Death And Rehab In Celebrity And Fashion Magazine Covers

Isn’t the vaunted cover real estate space of glossy celeb mags supposed to be a zone brimming with all the life-affirming trappings of glitz, glamour and the fabulosity of materialism? Apparently, fashion and celebrity magazine covers are trending more and more towards a district wrought with cautionary undertones. The New York Post’s Keith J. Kelly, by contrast, notes that ”Death seemed to be a bigger seller than births last year in the magazine world.” Citing the Media Industry Newsletter Kelly says that People magazine’s best-selling issues of all time were their two death of Princess Di covers as well as their burning Twin Towers issue.

And not including their annual Sexiest Man Alive and Best/Worst-Dressed specials, People’s 2007 best selling issue was the September 10 apparent Owen Wilson suicide cover story. Also, thus far, People’s Heath Ledger cover is their best seller for 2008.

Ruth La Ferla’s Sunday Styles story on ”A Glossy Rehab For Tattered Careers,” has a different take. The story chronicles Lindsay Lohan’s push — from the covers of Paper, New York and Harper’s Bazaar — ”to overcome scandal through the redemptive power of glossy fashion imagery.” And while, yes, Lohan and other rehabilitating celebrities are made to look swishy on the covers, La Ferla writes, ”it also pays returns for the magazines, as scandal-craving readers snap up the issues, which often promise a star’s first on-the-record account of her troubles.”

No wonder the cautious Hillary Clinton opted out altogether of Vogue magazine-coverdom.

(image via justjared)

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