Magazines for a lifetime

[Rhiannon]

Well it all started with Twinkle and then Jackie, I remember it well. I wasn't allowed My Guy so it was Just Seventeen although my Mum tried to censor them as much as possible.

When I was 17 it was Vogue I was so trendy then (no money though!). And Elle, I still have the first British edition with Yasmin Le Bon on the front. And a Vogue from 1987.

Marie Claire had been a favourite for many years until the concept of getting married came along. Then it was Bridal mags. Then baby mags. of course I needed all the ones with the free gifts on the front. I kept that free splash mat for many years.

But all along the way there has been the mountain of 'housey' mags. that I couldn't live without. 25 Beautiful Homes is my very favourite. I've never been into the ones with the 'make a coffee table cover this weekend' type articles as I just find them depressing as I never could make anything.

I'll also admit to quite liking Good Housekeeping. Ssh.

When I start looking at Lady and Womans Weekly I'll start to get worried. R.

I was a Cosmo girl for years and years. I even cut out articles and stored them in a folder - the sort of assertive, you can doing anything features. Then when I got pregnant Cosmo didn't get a look in. For the last 3 years its been Pregnancy and Birth, Our Baby, Practical Parenting etc. I picked up Cosmo recently and felt sooo old. What's happened to me? But all is not lost - I'm now seriously addicted to Heat! And I love Hello and OK! OK is better than Hello because I think its bitchier!! Nothing like a laugh at a rough looking celeb! (oooo miaow)

I too was a Looks girl - they once did a set of black & white posters (Marilyn Monroe, Tom Cruise, Madonna) which adorned my bedroom walls for years. Gave up on Cosmo a few years ago - the endless articles on sex and how to get a man wern't too interesting to an engaged woman. Had a brief fliration with Good Housekeeping courtesy of a subscription from my mother (a life-long fan of the publication!)- I'm ashamed to say I have a folder full of torn-out recipes. Now I'm a Marie Claire woman. Some of the issues tackled are really interesting. I even cried last week reading about orphans in Africa. OK & Hello are strictly for browsing at the supermarket checkout or train journeys (dh thinks it all a bit sad), although I do admit to keeping for two years the issues of OK featuring the Beckhams wedding!

It's quite amusing when I go into WH Smith and buy magazines, because I like rock and metal music, I buy magazines such as Kerrang and Metal Hammer. But at the same time I buy all the baby mags too. Some of the looks I get lol!!
I have to admit to pinching my mums Good Housekeeping though!
When I was little I used to read Bunty. I was always gutted when I sent in fashion designs and they never got printed!

My nan used to buy me Bunty every week until I was about 17! I kept trying to drop hints that I much preferred Smash Hits and that ilk but to no avail! Only escaped the embarrassment when she passed away ...

Hee hee, I went from Cosmo to Practical Parenting (once) and then to Good Housekeeping. Why oh why don't they change the name for what is quite a good 'grown up' mag?

Yes, Twinkle was the start of my mag obsession too, followed by Bunty, then Girl (anyone remember that) I was about 10 and my Mum had to check it first - I remember being scared because there was an article about periods in it, but luckily my Mother saw the sense of such an informative article and let me have the subscription.

After that things went a bit mad, Just 17, Mizz, Smash hits, Sky, 19, Mix Mag in my teens. Cosmo, Company, Marie Claire, Elle, Vogue, Minx, Ok, Now, Heat, Nova, occasional copy of Slimming World and National Inquirer, ALL the baby mags, takes me to now. Glamour is my fave at the moment, cheap, small good articles (friend who works on it, plug, plug!)

Financial reasoning has (partially) taken hold of my life so limit them to 1 weekly (usually Now), my sub to Glamour (only a tenner, and birthday present anyway)and possibly a Marie Clarie.

I agree with Emmam looking at celebs in dodgy photos rocks my boat too! And don't worry, Cosmo seems a bit tedious to me at 26, I really think they just churn the same stuff out over and over again, once you've read one....

I happily admit to being a mag-a-holic and on occasion I will have a 'binge' and buy loads in one week. It's a mixture of guilt and euphoria as I hand over my cash, I'm coming through it now though...It's been a long journey but I'm nearly there...!

I've started back writing freelance articles for interiors magazine, after a break of 5 or 6 years. Just had my first article published in "Homes and Ideas". I'm looking for houses to feature all the time, so if any of you would like your 15 mins of fame and you have a house that you're proud of, let me know through this message board!
However... I "did" Jackie, Blue Jeans, Cosmo, She, Red... and now I'm ashamed (slightly) to say that I, too, am a Good Housekeeping girl! Mind you, just got back from hairdressers and have caught up on GQ and FHM mags... they make great reading!

Afraid my love affair with magazines has ended. From Twinkle, to Jackie, Honey and 19, Cosmo, Marie Claire and Vogue, I've read far too many. I still buy Marie Claire, but rarely read it from cover to cover, and even then its articles can make me slightly irritated.

Is it just me, or do others find that so much writing in magazines at best skims the surface, telling you things you already know, or at worst, is one-sided and patronising? The thing I hate the most is being labelled. So many assumptions are made about me - my aspirations, my interests and even my disposable income. For years I used to be satisfied with a one-eyed view of myself, as long as the read was mildly entertinaing. Now it often makes me cringe.

I still buy magazines, mostly for information. So if we're car-buying, decorating, etc, I'll buy a stack, and they give me food for thought. It doesn't matter a jot that they assume I am a second hand car enthusiast or whatever. For a brief while I am.

I'm faithful to Time Out - for now. If I'm honest I buy it now and then to remind myself that I live in a big metropolis, not just a little suburban corner of it. When I stop buying it, I'll feel a really sad, old, homebody. Yet if it wasn't for its listings, Time Out would also be heading for the bin.

I wish I could get that magazine magic back, but I fear it's gone for good.

Agree totally Tigermoth. I really miss my mags but everything just seems so trite, formulaic and superficial. I'm afraid I find Marie Claire very irritating these days, primarily because the articles are often poorly researched and blatantly one-sided. It is newspapers for me with the occassional interiors mag to flick through and I have to confess to an occassional weakness for "Hello". I also subscribe to "Australian Gourmet" which arrives monthly and contains loads of fab recipes. For keen cooks who like unusual food - I recommend it highly.

Tigermoth, Bells, have you tried Eve, the BBC women's magazine. It really is quite good and less fashion/navel obsessed than some of the others. I used to be a magaholic and gave up for similar reasons to yourselves. Shame - I spent many happy years in revolt against a childhood which meant my parents bought Look and Learn for me (brainbox) and Twinkle for my younger sister (mummy's little dolly-dressing helper). Little did they know I used to steal my mother's She (70s incarnation with fascinatingly explicit Dr David Delvin's problem page) for a really educational read. That was such a good mag.

Will give it a go Marina - I am very much in the mood for lazing on the sofa with a mag at the mo but just haven't been able to find anything worth reading!.

If you are looking for something more in depth than Marie Claire and don't mind the Americanness then Vanity Fair would be worth trying. I've only read one issue when on holiday but it had a real mix of just stuff like glossy ads, clothes & make-up but the articles were proper essays on a range of things including in depth political study & comment (including an amazing one on Timothy McVeigh by Gore Vidal) and one that made me laugh a lot on Martha Stewart. I hadn't realised that it was an essays magazine rather than an articles magazine and really enjoyed it; it made me read properly and think again probably for the first time since graduating. It won't tear me away from Marie Claire though...

Marina, I was just about to recommend Eve - it is a great mix of a bit of everything including lots of stuff I cannot afford. Real is also good for a quick trashy read.

Also, this month's Journal has got a free mini manicure set - I'm a sucker for the freebies!

I, too used to be a magazine junkie, but now, they just don't interest me like they used to. I read "Smash Hits" & "No1" (remember that?) when I was in my teens. I also got Just 17 from the very first issue until I was about 17, and then I was too old for it! BC (before children), I had a subscription to Marie Claire, but those kind of mags just don't hold my attention like they used to. I was into pregnancy/baby mags until 2nd dd was about 6 months, and then I couldn't bear any more! Then I was into "home" mags, when we bought our house. Now I don't have the enthusiasm! DH gets "Empire" every month (almost a trade mag for him as a cinema manager!), and I used to read that, but now I hardly ever get to go to the cinema, so that's lost its appeal. The only mag I read now is "Heat", which I try to despise with its obsession with Posh & Becks, Geri, Robbie, Madonna & Guy ....., but I've just renewed our subscription, so I guess they do interest me!
Has anyone else seen "Right Start" magazine? (think that's what it's called), I came across it through the "Tumbletots" website, and it seems a bit more interesting than your run-of-the-mill "Parenting" mags - anyone got any opinions?
I really shouldn't post on here when I've had a glass of wine; ramble isn't the word!

Vanity Fair and Eve. Thanks Harrysmum and Marina. I will look out for them.