'Nova Magazine 1965 – 1975: A History' By Alice Beard

291 Pages·2015·1.84 MB·English

by  Alice Beard

‘Nova Magazine 1965 – 1975: A History’

By Alice Beard

A thesis submitted to the University of London in partial
fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Goldsmiths College, December 2013
Declaration

I,
 Alice
 Beard,
 herby
 declare
 that
 the
 material
 contained
 within
 this
 thesis

is
 my
 own
 work.

  1
Nova 1965-1975: A History

Abstract

This thesis provides an original case history of Nova magazine from 1965-1975, and
analyses the magazine’s construction, content and consumption through material
culture. Nova made a distinct offering to the world of women’s magazines in the
Sixties and Seventies and can be defined by its unique synthesis of editorial breadth
and visual innovation.

The study considers the correlation between a magazine’s intended, implied and
realised meanings. In my analysis of Nova, intended meanings are revealed through
an examination of the production process; implied meaning is found within the
magazine as an object and text; and Nova’s realised meanings are those articulated
through oral history by its readers.

Interviews
 with
 staff
 cover
 the
 four
 key
 areas
 of
 Nova’s
 production;
 Caroline

Baker,
 Fashion
 Editor
 1967-­‐1975;
 Gillian
 Cooke,
 Editor
 1970-­‐1975;
 David

Hillman,
 Art
 Director
 1969-­‐1975;
 Maggy
 Meade-­‐King,
 Features
 Writer,
 1970-­‐
1975.
 Analysis
 of
 these
 interviews
 and
 the
 design
 and
 content
 of
 Nova
 reveals

the
 motivation
 and
 ambitions
 of
 individual
 production
 staff,
 and
 evaluates
 the

crucial
 collaborative
 practice,
 creative
 conflicts
 and
 networks
 of
 production
 at

the
 heart
 of
 Nova’s
 making.
 To better understand magazines, their histories and their
futures, it is time that these individuals, working practices and creative networks are
both acknowledged and critically evaluated.

Recognising the nature and importance of the magazine as composite I adopt a
holistic approach as a methodological model for Nova’s analysis. In this thesis I
examine the magazine as a whole entity; I analyse its design and contents, alongside a
narrative of the processes of its production from its staff and contributors, and
consider the use and value of the magazine by its contemporary readers. The agenda
for this work, is to plot the processes of production and consumption of Nova in order
to reveal the various elements and practices that construct the identity and history of
the magazine as a visual, textual and material object.

  2
Acknowledgements

This thesis would have not been completed without the support of so many people. I
must express my deepest gratitude to Sally Alexander for her guidance and advice,
matched with intellectual rigour and a sharp critical eye. Sally’s continued support
and enthusiasm for this project has kept me going.

I would like to thank all the Nova staff I interviewed; Caroline Baker, Gillian Eeley
(nee Cooke), David Hillman and Maggy Meade-King - without your collaboration the
production history of Nova could not have been told. Thank you also to Mike
McInnerney and David Pocknell for the insights they provided about their
commissioned illustrations for Nova.

The readers I have interviewed have provided invaluable information in
understanding and reconstructing the story of Nova’s consumption. I am immensely
grateful to Jeannie Davidson, Susan Holder, Catherine Horwood, Deborah Jaffé,
Suzanne Perkins, Liz Mason, John Maclachlan, Sue Teddern, Jane Thomas, June
Thornton and Muriel Warner for taking the time to tell their stories. Thank you also to
all the readers from the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand who competed
the ‘Remembering Nova’ questionnaire, and to Robyn Daw and Michael Desmond for
their correspondence. I am very grateful to The Women’s Library for their assistance
in organizing and hosting the ‘Remembering Nova’ oral history project. Many thanks
to Jarvis Cocker for allowing me to view and photograph his Nova collection and the
unpublished launch material.

I am indebted to Frank Cartledge, Carol Tulloch, Geraldine Biddle-Perry and Djurdja
Bartlett for their constructive feedback on early drafts, and to Vivienne Richmond and
Angela Phillips at Goldsmiths for their useful suggestions at my upgrade examination.

Thank you to my colleagues in the School of Art and Design History for their support
and encouragement, to Kingston University for financial support and research
funding, and to Gloria Bassoli for her accurate transcriptions.

  3
Finally I would like to offer my deepest thanks to my long-suffering family - for their
belief in me, and their continued encouragement; May, Pauline, Sophie, Stuart, Greta,
John, Wendy, Eliza, Louis, Nell, Mack, Sylvie, Lesley, Graham and Ellie. Thank to
my sister for the many, many hours spent transcribing, editing and formatting, and to
my mother for all her help and support. And thank you to my husband Louis for your
undeterred confidence, interest, questions, ideas and patience. And finally a special
thank you to my little daughter Sylvie who has been so patient and who will be so
pleased I have finished!

  4
Table
 of
 Contents

Declaration

  1

Abstract

  2

Acknowledgements

  3-­‐4

Table
 of
 Contents

  5-­‐6

List
 of
 Illustrations

  7-­‐20

Introduction:
 Photo
 Essay

  21-­‐24

Introduction

  25-­‐60

  Analysing
 Women’s
 Magazines

  Reading
 Women’s
 Magazines

  The
 ‘New
 Woman’
 Audience

 The
 Reader:
 Real
 &
 Imagined

  Remembering
 Nova:
 Reader
 Interviews

  Material
 Memories

  Production
 Studies

  Production
 Staff
 Interviews

  Design
 History
 and
 Magazine
 Design

  Fashion
 Photography

  Structure

Chapter
 One:
 Photo
 Essay

  61-­‐92

Chapter
 One:
 Production
 History:

‘A
 New
 Kind
 of
 Magazine
 for
 the
 New
 Kind
 of
 Woman’

  93-­‐143

  A
 New
 Concept:
 The
 Dummy
 Issue,
 Advertisers
 and
 Trade

  Issue
 One:
 March
 1965

  Rivals

  Designing
 the
 Magazine:
 Content
 and
 Image

  Developing
 Readers

  Troubles

  5
Chapter
 Two:
 Photo
 Essay

  144-­‐177

Chapter
 Two:
 ‘All
 Dressed
 and
 Made
 Up’:
 Fashion
 in
 Nova

  178-­‐226

  Introduction

  Fashion
 Pages
 to
 ‘Make
 you
 Think
 about
 Colour’:
 Molly
 Parkin,
 Fashion

  Editor
 1965-­‐67

  Rethinking
 Fashion:
 Caroline
 Baker,
 Fashion
 Editor
 1967-­‐1975

  Anti-­‐Fashion:
 A
 Fashion
 Statement

  Collage,
 Cut
 Ups
 and
 Pull-­‐Outs:
 Designing
 Fashion
 Editorial

  ‘All
 Dressed
 and
 Made
 Up’:
 Narrating
 Fashion
 Editorial

  ‘Adding
 up
 The
 Look’:
 Fashion
 as
 a
 Mannerism

  Dressed
 Overall:
 Fashion,
 Function
 and
 Reform

  Conclusion

Chapter
 Three:
 Photo
 Essay

  227-­‐277

Chapter
 Three:
 ‘Making
 Raids
 on
 the
 Real
 World’:

Editorial
 Content
 and
 Design

  278-­‐332

  Introduction

  Nova
 World

  Editorial
 Focus:
 Driving
 Change

  ‘Women’s
 Affairs’,
 Sex
 and
 the
 Body

  Designing
 Editorial:
 Image
 and
 Text

  Conclusion

Conclusion

  A
 ‘New
 Kind
 of
 Magazine
 for
 the
 New
 Kind
 of
 Woman’?

  333-­‐350

  Editorial
 Contribution

  Controversy
 and
 Conflict

  Designing
 Nova

  Rethinking
 Fashion
 Editorial

  Failure?

  Nova’s
 Legacy

  Production
 Networks
 and
 Collaborative
 Practice

  A
 Community
 of
 Readers

Bibliography

  351-­‐371

Appendix

  6
Introduction

List of Illustrations

Figure 1
Evidence of a reader ‘cutting along the seams’ of Nova’s graphic design. ‘Daring
Duds of May’ by Caroline Baker, photographs by Peter Knapp. Nova, May 1970.

Figure 2
Photograph of my parent’s living room showing a cork-board collage containing
pages cut out from Nova. 1968.

Figure 3
Photograph of Suzanne Perkins in her office space at ‘Yost’s Department Store’ in
Wisconsin. Her pin board is decorated with pages torn out of Nova. 1967

Figure 4
‘The Cardigan Is Borrowed but the Shoes Are Mine ...’, by Brigid Keenan,
photographs by Steve Hiett, Nova, September 1967

  7
Chapter One:
Production History: ‘A New Kind of Magazine for the New Kind of Woman’

List of Illustrations

Figure 1
Nova Dummy Issue Folder, 1964

Figure 2
Nova Dummy Issue Front Cover, 1964

Figure 3
Statement of Editorial Intent, Nova Dummy Issue 1964

Figure 4
Nova Dummy Issue, Inside Cover

Figure 5
Nova Dummy Issue, ‘A New Advertising Medium’, 1964

Figure 6
Nova Dummy Issue, ‘The AA Woman’, 1964

Figure 7
Nova Dummy Issue, Advertising Rates, 1964

Figure 8
Nova Advertisement ‘For the Woman who isn’t Afraid of Virginia Woolf’, Observer,
Sunday, March 07, 1965

Figure 9
Advertisements for Dereta Dandycoats and Austin Cars, Nova March 1965

Figure 10
Advertisement for Reaffirm by Dorothy Gray, Nova March 1965

Figure 11
Advertisement for Poly hair colourant, Nova March 1965

Figure 12
Advertisement for Ceylon New Nylon by Courtaulds , Nova March 1965

Figure 13
Advertisement for Orlon Air India, Nova March 1965

Figure 14
Cover, Nova Issue 1, March 1965

Figure 15
Cover, Vogue 15th March 1965

  8
Figure 16
‘Blondes’, Vogue 15th March 1965

Figure 17
Selection of covers from Queen, 1963-1965

Figures 18-19
‘One woman in her day’, by Jill Butterfield. Nova March 1965,

Figure 20
‘Stars of the subtitle circuit’, by Christopher Booker. Nova March1965

Figure 21
‘British Painting in the 1930s’, by Frank Whitford, Nova March 1965,

Figure 22
‘The Reading Revolution for Tots,’ by Anne Scott-James, Nova March 1965

Figure 23
‘Doctors and Adultery, and the Muddle of Medical Ethics Today’, by Brian Inglis,
Nova March 1965

Figure 24
‘Marriage Roundabout, One Couple’s Experience of Marriage, Divorce and
Remarriage: A Documentary’, by Alma Birk MP, Nova March 1965

Figure 25
‘Isometric exercises’, by Jill Butterfield, photographs by Peter Rand, Nova March
1965

Figure 26
‘Happy Families 1965,’, by Angela Ince, Illustrations by Robin Ince, Nova March
1965

Figure 27
‘Do Your Legs Give you Away?’ by Jill Butterfield, photographs by Roy Cuthbert,
Nova March 1965

Figure 28
Cover, WM 13th November 1965

Figure 29
Cover, WM 18th October 1965

Figure 30
Cover, Nova January 1966

Figure 31
‘Looking-Glass War’, by Elizabeth Williamson, Nova, January 1966,

  9