Esquire Covers

August 30, 2003 9:11 AM

Every Esquire Cover [more]
posted by ColdChef (19 comments total)

Find your favorite. This is mine.
posted by ColdChef at 9:12 AM on August 30, 2003

Believe it or not, many magazines — including Esquire — used to publish covers that didn't have celebrities. These are those covers.
posted by ColdChef at 9:12 AM on August 30, 2003

This cracks me up. Someone named Allegra Coleman got a cover in 1996. Talk about a one-flop wonder. I wonder which big-wig at Esquire she was sleeping with...
posted by jpoulos at 9:33 AM on August 30, 2003

Here's one you'd never see today.
posted by jpoulos at 9:40 AM on August 30, 2003

It ain't likely this one would happen either. Let's hear it for grotesquery!
posted by jonmc at 9:54 AM on August 30, 2003

Nor this one.

Makes you wonder what we take for granted as harmlessly humorous today will shock our grandkids.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 10:03 AM on August 30, 2003

jpoulos: I knew she looked familiar.

Was part of a 1996 hoax by Esquire Magazine: they portrayed her as "Allegra Coleman", a hot young star, in a parody of fluff journalism.
posted by RubiX^3 at 10:05 AM on August 30, 2003

jpoulos- you fell for the joke:

Yes, Allegra Coleman is altogether imaginary — a dreamy creature cooked up by writer Martha Sherrill and "played" by model Ali Larter in the sometimes-doctored photos that accompany the piece. It's a wonderful parody of celebrity puff profiles

Here's the rest of it.
posted by crazy finger at 10:11 AM on August 30, 2003

I wonder which big-wig at Esquire she was sleeping with...

But you're quite sad that it wasn't you, aren't you jpoulos?

What are those weird figurines in the Slithy_Tove and ColdChef choices?
posted by billsaysthis at 10:12 AM on August 30, 2003

Eskey sure gets to see some leg!
posted by billsaysthis at 10:13 AM on August 30, 2003

favorite? perhaps the drowning Warhol in tomato soup cover by George Lois. Though I like the Ali one as well.
posted by dabitch at 10:14 AM on August 30, 2003

America must have stopped caring about design somewhere between 1975 and 1976.
posted by ArcAm at 1:20 PM on August 30, 2003

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
posted by pxe2000 at 2:26 PM on August 30, 2003

pxe, that's not the same one he's accused of murdering.
posted by billsaysthis at 7:51 PM on August 30, 2003

It's fascinating to see how the typography, graphic philosophy, and theme changes over the years. Quality seems to come an go in waves.
posted by dws at 8:16 PM on August 30, 2003

Terrific post, ColdChef - makes for a deliciously stilted history lesson. I still read Esquire, though it's come down a lot these last few years. I once had the complete collection - it filled a long corridor - but I lost it in a fire.

Before the 1974 revolution in Portugal, you could only get Playboy by subscription. My parents got Esquire. So for years I thought Playboy was everything Esquire was with extra naked girls. When Playboy was finally available, needless to say, I was severely disappointed and my appreciation of Esquire was consolidated.

Here's my favorite cover, from the legendary Brodovich years.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:48 PM on August 30, 2003

I love these old covers. Instead of relying on a willing celebrity, some actual artistic skill is shown. When I look through Graphic Design books showing old magazine covers, it reminds me how much we've lost in terms of great typography and illustration. Normally I'd sit and wait for the pendulum to swing back, but with digital cameras moving up quickly in quality, I fear it might be gone for good.
posted by Salmonberry at 9:13 PM on August 30, 2003

This one's kind of funny.
posted by timothompson at 8:17 AM on August 31, 2003

Hard to beat the well-done text cover.
posted by GaelFC at 9:48 PM on August 31, 2003