Club Friday Q&A: Ingrie Williams and Emily MacCulloch on the Art & Science of Magazine Covers
By Stacy Lee Kong
Image: Colin Gaudet
If you're a magazine nerd, you might think quite a lot about magazine covers (ahem, 🙋🏽♀️) but most people likely don't understand the work, thought and (sometimes) superstition that goes into creating the perfect cover—or why covers are so important, even in an age of declining newsstand sales. So, for the last Q&A of the year, I asked my friends Ingrie Williams and Emily MacCulloch of The T-Zone to talk about how magazine covers come together, who is deemed cover-worthy and their picks for best and worst magazine covers of the year.
So, for people who don't work in magazines, what are magazine covers actually for?
Ingrie: I would say that covers are to sell the magazine. They're to catch your attention, get you to pick it up physically and take it home. It's the greatest selling card that they could possibly have.
The primary purpose is definitely as a marketing vehicle, so it's always very interesting to me when people talk about them as a purely editorial thing, because they're not. But I do also think they can be good for brand-building. I remember 10 or 12 years ago, being in a meeting about cover options and hearing an editor-in-chief say, "Well, you know, we can't put a Black woman on the cover because Black women don't sell." She was regretful—she said it like, "I'm so sorry to say this, but I just know this as fact"—but that has made me angry and sad for literally 10 or 12 years. But also, every time I see a Black woman on a magazine cover now, I laugh. So, there's this political side of it too where, sure, maybe the data says that Black women don't sell, but what is your marketing responsibility versus your brand responsibility versus your ethical and moral responsibility? And also, if you choose shitty photos, then of course they won't sell.
Emily: The other thing is the data that you're collecting. Yes, you have to look at that data, [but] how many Black women have been on covers? What are the projects that they're promoting? There are all these little variants that it's like, when you actually look at the data, can you trust it?
Yes! I don't know if they're still using this tool, but when I was at Rogers, the art department would mock up several versions of the cover, and we'd send it as a survey to a focus group made up of existing readers. So to your point, Emily, if you're sending covers to the same group of people you always send to, because that's who you're shaping the magazine for, and those people are white ladies in their 50s and 60s... what do you think is gonna happen?
Ingrie: I also just want to go back to the sentence, which I've heard many times. I'm sure we all have. "Putting a Black woman on the cover doesn't sell." 'Doesn't sell' just tells you everything about what the goal of the cover is. I remember for so many years, you would get one cover [featuring a Black woman]—usually December, which is the smallest issue, usually Rihanna or Halle Berry in a red dress, just very formulaic. Then Vogue did back-to-back covers with Lupita [Nyong'o] and Serena [Williams], and I took it as a win. I was like, 'Okay, something is happening'... Which is so sad when you think about it, because there were years of the same white person on the cover, with one person of colour with light skin popping in every, like, two years.
Emily: [Magazines like I-D] have always had an interesting mixture of different types of people on the covers, but you can certainly see a shift in bigger magazines like InStyle, Allure and Vanity Fair. But people are not shopping magazines like they were before, so I'd be curious to hear what the key points are in cover meetings now.
I'm super interested in that question. If sales can't be your primary driver anymore—because sales are shit—what makes someone cover-worthy?
Ingrie: Clicks.
Emily: Also buzz, I think. Getting people talking. For example, that Vanity Fair cover with Nicole Kidman in the Miu Miu miniskirt, which was so Photoshopped. It was not a good cover, but everybody was talking about it. Not necessarily positively, but talking about it. I think brands must be looking at that kind of thing—is it getting news stories? Are people talking about it? Are people going to pick it up just because it's buzzy?
That also makes me think about the actual aesthetic of the cover. Like, on Lizzo's recent Vanity Fair cover, she's got kind of a mullet going on. It's not a 'pretty' look, which stood out to me because in the past, unless you were an I-D or some other edgy publication, covers did tend to have safer, prettier styling. So, it was interesting to see something more adventurous.
Emily: I was at Glow for so long, and cover discussions there were interesting because it was on newsstands, but that was not their primary [method of distribution]. It was really about subscribers. But even so, it was always like, "Oh, that can't go on the cover." Not in a bad way. More like, "We wish we could do something more adventurous for the cover. This would be an amazing cover shot." You're also dealing with a client, so it's different, but it was always really interesting to [get feedback] like, "In this shoot, you can have some edgier shots in the actual story but not for the cover."
Ingrie: Even colours! I remember that being such a controversial conversation, like, "Oh, we can't use this colour because that doesn't sell or people respond more to this one."
Emily: Red was always very dicey. People say it can really turn people off. Pinks were a safe bet, and then there were colours that were considered more of a gamble.
Which is so funny to me because I was looking back at my favourite covers of the year and they were all super saturated neons and the royal blues.
Ingrie: I think that's also a sign of the time. We're in an era that is a little depleted when it comes to joy and vibrancy. Magazines have to catch your attention but also, ideally, inspire a feeling, and I feel like those saturated colours elicit that response and maybe hit home a little bit more these days, as opposed to the past when people were happy.
Oh, I remember happiness. It was a different time! There's this other angle to who gets to be on a cover that I've been thinking about, too. Someone sent me a post by a Canadian PR talking about the most recent cover of Fashion, which features Ashley Park from Emily in Paris, and they were saying, great as Park is, how do we build a star system in Canada if Canadian stars aren't deemed 'big' enough to put on covers? We've talked about race and even cover design, but what about this very parochial, Canadian thing where we don't necessarily recognize our own people as cover-worthy?
Ingrie: I also did a stint at Glow and I know for a fact that [we were] working with U.S. talent agents and PR people. There was never a Canadian under consideration for a cover; for the cover specifically, everything was done in the States. But Elle Canada did have a cover in February that featured four Indigenous women. Visually, it was not my favourite, but those are the faces and the stories I would like to see more of. So, somebody's doing a little bit of something, but we do need more people doing more of it.
Okay, but why is it that the covers that are statement-making are sometimes not the best covers, visually speaking?
Emily: That makes me think of the Kamala Harris Vogue cover. Yeah, when she was on the cover of Vogue. It's so amazing that she’s on the cover of Vogue—
Ingrie: But the photo was a little meh.
Emily: I was so excited that she was on there. I didn't have a problem that she was wearing Converse—there were so many things that people picked apart that I don't have issues with. She's the one who owns her brand, so [I don't think] she needs to be styled to the fucking T.
Ingrie: But put that up against a Michelle Obama Vogue cover, right?
Emily: Right. Because you want to get excited, but then you're like, why is the execution so shitty? The lighting isn't even good.
There are a lot of Vogue covers where the execution is bad, especially when it comes to lighting—I'm thinking of Simone Biles and U.S. Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, specifically. I mean, it's bullshit that we even have the idea that a Black woman or a person of colour landing a cover is a win, but it's also so annoying when this thing that's supposed to be a win doesn't feel like one. This might be unfair, but I also feel like the execution has to be extra good on the statement-making covers so no one can be like, "You didn't do this because it's the right thing to do aesthetically, visually or brand-wise; you did it for wokeness."
Emily: That's a very good point. I think it's interesting, too, to talk a little bit about the evolution of who gets on the cover? Because really, when did that start? A lot of my favourite covers of all time are models, not celebrities.
Ingrie: But that still speaks to who gets to be on the cover. Those were a very specific type of model.
Emily: Yeah, of course. Within that genre, there were still very slim pickings. And I'm not saying we should be looking at models, don't get me wrong. Standards at that time were so fucked up. But when I think about magazine covers, I still get more excited to see a beautiful cover with an iconic model over pretty much any celebrity. One of my favorite covers of all time (that actually was from this year) was the Naomi Campbell British Vogue cover with her baby. I love a model cover. I will stan a model cover forever.
Ingrie: I also stan a model cover. I like a super. My favourite cover of all time is Christy Turlington on the October 2002 cover of Vogue. If she were on a cover today, amazing. Linda Evangelista's recent British Vogue cover, also amazing. I think it's nostalgia, but also that these women are older. They are not 21, 22, 23 and they still have a career outside the zone that they were told they were going to expire at, so it's nice to see that. It gives you hope as a woman of a certain age. But yeah, it is a tricky space to be in, because they’re supermodels; they're not regular-size people.
Confession: I love a celebrity cover. One of my all-time favourite covers is Muhammad Ali's 1968 Esquire cover, where he was dressed as St. Sebastian, a third-century Christian martyr. I love when covers tell a story, which this one does. Okay, shifting gears a bit: let's talk about your all-time favourites.
Emily: I have a few faves of all time. Maybe my favourite cover of all time—because I remember it so well and absolutely love it so much, and it just speaks to my love of beauty—is Jessica Stam on the September 2004 cover of I-D. Pat McGrath did the makeup, and her makeup skills are obviously unrivalled. She's a genius. And this look is so creative; even for I-D, you'd never see makeup like this on a cover. It's clown-like, but so beautiful. And it's so timeless—you could that be a cover that came out this year and it would still have people talking. It's just so good. It's iconic, in my opinion. There was also a Gemma Ward cover for I-D from 2007 that I also love. The green Lupita cover for the September 2019 issue of Vanity Fair. That was another one of my all-time faves for the colours alone. The Naomi cover was one my faves of the year but it's also one of my all-time favorites.
And then lastly, one of my favourites of all time was New York magazine. In 2019, they shot the most powerful drag queens in America. It was like 30 or 40 covers and they were all striking. I could put all of those covers on your wall as a collage or a piece of art and it would just be epic.
Ingrie: My all-time fave, because it is of a time, is Christy Turlington's October 2002 Vogue cover, her silver yoga pose cover. It's 2002, it's Christy—she's my favorite supermodel—it's minimalist. I like the silky texture of the fabric, the cutaway, the jewelry, the clean, beautiful makeup. And that's probably the first time I'd ever seen that pose [on a magazine cover]. All together, it just made an impact. There are two Lupita covers that are favourites; I really loved her March 2018 Allure cover. Not a lot of mainstream magazines, or magazines that aren't specifically for Black audiences, would put a Black woman with that hairstyle on the cover, so I think that's a major, significant point. She was also on the January 2018 cover of Vogue, standing on a paddle board in the water. That one's another yoga pose. Naomi Campbell's November 2020 Vogue cover. It's a very simple set, but again, she's iconic. She was just a little angel in her sculptural dress. She doesn't have to do much. I mean, she's not even looking at you—which I think is also part of the cover thing. They have to have eye contact, they can't just be looking off or what have you.
Emily: Like, where are the stats on that, for real?
That's the thing! Because there are all real psychology-of-reading things right? Your eye does go to the top right-hand corner of a spread; that is true. One of my favourite covers is the Vibe memorial issue for Tupac and it's just his face, taking up the entire page, staring at you. That eye contact matters a lot. But sometimes you don't actually need that. It's about the composition and aesthetic of the image. One celebrity who I think gives great covers is Rihanna; she's done two Vogue covers that are among my favourites. One is the durag cover and the other is the one where she has very skinny eyebrows.
Emily: That one was also on my list. And everyone lost their fucking shit about the eyebrows: "Skinny brows are back!" Which they weren't! Just because Rihanna can do it means nothing.
Ingrie: And she did it for a cover; she didn't do it for real life!
Okay, now tell me what covers you loved this year, and which ones you hated.
Ingrie: I loved Michaela Coel's November 2022 Vogue cover. It was just nuts—the colours, the shapes, the joy encapsulated in a perfect little cover. It doesn’t get better than that. Also, I like that we're starting to see different faces of colour. Like, it's not just Lupita ruling everything. She's amazing, love her, never want to not see her on a cover, but let’s see other people and voices, too.
Did you have a least favourite?
Ingrie: I really hated the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue covers.
Emily: There were so many Photoshop fails.
Ingrie: That shoot must have cost so much money, and that's the best thing you got? [Compare that to] the drag queen one, where it was literally like, come to a studio, be in good lighting and boom, boom, boom, we can bang out so many great shots and get amazing covers out of them. And then you spent like a gazillion dollars to make a small movie set—
Emily: With an incredible cast! And you made them look like shit.
Ingrie: I hated it. Hated it. I also hated that skirt—the Nicole Kidman Miu Miu skirt. Leave it with the fucking skinny eyebrows!
Okay, Emily, over to you: best and worst of the year?
Emily: I love the Elle cover with Precious Lee from April. That was everything I want in a cover: the beauty is gorgeous, the colour, it's a very striking image. I love, love, love. Obviously, Naomi's British Vogue cover was very, very high on my list. I also had the Viola Davis Elle Brasil cover. She had four different covers and they were all so good, I couldn't even pick one from the four. Also the Beyoncé British Vogue cover from the summer, when Renaissance came out. As much as I love Beyoncé, her covers have been really hit or miss, and mostly miss, in my opinion. I don't know why—maybe she can't live up to your expectation of what a Beyoncé cover would be? But I loved that British Vogue cover. And this one is from 2021, but Ingrie, you did a cover story with Cynthia Erivo for Fashion; that’s my favourite cover that they've done in at least the last five years.
Emily: I couldn't pick worst of all time because there are just so many bad ones out there, but I did have a couple; I really hated Vogue's September issue with Jennifer Lawrence. It's so boring and drab. When you're wearing shit makeup that you can put on in a cab, it's just not what I want to see. It doesn't have to be glamorous; it just has to be interesting, beautiful, and well-executed. It should be something interesting to look at, and that had nothing. It was ugly. I hate all of it deeply. I also hated the Timothée Chalamet cover for British Vogue a lot. I love British Vogue. I feel like every cover they do is usually a knockout. But not that cover. It's super boring. Yeah, he has great hair, but I'm not charmed by him, so maybe that's why. I hate the most recent Vanity Fair cover with Margot Robbie, probably because it's triggering for me to see her ribs. And I also really hated that Brad Pitt cover.
I hate that cover so much. All my favourites for this year have saturated colours—Jane Fonda on Glamour, Penelope Cruz on W, Michelle Yeoh on Vogue, Michaela Coel's Vogue cover, for sure—and the colours in that one are saturated, but I don't like the part where he looks like a dead thing. And the article was stupid! I don't know if anyone read it, but it was not good.
Emily: No, thank you. That would not in any way entice me to purchase.
Ingrie: And the article was dumb, so take your stupid expensive skincare that nobody asked for and get out of my face.
Emily: I will say, I really wanted to include a mature woman in my list and it was not easy to find. Jane Fonda has done some great covers.
Ingrie: Helen Mirren had that amazing Allure cover, too. But again, that was how many years ago? 2017?
Emily: Yeah, it was a while ago. I just feel like maybe once a year, we'll get a beautiful, mature cover. But it's so rare.
For more fun, inclusive and smart beauty-related content from Emily and Ingrie, follow The T-Zone on Instagram and check out the website.
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