InStyle (“a new magazine from People,” as it was called rather quaintly) launched with casual fanfare in 1994. The first cover featured Barbra Streisand, in riding pants, an argyle vest, and sedate fingernails (Barbra, is it really you?), leaning on an armoire adorned with tasteful ceramics. The magazine’s focus then was all celebrity, all access, all the time. Along with Barbra’s “casual country home,” the reader could visit “Reba McEntire’s house of hope,” “John Travolta’s ultimate jet-away,” and “Carrie Fisher’s grown-up playhouse.” As the years passed, through the ’90s and into the early aughts, the celebrities grew shinier and the pages thicker. Early InStyle reflected the times, and my, weren’t those days heady?
Of course, we find ourselves in a rather different moment. The celebrity bubble hasn’t burst exactly, but…
