''CosmoGirl'', also stylized as ''CosmoGIRL!'', was an American magazine based in New York City, published from 1999 until 2008. The teenage spin-off of ''
Cosmopolitan'' magazine, it targeted teenage girls and featured fashion and celebrities. It was published ten times a year and reached approximately eight million readers before folding. The last issue was released in December 2008; thereafter, subscribers received issues of fellow
Hearst publication ''
Seventeen
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
* ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine
* ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...
''.
The magazine was founded by
Atoosa Rubenstein, who was asked to create a mock issue. She repeatedly scrawled the word "Girl!" in bed using fuchsia lipstick for use on the magazine cover. When she and her husband woke up, they were covered in lipstick.
Ann Shoket was the executive editor before leaving the magazine to replace Atoosa Rubenstein as the editor-in-chief of fellow Hearst magazine, ''Seventeen''. The last
editor-in-chief was Susan Schulz, who was reassigned to special projects at Hearst Magazines.
After the final issue, ''CosmoGirl'' initially continued online, similar to ''
Elle Girl'', of which the last printed issue appeared in June 2006. In late June/early July 2010, the website was merged with that of ''Seventeen''.
Content
Inside each issue of CosmoGirl, there was an interview and photo shoot with a celebrity, a beauty section featuring hair, skin, and makeup tips and trends, a fashion section highlighting various spreads of trends and clothes, and the Stars section which included articles on celebrities other than those featured on the cover. A monthly free calendar allowed readers to win various prizes by typing in a code to enter for a chance to win a prize on the magazine's website.
A section introduced in March 2008 named JSYK (Just So You Know) contained advice and stories of how readers fell in love, and a shocking real-life story. There were also embarrassing anecdotes, and a
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
comic featuring a character named CG. The magazine's content was rounded out with the Body & Soul section, which covered sexual health, mental health, fitness, and nutrition.
Project 2024
Project 2024 was created in 2002. It was named 2024 because that was when the youngest readers would be thirty-five years old, old enough to run for
President of the United States. Project 2024 was about helping young girls realize their dreams and has been supported by
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Hillary Clinton, fashion designer
Michael Kors, music mogul
Sean "Diddy" Combs, and
MySpace creator
Tom Anderson.
Editions in other languages
There have also been editions of the magazine in other countries, including the
UK, the
Netherlands, the
Czech Republic,
Turkey,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Hong Kong and
Indonesia, all written in the country's native language. (See also the
External links section.)
The UK ''CosmoGirl'' closed in June 2007. The magazine was considered unsustainable, since many adolescent girls had migrated to the internet or to other magazines targeted at an older age group.
The last Indonesian issue was published in September 2017. Its website remained online, but was no longer updated. Since November 2020, it is an unrelated aggregator website.
In the Netherlands, the last Dutch ''CosmoGirl'' was released in June 2021. Its publisher,
Audax Groep, considered it no longer financially viable.
References
External links
''NB: all links below are
archived snapshots from the
Internet Archive.''
CosmoGirl website (United States)
Other languages
British CosmoGirl (United Kingdom)Czech CosmoGirlDutch CosmoGirl (Netherlands)Hong Kong CosmoGirlIndonesian CosmoGirlTurkish CosmoGirl
{{Hearst
1999 establishments in New York City
Defunct women's magazines published in the United States
Hearst Communications publications
Magazines disestablished in 2008
Magazines established in 1999
Magazines published in New York City
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Teen magazines
Women's fashion magazines