The Australian Women’s Weekly just put Turia Pitt on the cover of their July issue. And it’s nothing short of incredible.
It was a great moment not just for AWW, but for the entire magazine industry. In a world where retouching is compulsory and Kardashians are everywhere, this magazine cover is brave, bold, and different.
This morning, there was one question on my lips. And it’s a big one: Will this change anything for magazines? Will we see a difference in the representation of women on our front covers?
Which gives me an excellent excuse to reminisce about other groundbreaking magazines — and whether they changed the industry forever like I want Turia’s cover to do.
(Because, let’s remember, magazine covers are still so commercial – they’re decades behind any other medium in terms of progress. Which means putting curvy women, black women, women over 40 and women who aren’t model-level flawless on any cover is a big deal.)
A huge moment in the U.S for example was the first black woman, Beverly Johnston, appearing on the Vogue cover in 1974:
From this first for Vogue in 1974 to the first interracial couple appearing on their cover in 2014 (yes, that’s Kim Kardashian and Kanye West), the decision to publish ground breaking magazine covers has a ripple effect for the entire industry.
All it takes is the confidence to be the first. The first to publish the plus-sized Sara-Marie Fedele on the cover of Cosmopolitan, as did our wonderful boss Mia Freedman. The first to publish an androgynous male model, as did Oyster magazine in 2011.
Australian Women’s Weekly has been the first notable Australian magazine to show a burn victim such as Turia. It is ground breaking, it will be remembered, and it will pave the way for greater diversity on magazine covers.
Here are some notable boundary pushing magazine covers that have remained significant throughout time.
Top Comments
I think it's a great thing but I don't buy (or even look at the Weekly). I wonder what it will do for sales. I suspect - but hope I'm wrong - that they will plummet and it's back to Princess Kate. What people say they want to see and what they will support with their purchase decisions are two completely different things. Magazine editors would sell their own grandmother to increase sales so the only thing that's stopping these sort of out of the box pictures being a regular thing now is the (probably correct) view that they are a circulation killer. Case in point - how much did circulation drop with the Sarah Marie cover?
I love the Beth Ditto cover. The colour, the script, everything about her - stunning.