11 Magazine Covers That So Genius Were Reedited

Magazine cover photography is always more than a simple image. This is especially true of famous publications with a rich past. Interestingly, despite the diversity of modern possibilities and new ideas, many print editions re-release old covers. Sometimes it’s a tribute to the past, but sometimes the reedited cover hides a whole story.

O awesome.club decided to make a selection of the most successful covers that were reissued. By the way, we noticed that a magazine usually repeats its own covers every few years.

Last year, Playboy, one of the most popular men’s magazines, recreated the covers of its most famous editions, published from the 70’s to the 90’s. The most important detail of the published photos are the models, since they are the same ones that posed for the magazine 30 years ago. The idea came from the son of the famous magazine’s founder, Cooper Hefner. On one of the covers is the ex-wife of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and Cooper’s mother Kimberly Hefner. In total, 7 covers of this type were made.

Another Playboy model, Monica St. Pierre, recreates the cover of the issue published in the late 70’s. She was very happy to remember her youth and collaborate again with the magazine. As for her slender body, you can’t believe that nearly 40 years have passed since her first photo shoot.

In 2016, Cleo magazine re-edited its first cover to make its exact copy in the latest print issue. In both, the models pose in white dresses and wear an elegant hairstyle. The March print edition was the last, as the magazine’s sales dropped significantly. Now Cleo can only be read in digital format.

Several years ago, actress Kate Hudson participated in a photo shoot for the cover of the September issue of W Magazine. Hudson’s image is a clear reference to the iconic September issue of Harper’s Bazaar, featuring model Nadja Auermann, photographed by the famous Patrick Demarchelier. The image repeats itself down to the smallest details: from the dramatic eye makeup and burgundy lipstick to the piercing blue eyes and nearly colorless brows. Apparently, in this way, the editors of W Magazine paid tribute to the famous 1994 cover.

The original cover was published in the late 1980s. At that time, actress Lisa Bonet, the protagonist of the television series “The Bill Cosby Show”, made a rather unusual photo shoot. After 30 years, her daughter, actress Zoë Kravitz, decided to repeat her mother’s image and, at the same time, make her more provocative by posing shirtless.

8 years ago, Monica Bellucci appeared on the cover of the Italian magazine Vanity Fair with her 5-month-old daughter Leoni. It was a brave act not only for the actress, but for the magazine’s editors. However, later on, the babies reappeared on the covers more than once. For example, in 2015, the Australian edition of Elle also addressed the mother/child theme. Recently, US tennis star Serena Williams photographed for the cover of Vogue with her 4-month-old baby Alexis Olympia in her arms.

The first cover published in the 1960s starred model Jean Shrimpton, wearing a spacesuit-like cap. Most likely, the photo was inspired by the space race: at the time, man had already gone into space. After many years, the cover of Harper’s Bazaar India was published with an explicit reference to the cover from 50 years ago. In addition, the Indian edition made 9 versions at a time, as the issue of the magazine was dedicated to cultural diversity. The cover featured Korean and Muslim models, as well as top model Tyra Banks.

In the mid-1970s, the first issue of People magazine was published. On the cover came the famous model and actress Mia Farrow playing Daisy from the movie “The Great Gatsby”. At that time, they were preparing the premiere of the film inspired by the novel. When the magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary, the editors decided to re-edit the first cover, but this time with Taylor Swift, who promoted her album “1989”.

With his cover for Vogue, the famous fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh marked the “age of top models” and immortalized the most important models of the time: Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatiana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford. Later, Lindberg re-edited her famous cover for the French edition of Numéro with modern tops: Sasha Luss, Catherine McNeil, Aymeline Valade, Soo Joo Park and Daphne Groeneveld.

Once again, Harper’s Bazaar has reissued another old cover. On the original cover of the New Year’s issue, young Kate Moss posed. 20 years later, the publication produced the same cover with Nicole Kidman promoting the film “Grace of Monaco”.

In the early 2000s, the French magazine Numéro published on its cover a photo of the young model Natalia Vodiánova with an unusual make-up on her face. Fifteen years later, the same photographer took Rihanna’s photo for Elle magazine. The singer promoted her cosmetics brand and the heart on her face was designed with a product from her new line.

The original cover of Esquire magazine, featuring a model allegedly shaving, was published in the mid-1960s. At the time, the theme was the masculinization of American women. It’s funny, but this question was met with hostility, which made Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak refuse to pose for the magazine. As a result, the cover starred an Italian actress. 43 years later, in honor of its 75th anniversary, Esquire decided to reissue the outrageous cover, this time with Jessica Simpson.

The cover of the traditional “Hollywood” edition of Vanity Fair has become a true meme this year. Netizens tried to count the actresses’ hands and feet, but it was in vain. At first, everyone thought Reese Witherspoon had three legs (due to her dress’s shade), then they found Oprah Winfrey’s third hand. It seems like it was just a funny story, but after a few months, GQ magazine published a cover making a parody. And some say that Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones was very offended by this attitude on the part of her colleagues.

Do you think re-editing old covers is an original decision or nothing more than plagiarism?