Celebrities, fashion, hair, makeup, college, finances, love advice, dealing with social pressure and, of course, boys. What made CosmoGirl! different from, say, Seventeen, was its "EyeCandy" feature: Fold-out, locker-sized poster pages of shirtless hunks, often on posing on a beach. (Sounds smutty, but the guys almost always listed their favorite book as "the Bible.") And even though CosmoGirl! reveled in photos of bronzed, broad-chested dudes and tips about eyeliner, the magazine also had something called Project 2024, an initiative to encourage readers to think about a female president (ostensibly a CosmoGirl!reader) by the year 2024. Project 2024 included interviews with with successful people like Richard Branson, Martha Stewart and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (the current issue features congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney) as well as internship and career advice.

Though it entered the market at a time when the teen culture was booming, the newsstands were already crowded: J-14, Teen People, Seventeen and Teen were pulling readers, in addition to fanzines like Bop and Tiger Beat. (Later, CosmoGirl! would compete with ElleGirl and TeenVogue, launched in 2001 and 2003, respectively.)

But what CosmoGirl! always had going for it was its dead-on mix: The magazine was silly and serious, shallow and thoughtful, with eating disorder advice right next to guy quizzes, denim layouts and musings about religion. Because that's how teenage girls are: Seemingly at odds with themselves, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, unashamed to gawk at a barechested boy and dream about running the country.

CosmoGirl To Close [WWD]
Hearst Closes CosmoGirl [AdAge]
Hearst Closes CosmoGIRL! [Jossip]
Hearst Folds 'Cosmogirl' [Portƒolio]
‘CosmoGirl’ Folds [NY Mag]
Hearst closes CosmoGirl [Crain's]

Related: Atoosa, Former High School Loser, Is Hearst's New Cosmogirl Queen [Observer, 2000]

The Good:
I know, right? It's hard not to be a Rumer Willis skeptic, and inquiring minds could probably ask why she's dressed like she's going to a debutante ball somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon, but she looks pretty!
The jury was out until the very last second on Katherine McPhee's blouse, but overall the silhouette works.
This month's Nylon cites Morticia Addams as a style icon (in fairness it also cites Mrs. Roeper and the kid from Silver Spoons but whatever.) Apparently Monet Mazur read this, too.


The Bad:
Doesn't Emma Stone look like Michelle Monaghan's little sister? The lace inserts take this frock into "Bad."
Jessica Szohr's look seems to walk an uncomfortable line between thrown-on denim and dressed-up evening denim.
If you look at Anna Faris' dress from a number of angles, you see that the bodice kind of stands away from the body in a way that's perhaps intended to be architectural but is kind of like the part of Circle of Friends where Benny/Minnie Driver says, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I look like the prow of a ship!"



The Ugly:
It's nice that Lisa Origliasso and Jessica Origliasso of the Veronicas are so close. Although maybe a little distance would be useful, sartorially speaking.

Images via Getty

Teen Vogue: Teen Vogue's website doesn't seem to have any sex coverage at all. Its drop-down menu on the homepage has five sections: Style, Industry Insider, Beauty, Team Vogue and Connect. And although there are no articles about sex or question-and-answer style features, there is a fair amount of sex talk on the largely unregulated Message Boards. Sample thread starter: "I haven't had sex in over two weeks. its starting to wear on me but my boyfriend is out of town and i don't want to cheat on him because i've already done that too much. I guess i just have to stay strong but its hard. TIPS?!?!?!"
Cosmo Girl!: Ah, Cosmo Girl. The website's "Sex" section is part of a drop down menu titled "Guys" (also available under the heading "Life Advice") where the magazine has a panel of reasonable experts answering questions like "Can you get pregnant if a guy fingers you with sperm on his hand?" They don't talk down to the girls, and seem to be giving straight talk. Alongside the prudent advice is a lot of boy craziness including recurring features like "Hook A Hottie", "Guy Videos", "Eye Candy", "Guide To Guys" — the list goes on.
Elle Girl: The sex coverage on Elle Girl is also pretty minimal. The brunt of it is articles like How to Deal ...With a Guy Who's Just After a Hookup and quizzes such as Are you a bad girlfriend?. None of these are particularly informative or sex-positive.
Seventeen: The bottom line of Seventeen's sex stories is always, "don't get knocked up". There's an entire section devoted to "preventing pregnancy." While the idea of sex for pleasure's sake is definitely not the backbone of Seventeen's health section, they do an admirable job in answering the tough questions, like the age-old query, "Can I Get Pregnant From Having Sex in Water?"
YM : Back in the early-mid-90s when I was a burgeoning teen, YM was the repository for the raciest sex stories. The magazine was never huge on serious content or real advice, though. It's a bit tamer than I remember — where are all the blow job questions? — but the "Say Anything" section still provides the same level of teen mortification it always did.

Magazine Readers Want Sex [Daily Telegraph]

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.

The magazine goes on to interview a Catholic-born Shamanist who also digs Judaism, a Wiccan Buddhist who's reading the Bible, lapsed Baptists who love gays but still do charity, and an "expert" at the University of Notre Dame who wonders if there isn't a downside to all this. "If teens are thinking, evaluating, and searching, that is a good sign. The downside is that if religion turns into a customizable choice, it loses its power," she says. But Tocqueville totes knew you were going to say that! From page 508:

I anticipate the objection, that as all religions have general and eternal truths for their object, they can not thus shape themselves to the shifting spirit of every age without forfeiting their claim to certainty in the eyes of mankind.To this I reply again, that the principal opinions which constitute belief, and which theologians call articles of faith, must be very carefully distinguished from the accessories connected with them.

The only losers this year were teen titles, which almost universally lost ad revenue. The number of pages in Cosmogirl declined by 6.8%, while an Alpha Kitty-less Seventeen lost over 4%. Teen Vogue barely gained, posting a 0.9% increase from last year. Come on, Lauren and Heidi of The Hills, one of you clearly needs to get a D.U.I to give Teen Vogue a boost. Take one for the team!

Bigger And Bigger [WWD, sub. required]

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.

I just wanted to comment on the CosmoGirl post. Half of those quotes are made up. I used to intern there and one of my main duties was finding bullshit quotes like that. I always used my boyfriend and his small group of friends. I ask them the question and transcribe it word for word. I'd change their age to anywhere from 19 to 22. He's 27 and his friends are all between 27 and 30. If they asked for a location like "New York, NY" I'd change it to "Boise, ID."

The editors knew what I was doing. I think one of the suggested it. And when they called my boyfriend for fact checking - yes, they actually fact check this nonsense - they would acknowledge that it's fake. Then my boss would "tweak" his answers to make them more BS than they already are and voila!

Also, if you mention this on the site can you please not use my name. I honestly liked the editors there. They were just doing a job. I've never held it against them because I'm sure every other mag does the same exact thing.

*She did not actually write the piece.

Nothing grosses a guy out quite like period talk. The tampons and panty liners — it's all so foreign to us. Plus, it puts a rather messy picture in our head.

P.S., males of Generation X: thank you, if only for enduring puberty several years before the technological heyday of internet porn.

So: Atoosa is shopping around one of those "how everyone should be like me and have everything that I don't even care about anymore because it is not meaningful" book proposals — shopping! — and she has more than 30,000 MySpace friends, which, let's see, puts her celebrity and influence just shy of Spankrock's. (Or like, yours, if you accepted every friend request.) And she is also reaching her massive fanbase with a series of YouTube videos "inspired" by Andy Warhol. Haha, get it? Maggie Erickson has taken your place, girl! Get a real job!!

Calling All Alpha Kitties [New York Times]

• 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]
  
• OMG. David Beckham is rumored to be designing the costumes for the Spice Girl Tour. OMG. [Vogue UK]
  
• Snaps to ELLE.com for recognizing that the fashion industry is just like high school. And even bestowing the superlatives to go along with it. And it's even almost bitchy! Just like high school should be! [Elle.com]
  
• At age 80 Eartha Kitt is the face of the new MAC line "Smoke Signals." And at age 80 she has better legs than we ever will too. Purrrrrrfect. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Louis Vuitton is showcasing the works of Moscow artists in its Paris store. Just like Sherri Shepherd (and Tom Friedman) told us, the world is flat. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Paul Smith introduces his first women's fragrance, Paul Smith Rose, which is inspired by the, uh, Sir Paul Smith Rose that his wife had named for him. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Aretha Franklin does PR speak about Sean "Diddy" Combs new fragrance "Unforgivable for Women": "I like [Unforgivable for Women] because it's sexy and refreshing and has a lot of really good elements to it." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Meanwhile Combs has posted the video advertisement for Unforgivable for Women that was banned from TV on his MySpace page "I feel strongly that this movie needs to be viewed and judged by the public and not executives." Dude - it's an ad for perfume not Do The Right Thing. [Vogue UK]
  
• Want your own Versace-and-Liz-Hurley-esque black safety pin dress? London department store Harrods now says it will whip you up a custom version. For about $22,000 that is. [Sassybella]
  
• Virtual Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen dolls. For reals. [Fashion Week Daily]

CosmoGirl!

• 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]
  
• Menswear designer Thom Browne: Now bringing his shrunken jacket, cropped pant stylings to (lord help us) a womenswear line. Ugh. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• How cute! Readers of Seventeen and CosmoGIRL! can "connect" with the mags' advertisers through a special website! If only we could have developed a deep, personal, virtual relationship with J.C. Penney when we were in middle school! Jealous! [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Hubert Givenchy? A little bitter! The retired designer says that "Fashion is over!" because the whole business now revolves around making giant, ugly handbags. Also bitter? One of our favorite fashion bitches, resigned Bill Blass designer Michael Vollbracht, who says, "When making big handbags is the only thing that will save your business, then designing clothes is finished!" [LizSmith]
  
• Diane von Furstenberg: Likes to hike! [Vogue UK]

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...

brian said i was as "radiant as the rosy fingered dawn" in the color which was confusing at first because i thought he was talking about the time he tried to finger me when i had my period but melissa says is something from shakespear or something....anyway brian your fingers can get some rest because tonight is the night that 2 become 1!!!! melissa says we remind her of heidi and spencer on the hills which you might not think because heidi is blonde and my hair is raven colored but true passion knows no hair colors and i think she is right.... even heidi's MOM can tell how in love she and spencer really are, like heidi's mom understands who she really is inside, where all my mom said when i showed her my gown is that i needed to stick bandaids on my boobs....