DEFUNCT WOMEN'S MAGAZINES

I loved Red Direct and still have some things from there (candlesticks, a bag, etc).

Over the years I used to read Vogue, Elle, Red, Marie Claire, She, Eve, Company, Real Simple, and Frank. There must be ones I’ve forgotten!

My grandmother used to work as a doctor’s receptionist and she would hoard all the old magazines, so I grew up reading through loads of back issues of Bella, Best, Women’s Own, Women and Home, Women’s Weekly and Reader’s Digest. I actually learned quite a lot about life from the agony columns and articles!

Loved the era of the magazine freebies — vests from Elle, tote bags, novels, flipflops, CDs.

I miss magazines, but I guess a lot of the function of them has gone to Instagram etc. It was so much nicer though to get a good magazine and really enjoy sitting down with it with a coffee or glass of wine; there isn’t anything quite like it nowadays.

I was working at one when it got the ax: Savvy. It was a really well-done magazine aimed at executive-type women. The company was bought out by another company and killed it off quite quickly.

Lear is another one that comes to mind. I didn't really pay attention to it, and it was only later, when Frances Lear died, that I discovered it was really admirable.

Dos McCall's still exist? My mother used to get that.

gran used to have Red Letter which was a magazine bit like People's Friend must been quite tame as gran would not accept any naughties
She was much better magazine than today quite sexy and racy do not think mum knew i read it when she was out!
its a shame so man have changed Prima early ones were fab
Freezer Digest was a must have for the new household acquired freezers
mum was quite strict so never knew i smuggled in the racy magazines True Confessions and similar!

J17 all the way ( came out on a Tuesday and cost 75p). It gave me a whole mound of really bad (and in one case, dangerous) beauty tips. Also introduced me to the idea of removing pubic hair which I was totally stunned by!

More was seen as really quite racy!

Fun fact - I went to dinner at the flat of the editor of Company to be interviewed (along with 3 others) about sex for a feature. Sadly no longer have the copy of the magazine but I have the letter thanking me for taking part 😊

I'm blitzing (in a modest way!) Mumsnet today, and this seems like an appropriate thread to leave this in: The Lady is now also no more – along with The Ladygram, an acrostic puzzle that appeared in the mag for 45 years (and in some other mags before that). However… I'm offering a spiritual successor, called QuoteBox, at www.patreon.com/bertbakerpuzzles (I'm the guy who compiled "the 'Gram" for the last ten years!). There are some free samples on the site, and I hope people will check it out :) (There were plenty of fans of the LG – albeit not quite enough to keep the mag going any longer! – but it's proving hard to reach them…)

There was a women's erotic magazine pre-50 Shades of Grey called 'Scarlet' - I wrote my first published story for them, all about a woman who goes to the doctor and then has it off with the doctor (it wasn't a complicated plot). I remember the erotic fiction section of the magazine was called, hilariously, 'Cliterature'.

Goodness yes, I had that vest for years, I had forgotten that's where it came from!

I’ve found my people!

still love a magazine, took some getting used to but Readily app is brilliant, still prefer a new magazine but for value for money it’s great.

I used to love mizz, just 17 now it’s the lady and I love Stylist

Agree they are ridiculously expensive but to be fair the December/Christmas edition was always mega (indulgent) and January always very slim (you're on a diet now!!)

My best friend and I used to buy Bliss and Sugar and then swap them over 🤣 we totally loved them

The first time I bought Just17, my mum selliptaped the problem pages together!

I adored Minx, what a brilliant magazine that was. I was gutted when it stop being produced.

i also was religious in buying Heat magazine. I would buy it on a Friday lunch time along with a chocolate bar from Spar and then sit with the pupils in my form class and tell them the weekly gossip!
(I was the form tutor- things were a little more relaxed in education in the early 2000’s!)

I would read my mum’s copies of Women and Woman’s Own from being about 8 years old. She would tell me off for leaving them in my room. 🤣

My mum used to read her mum's WW back in the 30s for those cryptic answers: 'I do not see how you can possibly be pregnant my dear, after the experiences you describe'.

This demonstrates the truth of Katharine Whitehorn's remark about women's magazines: 'Here, if anywhere, is a propaganda medium that would work'.

I once saw an advertisement for She on the tube. Someone had altered She to Get down Shep.

I LOVED Misty comic, it was awesome, I still have the annuals in the loft...

Oh haha that's brilliant 👏 🤣
thanks for that, it has made me laugh 😃

Theoldbird - it is delightful . . .

On a mission now to find the lovely light but it might have been binned already!

I do remember Woman's Weekly as my gran used to get it for the knitting patterns, it was so old fashioned even back then, I also remember the pages being really thin and of poorish quality.

I follow a page on insta called 90s teen magazine archive. It's fab

Growing up I read my mums Take a break and people's friend mags as well as one called Woman... or something.

As a pre teen/teen, I read my sisters Just 17, sugar, more, mizz, cosmopolitan, bliss, shout, smash hits and TOTP mags. When she left home I continued buying these myself.

As a young adult (18+) I bought kerrang, metal hammer, focus, new scientist and Stuff. I definitely switched gears in my formative years 😆

Well come on you need to share some pics of the photo stories at least! and the lovely light ✨️

I've been cleaning out, found a box of 1980s/90s annuals and they've pretty much stopped me doing anything else - the photo stories alone! My favourite was a pic that said 'lovely light' and it was indeed a lovely light 😂

I loved all the above, and liked reading my sister’s Patches and My Guy, too.

Bunty