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When We Were "Seventeen": A History In 47 Covers
This book review by 13-year-old Eve Kosofsky (later Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, known for her brilliant work on queer theory) appeared in the January 1964 issue of Seventeen. You're welcome.
(Thanks to Jill Anderson for directing me to Sedgwick's Seventeen history.)
Return to "When We Were 'Seventeen': A History In 47 Covers."
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Is that a baby Jennifer Connelly on the August '86 cover?
That issue probably influenced some of my more questionable back-to-school wardrobe purchases that year…ah, the '80s.
@City_Dater Yep! Pre-nose sculpting.
Not sure but I think that the first '80s girl is Phoebe Cates.
That August 1986 issue was my very first edition of Seventeen. I still remember sitting in my room, pouring over the pages, and hoping I, too, would someday wear cowboy boots and a peasant skirt. You know, I never did … hmmm…
The switch from "a magazine about a diverse range of things that matter to you" to "a magazine about being skinny and having the right clothes" seems to have happened really abruptly. Very curious to see what went on behind the scenes–maybe Massoni's book provides more details.
By the time I started reading Seventeen and YM (in the late 80s / early 90s), I think it was all clothes, body, and boys. And I remember noticing pretty early on that all the "letters" from readers seemed to be written in a very similar, adults-trying-to-sound-like-teenagers style. To this day I wonder if the letters actually came from readers and were edited by the staff to all sound teen-ish, or if the staff just wrote them themselves.
Great article. I think the cover with the girls wearing towels on their heads really symbolizes the differing "personality" of the magazine back then and right now. Right now is crass.