Magazines may be going the way of the Atari, but captivating cover shots, in which our biggest stars reveal new looks, continue to capture our attention and even dominate the Internet. It takes a certain magic to create these iconic images—the right photographer paired with a standout star and outside-the-box creative direction, all strategically leaked online and on newsstands—but when it all comes together, history is made. From Lauren Bacall to Caitlyn Jenner's, here are some of the most outstanding magazine covers from the past 75 years.
1944: In the 1930s, celebrities were typically only featured on the covers of entertainment industry magazines; their images rendered in paintings or illustrations. But in the decade that followed, actors increasingly fronted general interest magazines—which covered everything from entertainment to politics—with their real-life photographs appearing on the covers. One such star was former model Lauren Bacall, who earned the nickname "The Look" for her signature stare, which pierced the hearts of fans worldwide.
1953: By the 1950s, Hollywood's finest made regular cover stars in many print publications. One of the decade's most talked about covers? Marilyn Monroe's bombshell pictorial on—and inside—the first issue of Playboy in 1953.
1963: One of the most iconic fashion covers of all time captures a trifecta of cultural touchstones—supermodel Jean "the Shrimp" Shrimpton (one of the first models to achieve "super" status), captured by Richard Avedon, a now-legendary fashion photographer, and mod styling, which dominated the youthquake-centered ‘60s and the swinging London fashion scene.
1968: Outside the fashion world, Esquire's 1968 cover of boxing phenom Mohammed Ali depicted as Saint Sebastian being impaled by arrows caused major controversy. The cover was a response to Ali being stripped of his titles, denied the right to fight and being sentenced to five years in jail after the boxer refused to enter the army, citing religious beliefs. The image made such a statement during the Vietnam era; it was duped and sold as a protest poster.
1981: Photographer Annie Leibovitz has created more than her share of culturally-impactful celebrity portraits (including the controversial Kimye Vogue cover that ran last year). But this image, of one of the biggest celebrity couples of all time, is particularly poignant. It was taken just 12 hours before Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980. Though Rolling Stone had asked Leibovitz to get pictures of Lennon alone, the rock star refused. The resulting pictures were the couple's last.
1983: Where would Sports Illustrated be without its seminal swimsuit edition? The annual special issue may have began in 1964, but when we think classic SI model, three-time cover girl Cheryl Tiegs comes to mind. This cover plays off of the model's most celebrated SI shoot in the 1970s, for which she wore a controversial—and very see through—white mesh swimsuit.
1991: Actors posing for magazines in various states of nude? That's nothing new. But when an A-List celeb like Demi Moore does so while pregnant, it not only creates a stir, but a culturally indelible image. Of the cover shot by Annie Leibovitz, photographer George Lois (who created the famous Muhammad Ali Esquire image) said, "Demi Moore's hand bra helped to elegantly frame the focal point of this startlingly dramatic symbol of female empowerment. To me, quite simply, it was a brave image on the cover of a great magazine—a stunning work of art that conveyed a potent message that challenged a repressed society."
1999: "You don't want to be buttoned up, like Debbie Gibson,'" Photographer David LaChapelle told a teenaged Britney Spears when when recalling his Rolling Stone shoot with the singer. LaChapelle's Lolita-inspired image pushed all the right societal buttons and helped launched Britney's star that much higher. And when parents freaked about the exposure? Britney gave a classic "Who, me?" response, saying: "Have you seen MTV—all those in thongs?"
2014: Seemingly, any magazine cover fronted by Kim Kardashian is destined to spark controversy. While it didn't quite blow up the Internet, it did launch hundreds of memes. The image was shot by legendary photographer and illustrator Jean-Paul Goude (famous for his boundary-pushing work with singer Grace Jones), in which Kim replicates one of the photog's previous works, Carolina Beaumont, New York, 1976. Thanks to the Internet age, the newest iteration continues to inspire: This week's issue of Entertainment Weekly features the foul-mouthed teddy bear from the movie Ted, spoofing Kim's cover.
2015: Perhaps the Internet can't be broken. If anything would have done it, we would have thought it to be Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair cover, which was revealed online last week and hits newsstands tomorrow. The groundbreaking cover not only sparked a conversation about gender transition, it launched the "Call Me ___" Vanity Fair cover meme, in which people create their own version of the cover, using personalized names and images.