J'adore Les Magazines

I'd like to say:

I LOVE MAGAZINES!

My house is packed with them. I'm reluctant to throw them out no matter how old they are. They are like monthly time capsules packaged in paper form. Whenever I get a change to flip through my old issues, they bring me back to that point in time. They deliver a certain nostalgia for the past that you want to relive again with a now different perspective on how you view those times. They bring to my attention to things I hadn't noticed before, missed out on by ignoring them out of lack of interest or pure and utter dislike. I skipped all the bluff to get to the parts I did enjoy. Rereading the magazines shows you what you could have read had you not missed it the first time around.

I didn't understand magazines when I was younger. My mom always borrowed them from the library. It wasn't until I was a bit older did I realize that they were interesting. Short articles. Lots of pictures. Easy reading for someone who wanted to get a lot from a little.

My years of subscribing to magazines began when I was 10. There was an issue of Teen People I really wanted. 25 Hottest Under 25, I believe. It had Mandy Moore, Eve, and Justin Timberlake on the cover. I was on teenpeople.com. They had a picture of the cover when they were advertising their subscription service. I thought by signing up, I was guaranteed that issue since my mom wouldn't let me buy it at Shop Rite.

It turns out I wasn't. My first issue of Teen People from my subscription plan (my first official one had Christina Aguilera on the cover....Dec/Jan 1999?) had Sisqo on the cover. I forget what month. Maybe it was August 2000. My subscription with Teen People continued on until it folded with its last issue for September 2006. Carrie Underwood on the cover with the 3rd season cast of Laguna Beach on the back.

Then, there was Seventeen. I've subscribed to it on-and-off. I just resubscribed to it recently, because Five Star notebooks had an offer for a free subscription with the purchase of selected notebooks.

My mom subscribed to Teen Vogue when they first began to advertise it. "$1 per issue," she pointed out. She sent a request to subscribe it. We had issues coming in for a while. At the time, I thought it was too girly, too high fashion-y. I didn't understand why she still subscribed to it. Eventually, she canceled the subscription. I wish she hadn't. Looking back at all the old issues I've found, I've been in awe of what I missed out on. The models I admire now when they were first starting out. One of the first issues had Gwen Stefani on the cover. Within it was one of Jessica Stam's first editorials, and to see how far she's come... Wow. I also have other ones where I've spotted Doutzen Kroes, Iselin Steiro, and Gemma Ward...I couldn't believe it! Many started on Teen Vogue and have moved onto greater things! I became fascinated by Teen Vogue towards the end of my duration at Intermediate School, and my beginnings at high school. I subscribed to it when I was a sophomore. My first issue was April 2006 with Ciara on the cover.

Vogue was one of the magazines I certainly didn't understand when I was younger. How was I supposed to understand high fashion at such a young age. All I saw was pictures. That was it. I don't remember what drove me to subscribe to them, but I did it in 2006. Maybe it was the lovely pictures that always called to me whenever I was in Shop Rite or at Barnes & Noble. I began to admire the beauty of high fashion. I became curious about who the models were. Their names, their identities. My aunts from New York would give me their old copies. I kept them and savored every page I saw. The first issue of Vogue I bought had Natalie Portman on the cover. She sported a pixie cut after having it shaved for the movie she was promoting, V for Vendetta. I love her style and her beauty. When I saw her as I was planning on buying the Cosmo issue of that same month (because I found out through Ellen that Apolo Ohno was in it), I was captivated by the elegance of that cover. I didn't think twice about buying it. I followed that purchase up with a September 2006 issue with Kirsten Dunst on the cover, dressed like Marie Antoinette.

Actually, I remember now why I began to subscribe it. I was flipping through the October issue, I believe (I remember it had Kate Moss, and pictures from the CFDA event in it). I asked my mom if I could buy it. She said no, but suggested that I subscribe it since it's cheaper in the long run.

My first issue in the mail: Nicole Kidman for the following December. I still subscribe to it. I haven't had the opportunity to read it since the July 2009 issue was mailed to me. I have 4 issues waiting for me, wrapped in plastic, waiting to be read.

I also subscribe to Elle now. I never planned on doing it, but I had a great offer of $8 for the year. I couldn't resist it. I enjoy it. Not exactly on par with Vogue, but it switches up the models it uses for editorials, etc. all the time.

I was on a tangent about my history with magazines. I wanted to talk about magazines in this blog post, because I came across an article about Kirsten Dunst on the cover of the latest Allure issue. It reminded me that I haven't had the chance to flip through too many magazines in the past few months. I haven't had the time to. Busy with school work. No time to go to stores to read them for hours on end. Upset, disappointed that I didn't get a chance to. I hope that the new issues haven't replaced the old yet. Then, I can make up for lost times.