Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Cover girls

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McCall's Magazine started way back in 1870, when Scottish immigrant James McCall began designing and printing his line of sewing patterns.  He advertised his patterns in a serial called The Queen: Illustrating McCall's Bazaar Glove Fitting Patterns.  When he died in 1884, his widow became president of the McCall Company.  She hired a new editor who started publishing homemaking and handiwork information and the magazine took off from there.


Every girl who learned to sew in Home Ec class remembers digging a McCall's pattern out of the drawer at the fabric store. And we all knew McCall's Magazine-- it had a readership of over 8 million in the 1960's.

The magazine struggled along into the 1990's, and in 2000 entertainer Rosie O'Donnell became the editor. In 2001 McCall's was renamed Rosie.  O'Donnell stated, "I wanted a magazine that celebrates real women, that understands that they care about more than waistlines or the latest makeup styles or fashions, that they want to be relevant and help each other.

Rosie ceased publication at the end of 2002.

Fashions and styles change, along with the ideal of feminine beauty.
But Rosie was wrong-- some things never change.

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