Cosmopolitan

In America, a new magazine was bold enough to put sex and the single girl firmly on the agenda. The magazine was Cosmopolitan and Helen Gurley Brown was the first editor.

Cosmo reflected the times and discussed subjects people hadn't publicly discussed before, such as how to achieve the perfect orgasm. It made women think and men blush.

In 1972, a British version was released with Joyce Hopkirk as the first editor. It was heralded as a female version of Playboy, cost 20p and was an instant hit with British women. They had never seen anything like it before.

Liberated and glamorous, the Cosmo cover girl made a statement to its readers. The magazine deliberately avoided famous faces, believing that with unknowns on the cover every girl reading would look at the picture and mentally visualise themselves as the 'Cosmo Girl'