GQ

GQ (formerly Gentlemen's Quarterly and Apparel Arts) is an American international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, celebrities' sports, technology, and books are also featured.

"Gq" redirects here. For other uses, see Gq (disambiguation).

GQ
October 2017 cover featuring Harrison Ford and highlighting the magazine's 60th year
Editor-in-chiefWill Welch
CategoriesMen's
Frequency10 issues per year
PublisherCondé Nast Inc.
Total circulation934,000 (2019)[1]
First issue1931 (as Apparel Arts)
1957 (as Gentleman's Quarterly)
1967 (as GQ)
CompanyAdvance Publications
CountryUnited States
Based inNew York City
LanguageEnglish and Spanish
Websitegq.com
ISSN0016-6979

History

The magazine Apparel Arts was launched in 1931 in the United States.[2] It was a men's fashion magazine for the clothing trade, aimed primarily at wholesale buyers and retail sellers. Initially it had a very limited print run and was aimed solely at industry insiders to enable them to give advice to their customers. The popularity of the magazine among retail customers, who often took the magazine from the retailers, spurred the creation of Esquire magazine in 1933.[3][4]

Apparel Arts continued until 1957 when it was transformed into a quarterly magazine for men, which was published for many years by Esquire Inc.[5] Apparel was dropped from the logo in 1958 with the spring issue after nine issues, and the name Gentlemen's Quarterly was established.[6]

Gentlemen's Quarterly was re-branded as GQ in 1967.[2] The rate of publication was increased from quarterly to monthly in 1970.[2] In 1979 Condé Nast bought the publication, and editor Art Cooper changed the course of the magazine, introducing articles beyond fashion and establishing GQ as a general men's magazine in competition with Esquire.[7]

Subsequently, international editions were launched as regional adaptations of the U.S. editorial formula. Jim Nelson was named editor-in-chief of GQ in February 2003; during his tenure, he worked as both a writer and an editor of several National Magazine Award-nominated pieces, and the magazine became more oriented towards younger readers and those who prefer a more casual style.

Nonnie Moore was hired by GQ as fashion editor in 1984, having served in the same position at Mademoiselle and Harper's Bazaar. Jim Moore, the magazine's fashion director at the time of her death in 2009, described the choice as unusual, observing that "She was not from men's wear, so people said she was an odd choice, but she was actually the perfect choice". Jim Moore also noted that she changed the publication's more casual look: "She helped dress up the pages, as well as dress up the men, while making the mix more exciting and varied and approachable for men."[8]

GQ has been closely associated with metrosexuality. The writer Mark Simpson coined the term in an article for British newspaper The Independent about his visit to a GQ exhibition in London: "The promotion of metrosexuality was left to the men's style press, magazines such as The Face, GQ, Esquire, Arena and FHM, the new media which took off in the Eighties and is still growing ... They filled their magazines with images of narcissistic young men sporting fashionable clothes and accessories.

And they persuaded other young men to study them with a mixture of envy and desire."[9][10] The magazine has expanded its coverage beyond lifestyle issues. For example, in 2003, journalist Sabrina Erdely wrote an eight-page feature story in GQ on famous con man Steve Comisar.[11] GQ has been called the "holy text of woke capital" by The Spectator.[12]

In 2016, GQ launched the spinoff quarterly GQ Style, headed by then-style editor Will Welch, who was later promoted to creative director of the magazine.[13]

In 2018, writing for GQ, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for her article about Dylann Roof, who had shot nine African-Americans in a church in Charleston.[14] In September 2018, Will Welch was named the new editor-in-chief of GQ, succeeding Jim Nelson.[15]

In 2020, GQ launched its webstore and first merch drop. The GQ Shop lineup was designed by the editors and art directors behind the GQ website.[16]

Men of the Year

GQ (U.S.) first named their Men of the Year in 1996 and featured the award recipients in a special issue of the magazine.[17] British GQ launched its annual Men of the Year awards in 2009[18] and GQ India launched its version the following year.[19] Spanish GQ launched its Men of the Year awards in 2011[20] and GQ Australia launched its version in 2007.[21]

Controversies

Glee controversy

In 2010, GQ magazine had three adult members of the television show Glee (Dianna Agron, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith) partake in a photoshoot.[22] The sexualization of the actresses in the photos caused controversy among parents of teens who watch the show Glee. The Parents Television Council was the first to react to the photo spread when it was leaked prior to GQ's planned publishing date. Their President Tim Winter stated, "By authorizing this kind of near-pornographic display, the creators of the program have established their intentions on the show's directions. And it isn't good for families".[23] The photoshoot was published as planned and Dianna Agron went on to state that the photos did push the envelope, that they did not represent who she is any more than other magazine photo shoots, but that she was a 24-year-old adult in the photo shoot, and wondered why the concerned parents allowed their eight year old daughters to read any racy issue of the adult magazine GQ.[22]

Russian apartment bombings

GQ's September 2009 U.S. magazine published, in its "backstory" section, an article by Scott Anderson, "None Dare Call It Conspiracy". Before GQ published the article, an internal email from a Condé Nast lawyer referred to it as "Vladimir Putin's Dark Rise to Power".[24] The article reported Anderson's investigation of the 1999 Russian apartment bombings, and included interviews with Mikhail Trepashkin who investigated the bombings while he was a colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service.

The story, including Trepashkin's own findings, contradicted the Russian Government's official explanation of the bombings and criticized Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.[25]

Condé Nast's management tried to keep the story out of Russia. It ordered executives and editors not to distribute that issue in Russia or show it to "Russian government officials, journalists or advertisers".[25] Management decided not to publish the story on GQ's website or in Condé Nast's foreign magazines, not to publicize the story, and asked Anderson not to syndicate the story "to any publications that appear in Russia".[25]

The day after the magazine's publication in the United States, bloggers published the original English text and a translation into Russian on the internet.[26][27]

Criticism of the Bible and Western literary canon

On April 19, 2018, the editors of GQ published an article titled "21 Books You Don't Have to Read" in which the editors compiled a list of works they think are overrated and should be passed over, including the Bible as well as Catcher in the Rye, The Alchemist, Blood Meridian, A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea, The Lord of the Rings, and Catch-22.[28][29][30] The article generated a backlash among Internet commentators.[29]

Karol G's photo retouching

On April 6, 2023, the Colombian singer Karol G took to social media to share that the photo used was "disrespectful" and a misleading depiction of the way her body and face naturally looks. She wrote: "I don't know how to start this message. Today my GQ magazine cover was made public, a cover with an image that does not represent me. My face doesn't look like that, my body doesn't look like that and I feel very happy and comfortable with how I look naturally" "It's disrespectful to me. It's to the women that every day we wake up looking to feel comfortable with ourselves despite society's stereotypes."[31][32]

Circulation

The magazine reported an average worldwide paid circulation of 934,000 in the first half of 2019,[1] down 1.1% from 944,549 in 2016 and 2.6% from 958,926 in 2015.[33]

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK), British GQ had an average circulation of 103,087 during the first half of 2019,[34] down 6.3% from 110,063 during the second half of 2018,[35] and down 10.3% from 114,867 during the second half of 2013.[36]

Editors and publishers

U.S. publishers

  • Bernard J. Miller (1957–1975)
  • Sal Schiliro (1975–1980)
  • Steve Florio (1975–1985)
  • Jack Kliger (1985–1988)
  • Michael Clinton (1988–1994)
  • Michael Perlis (1994–1995)
  • Richard Beckman (1995–1999)
  • Tom Florio (1999–2000)
  • Ronald A. Galotti (2000–2003)
  • Peter King Hunsinger (2003–2011)
  • Chris Mitchell (2011–2014)
  • Howard Mittman (2014–2017)

U.S. editors

U.K. editors

See also

References
  1. Williams, Alex (November 7, 2019). "As Men Are Canceled, So Too Their Magazine Subscriptions". The New York Times. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  2. Sterlacci, Francesca; Joanne Arbucklee (2009). The A to Z of the Fashion Industry. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0810870468. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  3. "Esquire | American magazine". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  4. "History of Eire Magazine". DKC. May 21, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  5. "Magazine Data, page 140: Gentlemen's Quarterly". Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  6. "GQ: American magazine". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  7. "Advertising". The New York Times. February 16, 1979. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  8. Hevesi, Dennis (February 24, 2009). "Nonnie Moore, Fashion Editor at Magazines, Dies at 87". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2009.
  9. Simpson, Mark (November 15, 1994). "Here Come the Mirror Men". The Independent. London.
  10. Safire, William (December 7, 2003). "On Language; Metrosexual". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  11. Erdely, Sabrina R. (August 2003). "The Creep With the Golden Tongue" (PDF). GQ: 126–132, 155–156.
  12. Sixsmith, Ben (October 19, 2019). "GQ is a holy text of woke capital". The Spectator. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  13. "Inside the GQ Style Launch Party Photo Booth". GQ. May 17, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  14. Pulitzer-Preis für Weinstein-Enthüllungen orf.at, April 16, 2018, retrieved April 17, 2018. (German)
  15. Petrarca, Emilia (September 13, 2018). "GQ's Editor-in-Chief Exits After 21 Years". The Cut. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  16. Nast, C. (2020, August 25). GQ's first Merch drop is here. GQ. https://www.gq.com/story/gq-merch-shop-is-here-announcement
  17. Larson, Lauren; Mooney, Jessie (November 19, 2015). "Watch Tracy Morgan and Donald Trump Welcome You to GQ's Men of the Year Issue". GQ. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  18. "GQ Men of the Year - Home". Gq (Uk). Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  19. "How Deepika, Shahid and Akshay will save the world". GQ India. November 5, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  20. "Hombres GQ del año". Revista GQ. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  21. "GQ Men of the Year Awards". Vogue Australia. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  22. Andreeva, Nellie. "Racy 'Glee' GQ Shoot Creates Controversy". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  23. de Moraes, Lisa. "Racy GQ photo spread gives you all the 'Glee' you could expect to see, and so much more". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  24. Anderson, Scott (September 2009). "None Dare Call It Conspiracy". GQ: 246.
  25. Folkenflik, David (September 4, 2009). "Why 'GQ' Doesn't Want Russians To Read Its Story". Morning Edition. NPR. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  26. Snyder, Gabriel. "Эй, вы можете прочитать запрещенную статью GQ про Путина здесь" [Hey, You Can Read the Forbidden GQ Article About Putin Here]. Gawker. Archived from the original on September 7, 2009.
  27. "None Dare Call It Conspiracy". Ratafia Currant. September 4, 2009. Archived from the original on March 24, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  28. "21 Books You Don't Have to Read". GQ. April 19, 2018. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  29. Bryant, Taylor (April 20, 2018). "White Men Are Mad That This 'GQ' List Dismisses Books By White Men". Nylon. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  30. Schwartz, Dana (April 20, 2018). "GQ suggests people not read Catch-22, Catcher in the Rye, more — and it's totally fine". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  31. 20minutos (April 7, 2023). "Karol G critica los retoques que han hecho a su imagen en la portada de la revista 'GQ': "No me representa, mi cara no se ve así"". www.20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  32. Garcia, Thania (April 6, 2023). "Karol G Calls Out GQ Mexico for 'Disrespectful' Magazine Cover: 'My Face Does Not Look Like This'". Variety. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  33. Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (January 23, 2017). "What to watch: The future of men's magazines is in flux". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  34. "GQ: January to June 2019 – Circulation (average per issue)". Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK). August 15, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  35. "GQ: July to December 2018 – Circulation (average per issue)". Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK). February 14, 2019. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  36. Plunkett, John (February 13, 2014). "FHM circulation drops below 100,000". The Guardian. London. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
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