Once Tara and Pam have described the fashions they were sporting or coveting in March of 1988, we critique the cover, and then get into the fashion stories of Sassy‘s premiere issue, set on a boardwalk, at an old railyard, and in a palette of creams and beiges. What Next also forecasts coming fashion trends with pinpoint accuracy — thanks, Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson! The beauty features teach you how to use bandanas and makeup; then About Face tells you about bang trims and hot oil treatments, and Body Talk warns you about gonorrhea, weed, and NutraSweet. After Elise gets a makeover (and WILDLY negged in the process), we take a quick trip through some of the issue’s most memorable ads, including Benetton, Levi’s, Cherry Lane trying to make bloomers happen, and which Sassy Club products we’d be bugging our mom to buy us.
Then: the Magazineyness! Jane’s first Diary (her editor’s letter) has a culturally insensitive lede but otherwise makes us want to keep reading. The letters to the editor in Say What are probably just as real as the ones in Help! And should Sara Walker, the subject of Inside Out (the magazine’s inside back cover column for magazine production ephemera) who actually named the magazine itself, maybe have been its first cover model? Start thinking about how you can source these outfits on the cheap as you listen along!
