with a little more trepidation than previously)? Or is vulnerability really simply an enhanced awareness of consequences? For example previously, people just died. Now we have a range of diagnoses for previous unknowns, and we don't just die we now die of something. What I mean is: are we living now in a world where the consequences of most things we do - turning on a light, driving a car, eating Tim Tams til the cows come home etc - are known to us while we do it. With enlightenment comes responsibility.
In 5th place was Tar, a New York arts, culture, fashion magazine (what New York magazine isn't about those topics?). Kate Moss is stripped to the bone for this one.
7th place goes to The Advocate, and I do love this cover. Time magazine says of it: This clever and hilarious cover either consciously or unconsciously pays homage to the famous painting The Scream by Edvard Munch. The article it sells is about how the recession has affected the porn industry — hard times indeed! The photo suggests, among other things, that if it gets bad enough, movie producers may have to substitute blow-up dolls for flesh-and-blood actors. The movies may be rated X, but this cover gets an A. It pushes the boundaries of taste, but not for its target audience.
9th place goes to Interview, with Twilight's Kristen Stewart on the cover. This is clever, and the Interview with a Vampire suggestion goes without saying. (Except I just did).
10th place goes to Australian Vogue's September issue! Hooray!!! And it was glorious!
This is what Time had to say about it:
The September issue — only not the one created by Anna Wintour. This 50th anniversary issue of Vogue Australia uses multiple covers featuring actress Cate Blanchett, depicted in absolutely fabulous vintage fashion illustrations by British illustrator David Downton. The cover is a marvel in many ways. First, Blanchett's face is rendered with merely a few brushstrokes, just enough to let the reader know it's her. More important is the use of that '50s-style illustration, which creates a perfect merger of glamor, celebrity and style announcing an issue that covers the magazine's long history. Some fashion mags do the most creative covers in the industry, while others use imagery that seems like nothing more than a place mat for blurbs and cover billings. Would that there were more like this one; it just has that certain ... je ne sais quoi.
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