Yes, we know it's all about us, but we are celebrating our 100th issue. And when canvassing opinion on the best and worst covers out of the 100, who better to ask than those who live and breathe Wallpaper*, who are never backward in coming forward and who can be objective in a subjective evaluation? Step up team Wallpaper*.
(Noticeably absent is the opinion of our Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers, who wishes to remain impartial on the subject.)
The Editor-at-Large: Suzanne Trocmé
Top: July-August 2004
I love the Milton Glaser for its bravery and because it is FAB and shows we stuck our necks out. In effect, it was our first Art cover. The first and the latest are also fantastic, and the tenth anniversary was good too for all its trickery and, again, bravery.
Turkey: May 2001
Although I rarely like to look at the negative, my absolute least favourite was the Claudia Schiffer issue, simply because it was our token celeb cover thus still shrieks. I have absolutely nothing against Claudia Schiffer but cannot see the point in introducing celebs and then not continuing. It is the most incongruous. It was fraught with disaster from the beginning.
The Executive Managing Editor:
Jessica Firmin
Top: January 2007
Strong, to-the-point graphic that perfectly demonstrates the idea of a secret elite while cleverly incorporating the asterisk.
Turkey: June 2005
For me it’s anything that costs the earth but doesn't look like it. In particular W* 079: an average-looking girl in an average-looking landscape. Shot in the south of France but it looks like Epping Forest.
The Editorial Director: Richard Cook
Top: January-February 2000
Confident, clear, crisp and comprehensively one-dimensional. Magazines can't be everything to everybody and you are in doubt here as to where this issue is taking you and just as importantly, where it isn't. Plus it's an arresting image that would still look just as different on the newsstand today as it did then.
Turkey: January-February 2004
I'm still shocked that this particular look - stolid correctional shoes, skimpy speedos and two impossibly heavy woollen knits plus an exhibition-sized man bag - didn't become a staple of your better beaches from Amagansett to the Zuider Zee, but the fact remains that it just didn't.
The Design/Art Editor: Alex Bagner
Top: October 2006
So simple and honest it doesn't really look like a magazine cover - it's more like the front of a big hardback art book or gallery catalogue. It was the kind of issue I felt really proud to be carrying around and took it as a personal attack when I found issues in newsagents that had been crinkled or crushed.
Turkey: March 2003 / November 2003
Both covers say nothing to me and give me no inspiration to want to find out where they came from, who did them or what they stand for. The woman on the front of the March cover looks vacant and is wearing a frankly ridiculous garment for the beach, while the couple on November just look a bit greasy and pained at having to pose in such a ridiculous way.
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