Jezebel: Cosmo Girl

Burning Questions

Sadie Stein — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:45:00 EDT

Both Seventeen and CosmoGirl's web sites have added "advice" programs, in which you can ask your fellow readers questions like "What age do most have their first kiss?" Wisdom of the crowds? "It depends." [AdAge] More »

CosmoGirl: One Of The Smarter Newsstand Choices For Teens

Dodai Stewart — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EDT

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Today it was announced that CosmoGirl! is folding. Hearst has decided to "consolidate its teen publishing activities into Seventeen," though the CosmoGirl! brand will continue online. Founded by Atoosa Rubenstein in 2000, CosmoGirl! was the smarter, less sex-obsessed little sister of Cosmopolitan. Atoosa supposedly came up with the idea of CosmoGirl! in 48 hours, reportedly scrawling the word "girl" in lipstick over and over on mockup covers while in bed with her husband. (She became the youngest editor-in-chief in Hearst Magazine's 100 year history, but left for Seventeen in 2003.) As for CosmoGirl!, the splashy, colorful magazine managed to cram everything teenage girls really care about inside each issue: More »

Ugh: How's that for the economy cratering?...

Dodai Stewart — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Ugh: How's that for the economy cratering? CosmoGirl! magazine has folded, reports New York Magazine. Seemingly out of the blue. More to come. [NY Mag] More »

The House Bunny: Ridiculous Flick, Surprisingly Tasteful Red Carpet

Sadie Stein — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:30:00 EDT

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It seems somehow tragically appropriate that CosmoGirl should have something to do with last night's screening of The House Bunny at New York's Joseph Urban Theatre. It is, after all, the stirring tale of a Playmate becoming house mother to a group of college-age frumps and bringing out their inner fun, fearless females by means of various image-based degradations. Which made it all the more pleasantly surprising, then, that the looks on display were pretty...well...unobjectionable. No skin-tight satin, no pants-forgetting, just Rumer Willis and a few other starlets in varying degrees of okay! After the jump. More »

Cosmo Girl Has The Spiciest — And Smartest — Advice When It Comes To Teen Sex

Jessica G. — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:00:00 EDT

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Down Under, two of the major teen magazines, rivals Dolly and Girlfriend, are banding together to fight government suggestions that the magazines come with "audience age recommendations," because of the sexually-explicit nature of their question-and answer-sections. According to the Daily Telegraph, "Tasmanian Senator Stephen Parry said he was concerned readers as young as 11 were writing in for answers to questions on anal and oral sex." (Because if they don't read the magazine, their questions will magically disappear, right?) Dolly editor Gemma Crisp told a government inquiry, "We see it as a service. It's our responsibility to provide the correct information rather than them (readers) saying to their 15-year-old friend, 'my boyfriend wants me to do this, how do I deal with it?'" We decided to see what kind of advice the American teen magazines are giving their readership. A look at sex coverage on the websites of Teen Vogue, Cosmo Girl, Elle Girl, YM and Seventeen, after the jump. More »

The Cosmos

Moe — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:45:00 EDT

"10 Questions You Can't Ask Anyone" was the tantalizing Cosmo Girl!cover line that won our hard-earned $3.49 this month. The touted story is a Nancy Redd advice column that addresses the usual array of teen "ick!" topics — stretch marks, itchy asses, third nipples. (One in 20 women have one!) But then there was this one, uh, unexpected question that for some reason doesn't seem made up. (Click the pic to see.) More »

Cosmo Girl!: Match Your Religion With Your MySpace Wallpaper!

Moe — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT

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Men are... immeasurably interested in acquiring fixed ideas of God, of the soul, and of their common duties to their Creator and to their fellow men. This is, then, the subject on which it is most important for each of us to entertain fixed ideas; and, unhappily, it is also the subject on which it is most difficult for each of us, left to himself, to settle his opinions by the sole force of his reason.

So observed Alexis De Tocqueville in his seminal Democracy In America, whose 23rd chapter makes a worthy companion to a story on page 128 of the May Cosmo Girl! Because... like, how times change! Some modern teens have totally conquered the age-old need for a "fixed" higher power idea. The story begins by posing the radical question: "What if going to church were like going to Starbucks?" Um, and they were required by law to display the caloric content of the communion wafers? No, silly! "You wouldn't get just a plain coffee: You could get a shot of Catholicism, a sprinkle of Buddhism, a pinch of Hindu teachings — or whatever else you're in the mood for that day." More »

This month's CosmoGirl! coverline: Maybe...

Moe — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:30:00 EST

This month's CosmoGirl! coverline: Maybe Pete Wentz was not exactly the right celeb to call for an empowering quote re: rejecting the media's unattainable beauty standards? (Click on image to enlarge.) More »

MagHag

Jennifer — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:45:00 EST

Ooh! Is there going to be a rumble in Ladymagville, U.S.A.? ELLE and Vogue are both having their company holiday parties at Socialista, in NYC's Meatpacking district. ELLE beats Vogue in getting there first (their party is Dec. 17; Vogue's is Dec. 18.) Tension! Meanwhile, the CosmoGIRL! staff seems to be getting short-changed as their editor-in-chief is hosting a "goofy hat exchange" at a location TBA. (Um, we would rather have an open bar kthanxbye!) while the Self party seems equally wholesome: Bowling! Lucky staffers are being encouraged to chow down at Pop Burger and W is getting wasted and singing Pat Benatar all night long at a Karaoke party at East Village speakeasy Death & Co. (May we recommend the punch bowls?) Glamour's affair is at Tillman's eatery and Nylon is encouraging mid-day drinking by hosting a lunch at Pamplona's. [Fashion Week Daily] More »

Fashion Mags: Big Girls Gain, Tween Titles Flounder

Jessica G. — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:30:00 EST

Thanks in part to the mostly useless advertorial Conde Nast supplement Fashion Rocks, Vogue regains its spot as head bitch in charge of all lady mags: Anna Wintour's brainchild had the most pages this year, with 3,222, barely edging out #2, In Style, which had 3,197 pages, says Women's Wear Daily.. The other fashion mags also gained this year. Glamourhad the most ad pages in its nearly 70-year history with 2,089 and despite budget cuts and a slew of staff departures at Elle, Roberta Myers' mag gained 6.2% in ad pages since 2006. More »

Why Do Women's Magazines Lie About Such Stupid Shit?

Moe — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:00:00 EDT

So remember way back yesterday, when we shared the harrowing story of Laura Wells, whose employers subjected her to the demeaning experience of getting her "natural russet hair" dyed BLONDE simply because it looked better on TV? Well, a reader who purports to have attended college with Laura Wells in the nineties gave some insight as to why her bosses might have thought this: in the nineties "naturally russet" Laura was a natural blonde!

It was an unnatural red hue all over, with skunky blonde stripes in the front, obviously and purposely fake. Truly, the hair to the front of her earline was blonde, and the rest was red. I can't imagine highlights, then, would be traumatic for her. However, we were English majors, so I can imagine she enjoyed writing* about the experience as if it were.

Which we would totally just save to the folder marked "scurrilous/entertaining gossip" if it didn't arrive just before another email from a former Cosmo Girl! insider calling into question the veracity of yesterday's silicone-doning teenage boys that spoke to a point we're always scratching our heads about: Why do women's magazines always lie about the dumbest shit? More »

Teen Boys Love Implants Almost As Much As They Hate Period Bloods, Reports Cosmo Girl!

Moe — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:30:03 EDT

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OMG the Heidi Montag issue of Cosmo Girl! keeps giving, like a full heaving bosom full of saline and strawberry Quik. And like, where would a Heidi Montag-lionizing issue be without a story on breast implants? Specifically, how boys your age really feel about them. The magazine finds seven guys to dish. "I consider myself a boob guy over a butt guy, so obviously I'd prefer bigger boobs," says 22-year-old Jay of Syracuse. But Brad, 19, of Philadelphia, feels differently! "I'd definitely date a girl with fake breasts," he says, "as long as they weren't too big." Elaborates Joe, 20, of Hawthorne, N.J.: silicone knockers that are "proportional" are okay, but only if they "help her" to "hold herself with just the right amount of self-confidence." Which is to say, not too much. Because there are all sorts of little reasons he might dump you anyway: among them, "Period Talk." More »

Atoosa Rubenstein: Don't You Just Hang On Her Every Word?

Moe — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:30:17 EDT

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Atoosa Rubenstein. Have you been DYING to know what's going on with everyone's fave "Alpha Kitty" her since she broke free from the confines of her job editing Seventeen and went feral?? Well, surely you know some disenfranchised teen with a big dream who has been DYING to know what she's got up her poufy sleeve. Right? She's big with the teens! Right? She had that whole MTV show , yes? "I left [Seventeen] because I realized that I was stepping farther and farther away from the journey that was meaningful to me," she says. Well, um, the New York Times exposes her New Media plan for conquering the girliverse and it... involves drag queens! Drag queens are hot right now, right? More »

Stella McCartney Adds Sporty Spice To Fashion Show

Jennifer — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:00:00 EDT

Yup, we're still bitter about not being at London Fashion Week. The Stella McCartney for Adidas show was held at an amusement park at which the models and guests frolicked, playing mini-golf and eating hot dogs. [Vogue UK]

In 'CosmoGirl!' The Jeans Are Not The Point

Dodai Stewart — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:00:00 EDT

The "special style issue" (the new way to say "back to school"?) of CosmoGirl! has a denim story shot by photographer Ben Watts, (who is actress Naomi Watts' brother) and starring actress Paz De La Huerta. [What the hell has she ever been in? -Ed.] We like Watts as a photographer, but for a jeans story in a teen magazine, the concept was a little weird and Ms. De La Huerta had some bizarre poses. Also, we like art direction as much as the next person. But of the approximately 112 inches of real estate on the opening spread, a mere 2 inches is actually denim. And Paz is hiding her face. We wondered what she was thinking. Then we realized: we don't have to wonder! We can just make it up! The Jezebel interpretation, after the jump. More »

Now That Sarah Silverman Is On Gap's Payroll, You 'Really' Won't Be Able To Resist Those Khakis...

Jennifer — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:49:41 EDT

Sarah Silverman is going to be in ads for The Gap. What are the odds this genius plan was hatched in a corporate marketing meeting during which someone employed the term "edgy"? [WWD, sub req'd]

Creative Writing Contest: How I Went To Prom And Soiled The Pretty Pretty Dress I Found In The 2007 'Cosmo Girl Prom'

Moe — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:45:56 EDT

We here at Jezebel spend a lot of time longing for a time when we weren't so goddamn bitter and sardonic, and from your heartfelt comments and feedback we think you readers can help. Flipping through the latest issue of Cosmo Girl PROM, we had an idea along those very lines: a themed creative writing contest! Specifically, a creative writing contest about how you lost your virginity at prom, in the voice of one of the nubile maidens in the prom dress advertisements we have posted after the jump. Think of it as a chance to restore our philosophical virginity...or better yet, think of it as joke porn! Send to tips@jezebel.com before this time next Friday to win...prizes we will determine at some point next week. Here's our (idiotic) sample entry, from the morning BEFORE prom, to get your creative juices shoo-, uh, flowing:

Soooo tonight is the most important night of my life... junior prom.... I was going to wait until senior prom but my feelings for brian have reached such a smolder that to not consumate our feelings on this balmy night would be like i was cowering before my true identity...never in my life have i felt so feircely ME as i did when I first slipped on this ravishing coral gown which is NOTHING like the skanky short dress i wore for homecoming because it shows just a sliver of leg which is symbalic for how i have evolved as a woman...