Christian complains that, "every time I go to CVS or a bookstore and look at the magazines, I wonder what makes the cover girls so special," and that "even stars who work only occasionally like Jessica Biel and Halle Berry make it onto the covers of prestige magazines like Bazaar, Elle, and Cosmopolitan and, the worst offenders, gossip zines like US Weekly, People, and Star." He continues,

On the rare occasion I do see a working actress featured on a magazine cover, I ask myself: does she have a movie or TV show coming out? Is she producing or directing anything of note? I check IMDB. Sometimes I find a project here or there, many times I don't. Instead, they are reality stars leading dull lives and somehow getting recognized for it. Or they are actresses who haven't made a decent movie or TV show in a long time and get covers because women simply like them.

Of course, it's a little strange to fault magazines for choosing their cover subjects "because women simply like them," or because they are "relateable" — they are, after all, trying to appeal to readers. But are celebs like Jessica Simpson — who does, let's be honest, seem to be on every cover ever without doing much of anything — actually more relateable than, say, Julianna Margulies? Or do they just have better publicists?

Christian writes, "exceptional people who get glamorous coverage from a widely-circulated magazine should be models for how women can be, not models who don't really do anything at all, and are only skilled at doing just that: nothing special." Which seems like some Candide-level media naïveté, until you consider the rapidly dropping revenues of women's magazines. Presumably magazine editors choose their covers at least in part with regard to what women will buy, but women may be getting tired of the endless parade of relatively idle stars. Still, magazines seem pretty much locked into a system of giving free advertising to celebrities' neverending clothing and accessory lines (cf. Gwen Stefani's products prominently positioned in this month's Glamour), and offering them coverage for doing very little. Publicists and magazines seem to think they are in a mutually beneficial relationship, but the magazines (at least the mainstream women's titles — this is perhaps less applicable to tabloids) seem to be getting the short end of the stick.

Of course, the real losers are readers. Christian may offend some stay-at-home moms with his generalizations about women who "don't work" (and he does apologize for this), but most moms, employed or not, probably work harder than Kim Kardashian. And most readers are probably more interesting than Jessica Simpson, at least as she comes across in her heavily-circumscribed magazine interviews. There's probably a market for a magazine that would print real, personal observations by celebrities about work and life, rather than sanitized promotions of their latest products. Unfortunately, such a magazine would threaten the current tried-and-false formula of celebrity cover + softball questions = easy publicity, so we probably won't be seeing it anytime soon.

The Death Of The Working Woman? [SpliceToday]

"You could kind of feel it in the air during the shoot. I knew it was going to be a good picture."

What's interesting, notes Ryder, is that Vogue was actually a little behind the times; Johnson had already made a name for herself at Glamour, which had been featuring black cover models since 1968.

Still, Vogue, as it does now, had a reputation, a cachet: "When the magazine came out I had no idea at all that I was the first black woman to be on the cover of Vogue," Johnson says. "I was just overjoyed to be on the cover because that's what you strive for as a model. That's when you know you have arrived."

But Johnson's career was not without its rough patches:

On shoots Johnson often felt like "the token black," she says. Hairstylists often "didn't have a clue about black hair — I was always teaching the white hairdressers and makeup artists how to do me. There were no black hairdressers and makeup artists." On catalog shoots, her white counterparts would earn more, even though Johnson's photos often would be the ones that sold the most product.

Still, Johnson is a pioneer. After her, many black models had the chance to appear on the cover of Vogue (some examples here). And despite recent cover appearances by Jennifer Hudson and Michelle Obama, considering that in 2007, the October, November and December issues of Vogue had zero black models; it's clear that there is still work to be done.

Beverly Johnson Recalls Her Vogue Cover [LA Times]
Black on Vogue [Clay Cane]

Earlier: Vogue's Not Racist; Three Black Models Prove It!
Related: Naomi Sims, 1948-2009: From Foster Care To Fashion Mags

With the lines between fashion, eroticism, and porn becoming less and less clear, it seems perfectly on point for a sexy slew of stylized skin mags to arouse new curiosity.

While most mainstream American magazines tend to be rather modest, magazines like French Vogue (see Lara Stone, etc.), Purple Fashion and Dazed & Confused will often print "artsy" nudes.

Kaufman adds Paradis, the biannual "magazine for the contemporary man"; Jaques, a "fashion-conscious erotic mag" with a no-airbrush policy; the rather self-explanatory Butt Magazine; "smut-meets-art" pub S Magazine and Purple Sexe to the list. These publications are "high-end," and along with the bare breasts of model Lily Cole, you'll find an interview with Damien Hirst and photography by Juergen Teller.

It's interesting to think about the subtle intricacies that make a nude photograph "highbrow" or "fashion." When Agyness Deyn poses without clothes, is it automatically a fashion shoot? When a woman poses for Straight Stuntin, is it automatically porn? (I also wonder about the sexualization we place on womens' bodies; a woman with D-cup breasts can have just as much or as little sexual experience as a woman with an A-cup, but chances are, we'd read a nude photograph of a woman with D-cups as "sexier" or "raunchier." And do some people automatically think a naked woman is wilder, sexier, raunchier if she is black?)

And why is it that crotch-centric American Apparel ads can be so distasteful, but the crotch-centric cover of Paradis (with strategically placed peacock feather) can be so pretty?

A New Wave Of Erotic Mags Blur The Line Between High-Style and Smut [Refinery 29]

Earlier: Advertising Taking Cues From Porn: What Is The World Cumming To?
Why French 'Vogue' Is Better Than American Vogue, Part I: Boobies
The Emperor Model Has No Clothes
American Apparel Will Satisfy All Your Crotch-Covering Needs (But Just Barely)

According to The New York Times, Sims was born in 1948 in Oxford, Mississippi. She was the third of three daughters, and her parents divorced shortly after she was born. All she knew of her father, she told Ladies' Home Journal, was "that my mother told me he was an absolute bum." Her family moved to Pittsburgh, but when her mother became sick, Sims was placed in foster care. In 1966, she came to New York with a scholarship to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology. Since she "towered" over her classmates, some encouraged her to try modeling — but, writes Eric Wilson, "every agency she approached turned her down, some telling her that her skin was too dark."

Sims decided to go directly to photographers instead, and landed the cover of the 1967 Fashions of The Times supplement. From there, her career took off, with the LHJ cover, the cover of a 1969 issue of Life and ad campaigns. The country was going through a "Black Is Beautiful" movement, and, according to former fashion model and model agency owner Bethann Hardison, who spoke with WWD: "She was that elegant, beautiful, classic, dark-skinned beauty that we really needed at that time. She came off of the civil rights movement and the theme of ‘Black is beautiful.' She really was the epitome of that and made it so true."

In the mid-1970s, Sims slowed down on modeling and started her own business. She developed wigs, fragrances and cosmetics targeted at African-American women. She wrote several books about modeling, health and beauty. But Naomi Sims will be remembered as a gorgeous and stylish woman who made a big difference in the world of modeling. As we search for diversity on today's magazine covers, we have to remember those who had the courage and persistence to be pioneers. As designer Halston told The New York Times in 1974:

"Naomi was the first… She was the great ambassador for all black people. She broke down all the social barriers."

Naomi Sims, 61, Pioneering Cover Girl, Is Dead [NY Times]
Naomi Sims, Model, Dies [WWD]

In the April Elle, a genius is a hairstylist who typically charges $300 a haircut, suggests shampooing every other day and Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray. A genius could also be a celebrity with a new movie coming out who also attended Stanford...for one year. Or genius is simply clothing inspired by graphic representations of the work place—-like pie charts, the stock exchange and line graphs! In this installment of cover lies, discover other intellectually stimulating things you'll find in this lady mag.

Scientists from Georgia State University in Atlanta have found that the perception of being overweight raises the probability of suicidal thoughts among girls by 5%. The chance of a suicide attempt goes up by 3%. Where are they getting the idea that they're fat? Well, as filmmaker Jesse Epstein pointed out in a video on the New York Times site, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 70% of girls report that images of models in magazines influence their definition if a perfect female body. In addition, a University of Missouri study found that looking at women's magazines from one to three minutes had a negative impact on women's self esteem.

Of course, very few of the images in the magazines are real, and the physiques are not generally attainable for the average woman. Deborah Kotz writes for U.S. News & World Report's blog:

My friend Chrissi pointed out this YouTube video to me yesterday showing just how much Photoshop can do to turn an unattractive, obese woman into a size-4 stunner. Trouble is, most of us don't see our bodies digitally doctored and spend way too much time staring at our real selves in the mirror, comparing how we look to those "perfect" bodies that grace magazine covers. As a result, far too many of us punish ourselves with brutal diets or self-loathing thoughts. In fact, 1 in 10 of us partakes in behaviors-bingeing and overexercising, skipping meals, abusing laxatives-that are indicative of an eating disorder.

It's one thing to actually be overweight in an unhealthy way. It's another to merely think you're fat because you're bombarded with superskinny images in magazines and advertising. And as I saw in the documentary America The Beautiful, even slender models are told that they are not thin enough.

The question is, what do we do about girls — and women — with negative body image? Do we blame Photoshop? Blame magazine editors? Blame the women who keep the magazines in business? Or instead if blame, do we concentrate on spreading critical thinking and deconstruction of images?

Girls Who Think They're Fat, More Suicidal [UPI]
Negative Body Image? Blame Photoshop [U.S. News & World Report]
Earlier: The Times Calls Out Photoshopping Magazines
America The Beautiful Reveals Ugly Truths

Over at Men's Health, however, the dudes are covering up. In 2004, half the covers featured shirtless guys; in 2007 there was only one bare-chested man. For Allure, it's all about the best tressed. "Not only abundant hair, but the blowing hair is good for us," says editor Linda Wells. "The worst thing we can do is a really tight, pulled-back style or a hat." And over at Seventeen, some kind of flair is like, totally what a girl wants: "Every cover has to have the doodad," says editor Ann Shoket. "That is, a piece of jewelry... or something that catches your eye." But the person — or personality — on the cover is a big deal as well. Kate White says Cosmo's perfect model is "Someone that you'd love to drive cross country with, you're not going to end up arrested with and with whom you're not going to get bored." Hmm, makes sense that Ms. Lohan was a choice. And Ms. White finds a great cover uh, satisfying. "My sense of a good cover that will sell well is if I want to lick it," she says. "And the Beyoncé [December 2007] cover I licked several times... Before the sun came up." Hey, at least the woman loves her job?

The Science of Covers: Celebs, Cleavage and Sparkle [WWD]

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

*Including a number of accusations that our own "cover photo" was airbrushed or retouched, to which we say: Good lighting and the ability to contort our bodies so as to appear thinner can go a long way.