Anatomy of a magazine cover

My hazy memories of making a magazine cover 35 years ago. And what it can teach us about creative process now

It’s a black-and white photo.

A freckled-face girl, in her mid-teens, on a windy beach. She’s wearing a feathered head-dress — probably a child’s dress-up toy. And she’s laughing, a goofy grin that shows slightly uneven teeth and makes her eyes shine and her nose wrinkle. It’s not a glamorous shot. But it is joyful.

The year is 1990. The photograph is by Corinne Day, who is now considered a pioneer of a whole new aesthetic in fashion photography, although she often saw herself as more documentary/reportage. The stylist was Melanie Ward, now a hugely influential figure in the fashion world.

The model is of course a then-unknown Kate Moss. It was the second time she’d been on the cover of The Face, the magazine I edited at the time. But the first time anyone really noticed.

She was still at school when she did this shoot, and it would be a few more years before she would be routinely referred to as a supermodel.

This cover has become iconic.

It has featured in countless shows, books, articles, most recently in the Culture Shift…