*Warning: This post is full of man candy...and is a tad long*So about a month ago one of my friends managed to get me and two of our other friends involved in a super long email thread. The awesome things you should know about this thread are:
1: all four of us live in 4 different states
2: the thread went from 8:18 PM to 8:34 AM (with pauses) the next day
3: it was completely focused around Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
It started with a showcase of these raunchy JGL and Claudia Schiffer images from
"Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down" in GQ April 2008.
If you're a JGL fan like me then you could probably see how four girls could get caught up in his appeal. We then emailed each other random pictures, videos and movie clips of Joseph simply because we love him so much. He is one of our many
common bonds.
Check him out as the
Man Candy of the Week on SheKnows. And go see JGL in "Hesher" - opened May 13!
Eventually, we got to the topic of why men don't seem to really grace magazine covers, which started like this:
L: "We all know
JGL is too gorgeous...I really wanted to see more skin from him! Unfair that Claudia is dressed in next to nothing and
JGL leaves so much to the imagination."
K: "We should all write letters demanding that
JGL do another shot with less clothes."
Me: "He should be on the cover--shirtless. It's sad that guys don't grace covers any more unless it's for Playgirl or Sexiest Man of the Year stuff."
A: "Haha, Cheryl, I think you just found the topic of your next blog post."
So that's how this post came to fruition.
Now, I'm not saying that men don't grace covers, as you can clearly see by this post that everyone on a magazine here is a dude (even James Franco on Candy).
What I'm saying is that I'd just like to see more guys on magazines that aren't necessarily geared to men.
How interesting would it be to see an attractive male celeb you like on the cover of Cosmo or Elle? I would totally pick up that issue, especially if the guy were Joseph Gordon-Levitt!
Now this post is not meant to be a rant of some sort; it's really just me talking about guys on mags and also featuring some eye candy on the Muse.
Does this count as a men's fashion post or
editorial? No? Well, whatever!
Anyway, I did do some searching on the internet to see if anyone wrote any articles on why men appear on the covers that they appear on, and why women appear on the covers that they appear on.
Although I didn't really find anything scientific, the general consensus is that magazine covers are determined by the audience the magazine is trying to attract. This is generally why women will appear on most covers 9 times out of 10.
The mags with a female audience will put women on the cover because women like to see other women who they can emulate or what-have-you.
This goes along the lines of the fact that women dress for other women, not for men. When I dress up in nice heels and a fab outfit I'd much rather hear another cute girl say "Oh, you look so great in that" as opposed to a guy.
When it comes from a girl it makes me think "This girl likes my style" and when it comes from a guy I tend to think "This guy just thinks I'm hot."
So with magazine covers, girls want to see other girls on the cover to look at them and say "oh, she looks great in that--maybe I will too"--or at least that is what the magazines are thinking.
Having a guy on a women's mag cover doesn't really elicit the same response I suppose.
And then women also appear on the covers of men's mags for more obvious reasons. Have you noticed that women on women's mags tend to smile while women on men's mags tend to give those all-too-famous pouty lips?
You guys remember that episode of
America's Next Top Model where Tyra is the photographer and she talks to one of the contestants about posing in swimsuits?
She basically says that if you pose with your legs spread then you're posing for a men's magazine. If you keep your legs closed then it's for women. Or if you pose straight on in a bikini then that attracts men, but if you pose from the side then that attracts women.
That's basically what I'm saying here.
Women are on female-geared mags because that's what women like to see, and women are on male-geared mags because that's what men like to see.
But don't women like to see men too?
I don't want to have to read Wired, Rolling Stone and Men's Health just to see a hottie on the cover. All I'm asking is that the women-specific mags share the wealth a bit more.
If there's anything at all that you lovely muses take away from this super long post it's that men don't appear on many magazine covers because women like women who compliment (or even
complement) them and who pose sideways in bikinis!
Idris Elba, Kellan Lutz, Wentworth Miller, Leonardo DiCaprio
Other men in the post in order of appearance:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
James Franco
Josh Hartnett
Chris Hemsworth (my new crush)
Darren Criss
Brad Pitt
What do you think of men on magazine covers?
♥