Besides the fact that the newsstand price is about $4/issue, and I pay just $10 flat for a whole year's worth of magazines. No, what I'm talking about is a fact little-known outside this special club of people who subscribe to the magazine on a regular basis: we get different covers. Better covers, I must say.
Harper's Bazaar newsstand covers don't really stand out from every other magazine out there--huge faces with loud words graffittied all over them. "Fabulous at Every Age!" is a popular Bazaar saying. "Bags! SHOES! 437 New Looks! Beauty STEALS!" I really hate how these kinds of covers treat us like we're stupid.
But oh, the subscriber covers! I'm not sure if other magazines do this, but I prefer Harper's Bazaar to most other fashion magazines because of it (the only other one I love is
W, with its awesome photography in that fabulous large format). Every month I look forward to receiving that delicious piece of artwork in the mail, showcasing that issue's lovely celebrity in
some sweeping, epic gown, striking a
whimsical, gestural pose against a
cinematic backdrop. Oh, how I love it. So much that I painstakingly collected some of the most striking covers from the past couple of years and created diptychs so you can compare the subscriber covers to the regular newsstand covers. You're welcome.
