A bod for business and a head for sin.
I bought a 1989 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine on eBay.
Hi! I’m Keris. I’m an author writing about writing and books and music and life, and the last song I listened to was Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye by Leonard Cohen, after it was mentioned in a book I was reading in bed this morning (woke up at half five).
First of all, I wanted to say thank you for all your lovely comments on last week’s post about my lovely mum.
Secondly, yesterday I did this shoulder release yoga and it managed to get into parts of my shoulder/neck that I’ve never accessed before. Recommended!
Thirdly! A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned on Notes that I’d bought a 1989 Cosmopolitan magazine (on eBay) for book research.
I wanted one from 1989 when I was 18 and I picked this one because something on the cover is relevant to a future novel idea (and the article was actually very helpful!). The model is Kelly Brennan. She was in the video for Sign Your Name by Sananda Maitreya (then Terence Trent D’Arby), she still models and she’s still gorgeous.
Maybe it’s because much of my brain is stuck in 1989, but much of the magazine in general seems pretty contemporary. The adverts age it, a reference to ‘Mrs Thatcher’s speech to the Royal Society’ pulled me up, and many of the articles are written by men, but if I hadn’t known, I don’t think I would have guessed it was 35 years old.
There’s a piece called Your Go-Green Guide about how ‘decades of greed have ruined the environment, but learning to think green could be our salvation.’ Obviously progress has been made since this article - remember CFCs, acid rain, the ozone layer? (I always remember those terrible non-aerosol squirty hairsprays) - and yet somehow we’re still f•cked.
In property news, an article entitled Will You Be Priced Out? suggests rising interest rates needn’t mean you can’t buy a house of your own. They probably do though, eh. There’s also a piece about employers admitting the need for better childcare. Fingers crossed!
On the culture pages, Working Girl and Crossing Delancey were new releases. (Imagine a time before Working Girl!) There’s an article about the making of The Tall Guy (which I haven’t seen) and the preview of Punchline (also haven’t seen) includes the line “Certainly Tom Hanks has never had the chance to display his acting ability so well.”
Aspects of Love was the hot theatre ticket. Sheena Easton “has a brand new sexy image” on an album influenced by “her rumoured more-than-professional relationship with Prince” and produced by Jellybean Benitez. (Few names take me back to the 80s faster than Jellybean Benitez.)
The perfume inserts are still scented. Obsession for Men only faintly (if you didn’t huff this constantly in the early 90s because Matt Goss wore it, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to smell it) but Byzance by Rochas was unstuck and still strong. Smells like time travel (and, per google, bergamot and pear).
There’s a couple of ye olde Tinder adverts. Do you enjoy smoking, drinking, children?
But before you start dating, you might want to sort out your fanny, deal with your nervous irritability and get a better job.
I’m pretty sure I did that ICS journalism course. But clearly I should have gone into sales, since this paid more then than I’m earning now.
Which reminds me… Paid subscriptions help support me and my writing, plus you get to read extracts from my various works-in-progress. Currently: Dead Frog Lane.
(If you’d like to upgrade, but can’t pay right now, email me and I will add you, no questions asked.)
If you’d prefer not to commit to a regular payment, you can buy me a coffee. Thanks!
A couple (or few) years ago there was a thing on Twitter about looking up the issue of Cosmo from the month you were born. It is enlightening. Here’s mine (US Cosmo cos the UK one hadn’t started yet).
If you know anyone you think might like this newsletter, I’d love it if you would share it. Thank you!
I was 25 back in 1989. Reading the topics on the cover it could be from 2024.
I will be trying to parse that Volvic ad for the next twenty years.