Men's magazines: an A-Z

Front: launch issue of the men's magazine with 3D specs

Diana Dors in 3D: number 3 in the Stereo Glamour series in the 1950s

Men's magazines in 3D Back to top

This gimmick has been used from the 1950s through to the present day. In each case, the image is viewed through glasses with red/green lenses. Examples include:

• a series of 3D glamour magazines in the 1950s featuring a particular model in 3D, such as Diana Dors in 3D and Two Eves in 3D;
• Clubroom;
• Lilliput (December 1954);
• the launch issue of Front in November 1988.

Diana Dors on the cover of 66

66 [closed] Back to top

Town & Country Publications, Croydon, Surrey. 1956-
Each issue featured a star of film or show business on the cover of this pocket publication. Examples included Diana Dors, Shirley Anne Field, Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe. Its marketing line at one stage was: 'The magazine which is a souvenir book.' The company, which earned the nickname 'Toco', published a range of pin-up titles, including Fanfare, Spick, Span and Beautiful Britons.

About Town (March 1961). Large format mainstream men's magazine. The cover photograph of prime minister Harold McMillan was by Terence Donovan. The art editor was Tom Wolsey

About Town [closed] Back to top

Cornmarket/ Haymarket, London, bought
Man About Town from Tailor & Cutter and abbreviated it to About Town (and later Town). Mainstream title that tried to avoid a pin-up approach (the company was - still is - owned by Tory politician Michael Heseltine).
See Town

Joaquim Pheonix on the launch issue of Another Man

Another Man Back to top

Another Man Publishing, Autumn/Winter 2005-
Jefferson Hack and Rankin Waddell - the duo behind Dazed and Another Magazine - publish this photograph-laden tome of men's fashion.

The first issue included a 10-page shoot of Kate Moss modelling Dior Homme's autumn clothes. It begins: 'She sells beer, she sells cigarettes and clothes...' She is also Hack's former girlfriend and mother of their daughter. The issue probably went to press before the 'Cocaine Kate' scandal broke in the Daily Mirror because it carried Burberry advertising with Moss - the company, along with others, dropped her over the controversy.
Dazed profile

Arena - showing a typical men's magazine cover at the time, of Michael Caine (autumn 1988)

Arena - which kicked off modern men's magazines in 1986 - celebrates its 100th issue

Jude Law mimicking Michael Caine in 2004

Arena Back to top

[Wagadon/Emap, quarterly/monthly, 1986-]
Male readers who grew out of Nick Logan’s The Face had nowhere to go, so Logan thought up Arena as a quarterly, niche title, with an editorial mix of fashion, fads and fiction, and again designed by Neville Brody. It hit the streets in 1986.

Peter Howarth, a later editor, has said there was no conscious decision to make a male version of existing women's magazines. 'Nick Logan, launched The Face in 1980 because it was a magazine he wanted to read. But six years on he wanted to read a different magazine because he had moved on - as had all The Face readers - so he decided to do a men's magazine. It was never really a gap in the market; he just wanted to make the sort of magazine he wanted to read.'

In November 1988, the strain of having a second title led Logan to sell 40 per cent of his company, Wagadon, to Vogue publisher Condé Nast. He said at the time: 'The magazines are still under our control. But the deal will allow us to grow at a natural pace, knowing there's a cushion of support under us. It also takes away the administrative burden, which has doubled since the launch of Arena.'

Arena sales rose to 66,500 copies an issue and became a spur for Condé Nast to launch a British edition of its US title GQ. Logan denied being formally involved. Condé Nast pulled out of Wagadon in the spring of 1999 and Logan had to sell the company to Emap.
Arena also published a bi-annual fashion special, Hommes Plus.
Wagadon profile
Emap profile

Jordan & Peter Andre on the cover of Attitude, a reference to singer KD Laing being shaved in a barber’s chair by model Cindy Crawford for the cover of Vanity Fair

Attitude Back to top

Northern & Shell/SMD, April 1994-
Monthly lifestyle magazine for gay men.
SMD/Remnant profile

Beautiful Britons was full of glamour pin-ups in a pocket format. First issue above, issue 211 below

Beautiful Britons [closed] Back to top

Town and Country Publications, 1955-1975?
Pocket format pin-up monthly that called itself 'The magazine of eye appeal.' It specialised in photographs of ordinary women rather than models or film stars and published at least 250 issues. The company, which earned the nickname 'Toco', published a range of titles, including Spick, Span and 66.

Bizarre, first issue, in March 1996

Bizarre, in March 2006

Bizarre Back to top

John Brown/IFG/Dennis, Mar/Apr 96-
Viz and Fortean Times publisher John Brown came up with Bizarre in 1996. The main selling point was a 10-page section of bizarre images and news. Increasingly, though, the title has focused less on the bizarre and more on increasing its ‘babe factor’ and cover of bizarre sexual parctices (particularly on its covers). Often comes with sealed section of classified 'adult' advertising.

The first issue had legal problems and many copies appeared on newsagents shelves with a page removed; a sticker on the cover made a note of this.
John Brown profile

Blender (CD-Rom) [closed] To top

Dennis, 1995?-
Dennis launched this experimental CD-Rom in the mid-1990s (long before the title was used for its US music magazine). It only lasted a few issues.
Dennis profile

A colour Christmas special of Blighty (1916)

Blighty, a 6d weekly, in May 1950

Blighty [closed] Back to top

1916-1920; 21 October 1939 - 29 November 1958 (then see Parade)
Humorous men's magazine that catered for the troops in the first world war was relaunched for the second. At various stages, branded itself the 'Forces choice, now Family Favourite' and the 'National Humorous Magazine'. Pocket book format until relaunched as Blighty Parade in 1958. Came out every Wednesday.

Blighty Parade, 11 April 1959 featuring a serialisation of the film Gigi

Blighty Parade [closed] To top

City Magazines, 45 St Pancras Way, NW1. Printed by Eric Bemrose, Long Lane, Liverpool 9.
See Blighty

Blitz November 1988

Blitz [closed] Back to top

Jigsaw Publications, September 1980-?
Launched just three months after The Face, and a month before i-D, by Carey Labovitch, Blitz was originally an arts magazine. However, like The Face, it broadened its coverage to create an new genre, the style sector, with the other two competitors.

Boys Toys mixes lifestyle and women with gadgets and cars

Boys Toys Back to top

Freestyle, Mar/Apr 99-
Editor Kirsty Robinson put model Maxi Fielding on the first issue of this magazine with the strapline: ‘…because you only live once’. The magazine covers lifestyle, cars, fashion, sport, travel, style, women, bikes and gadgets.
Freestyle profile