Throughout the Decades

1930s

 

 

1940s

1950s

 1960s

 

In the 1960s, we begin to see a sense of individuality to each magazine cover. On the left, we have a striking image of a young Barbara Streisand which conveys perfectly the fashion of the 1960s. It is a very minimalistic design, which we usually expect to be quite modern. On the right, we have a Rolling Stone magazine cover which features John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the nude.

 

 

1970s

In the 1970s, punk rock music developed in the US. UK, and Australia which is portrayed on the magazine cover on the left. On the right, we see an issue of Time magazine - this is a typical magazine of the 1970s as it conveys the androgynous hippie look and use of bright bold colours. There is a sense of hypnosis to the cover which suggests that it was influenced by the psychedelic culture, which emerged in the late 1960s.

    1980s

 

On the right, Annie Lennox of Eurythmics is featured.  In the 1980s, apparel and makeup tended to be very bright and vivid in appearance hence Annie's brightly coloured hair and the block colours used on the magazine cover. Also, on the front cover of Interview magazine, Cyndi Lauper is featured. She was one of the most influential artists of the 1980s. Her song "Time After Time" has been covered by over 100 artists and was ranked at #22 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years and at #19 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s. Lauper' individuality and distinctive idiosyncratic appearance  is expressed in this front cover as there are a lot of pastel colours. The image used of Cyndi as well is made to look like an illustration which suggests that Cyndi was thought very highly of by many people in this decade.

 

1990s

 

Again, here we see the recurring idea that Rolling Stone have appeared to have grown accustomed to: to use nudity to sell their magazines. They have featured the funk rock band Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Sassy magazine conveys the popularity of grunge (in both fashion and music) as it features Kurt Cobain, the frontman of the 1990s grunge band, Nirvana. Each of these artists were very prominent in the 1990s.

 

 

 

 

2000s

 



The Noughties saw the increased popularity of Hip Hop music as it merged with mainstream pop. Drake - who is featured on the cover of Vibe - initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation in the early 2000s. Also,  Hip-hop fashion generally was the most popular among young people of both sexes during this decade.

 

2010s

 

It is clear that this decade doesn't have a distinctive magazine style. We see throwbacks, recurring patterns and a classic black and white image. Again, Rolling Stone have included an image of a naked person on their front cover. With Wired, it's very minimalistic and there's a use of bold and bright colours which is a throwback to the 1960s and 1980s. Also, with Interview, there is again a sense of individuality, because it features an image of Katy Perry unlike any way we've seen her before. It's classic, but also has a modern twist to it because of the use of pink.