Glossy Time Capsules #17
Seventeen
September, 1998
Price: $3.99
When I started
this project, my intent was to look at magazines that came out
before I was able to, well, read magazines. So nothing "modern." But then I remembered
Quantum Leap. I used to love that show. However, Sam Beckett could potentially travel (well, be sent to) any date between 1953 and 1995, and yet it seemed like he was always hanging out in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. (He did visit the 80s in a handful of episodes. It just seemed rare.) This made me sad because I could not relate to the 50s-70s. I could, however, relate to the 80s, and I wanted to see that era depicted. And yet it seemed like the creators/writers were so stuck in their nostalgia of the earlier decades that they couldn't easily escape them.
I don't want to be like that.
Which is why today we're looking at a magazine from 1998. This isn't something I found at a garage sale or in a pile at GoodWill. Nope, this was a magazine I had back in 1998 and kept. A mag that I read cover to cover.
When looking at those older magazines, I get to think, "Wow, they used to do that back then!?" 😆
With this one it's like, "Yeah... we used to do that back then." 😥
But let's face it. 1998 was almost 22 years ago. As much as I hate to admit it, this issue is vintage. And it, too, deserves a place in this series.
So... let's take a look at Seventeen magazine, from September, 1998.
This is Brandy. As of 1998, she had some hit songs and was on a TV show. Her photo
on Wikipedia indicates that she looks roughly the same in 2019 as she did back then, so good for her.
FALL FASHION BLOWOUT!
I'm gonna be honest with you. I fully admit that the fashions you'll see below were, in fact, the trends in 1998. I also admit that, even now, looking back, I don't hate them... most of them, anyway.
Trend #1: Clunky shoes
The theory was that if you wore giant clownish shoes, your legs would look skinny by comparison. At least, that was my theory.
Trend #2: Soft, wide-legged jeans
I miss these jeans. Wearing them was like wearing PJs.
Trend #3: Midriffs
Why, oh why, midriffs? Well, we were trying to get away from the Mom Jeans look (pants that rode halfway up our torsos), but low-rise pants weren't a thing yet, so to compensate we wore short-cropped shirts. Aloha, belly buttons!
This led to some very awkward and painful sunburns.
Trend #4: Hair Like This
There wasn't any one definitive hairstyle that screams "1998," except, perhaps, the one above (which did carry over into the following year or two.) Whether you used butterfly clips or rubber bands, pulling your hair back in tiny strands was a time-consuming and yet fairly attractive look.
The other hairstyles of '98 were pretty similar to the hairstyles of 2019.
Trend #5: Tiny tank tops and cardigans
Whispy, mid-length skirts and cargo pants were also acceptable.
And as winter was coming, I suppose some of us thought about jackets...
Alexis Bledel? What are you doing in here?
MesmerEyes? Is that kind of like the precursor to Smize?
OMG IT'S...
It's really her! The smize queen!
Ah, yes, the "mortification" pages. These were in all the girls' magazines... YM, Teen, uh... whatever other magazines there were. Girls' most embarrassing moments often involved accidental nudity, having stuff stuck in one's teeth, and accidentally letting others know you were on your period. Oopsiedoodles!
Ah, trends. I remember watching that TV special! I might even still have it on tape somewhere.
"Keep his beeper number close to your heart with these totally totable notebooks-on-a-string." Yes, before any teenager beyond Cher from Clueless regularly carried a phone, the cool kids of the land all had BEEPERS. (Well, I didn't. Okay, nobody I knew did. Moving on.)
Movies coming out: One True Thing, Rounders, and The Waterboy. I saw exactly one of those. Guess which.
The ads that didn't feature models were often cartoonish...
Of course, Seventeen had articles, too. Some were better than others...
And yes, there we contests. And no, Felicity wasn't friends with a rectangular cutout of a knit cap. That's from the page behind. I cut out Scott Foley's face at some point. I probably put him in my Dawson's Creek scrapbook, since he was in a few episodes. Now that Felicity's choices are more limited, she shouldn't have such a rough freshman year!
This magazine often did profiles of real girls' bedrooms. This time they chose actress Heather Matarazzo's.
Speaking of Heather Matarazzo, I wonder if, when they make The Princess Diaries 3: A Sovereign Sojourn Through Time & Space, she'll reprise her role as Lilly?
I certainly hope so.
Oh hey, more Alexis!
Happily, this magazine does have a NEAT STUFF YOU SHOULD BUY section, although it might more accurately be titled NEAT STUFF YOU SHOULD SEND FOR AND/OR DO...
Buuuut we'll take it.
