Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
This issue documents Kim Alexis just months after one of the genuine landmark moments of her career, her debut appearance in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, an event that significantly broadened her recognition beyond the fashion magazine world she had already conquered. Alexis made her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in the 1982 edition, with her photographs shot on December 4, 1981, on Manda Island, Kenya, marking the beginning of a six-appearance run with the franchise that would continue through the decade. Alexis has described that opportunity warmly, noting that her competitive swimming background made her genuinely comfortable in a swimsuit and that being outdoors and athletic suited her naturally, even though she initially interviewed for the job in jeans and a t-shirt in a New York office without having to audition in a swimsuit at all. An August 1982 Glamour magazine cover featuring Alexis sits in the immediate aftermath of that debut, capturing her at the moment her profile was expanding well beyond the fashion-magazine audience she had already established with Glamour specifically.
Alexis's relationship with Glamour specifically deserves particular attention, since it would go on to become one of the defining statistical achievements of her career and remained an active, ongoing part of her work even as her Sports Illustrated profile grew. Alexis would eventually set the all-time cover record for Glamour magazine, appearing on its cover more times than any other model in the publication's history. Alexis has credited Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editor Jule Campbell specifically with helping establish her name and face publicly during this period, noting that Campbell made a point of crediting the models by name in the magazine so that readers could connect a name to the image. An August 1982 Glamour issue therefore documents Alexis continuing to build her core fashion-magazine reputation at the very same time her newer Sports Illustrated work was introducing her to an entirely different readership.
The year 1982 marks a genuinely pivotal stretch in Alexis's broader career trajectory, sitting between her early rise and the major commercial milestones still to come. That same year, Alexis was recognized alongside contemporaries like Christie Brinkley and Carol Alt as part of the top tier of 1980s supermodels, embodying the all-American glamour that helped elevate modeling to genuine celebrity status during this period. Just one year later, in 1983, she would become the face of Revlon's prestigious Ultima II cosmetics line, replacing Lauren Hutton in one of the most significant cosmetics endorsements a model could hold at the time. A confirmed August 1982 newsstand cover therefore captures Alexis squarely within this transitional and unusually eventful year, just before that defining Revlon contract reshaped the terms of her career, making it a meaningful documentary marker for collectors interested in Kim Alexis's career and the broader landscape of 1982 magazines.
About the Publication
Glamour was a long-running American women's magazine published by Condé Nast, known for combining fashion and beauty content with practical lifestyle guidance aimed at a broad readership of style-conscious women. Unlike its more aspirational sibling publication Vogue, Glamour positioned itself as accessible and relatable, emphasizing trends and beauty advice that ordinary readers could realistically incorporate into their own lives rather than purely aspirational high fashion. Its editorial format combined cover-featured fashion spreads with beauty tips, lifestyle articles, and trend coverage, and the magazine relied heavily on a recurring roster of professional models to anchor its visual identity from issue to issue. By the early 1980s, Glamour had become closely associated with the emerging supermodel phenomenon, a relationship underscored directly by Kim Alexis, who would go on to hold the publication's all-time cover appearance record.
Key Highlights Inside
- A genuine newsstand cover featuring Kim Alexis, captured just months after her December 1981 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debut shoot in Kenya, the first of six appearances she would make in the franchise over the following years.
- Fashion and lifestyle content consistent with Glamour's established early-1980s editorial format, likely reflecting late-summer seasonal trends typical of an August issue, though specific article titles are not detailed in the listing.
- An absence of an address label confirming this copy's newsstand origin, distinguishing it from the subscriber copies that made up a substantial share of the magazine's circulation during this period.
- Specific article titles and named contributors beyond the cover feature are unconfirmed for this issue, as the listing provides condition details only; readers should consult the listing's photographs for the exact table of contents.
Condition & Rarity
This issue shows wear typical for a publication more than four decades old, including marks on the front and the potential for wear and rips along the edges and binding, consistent with genuine handling and storage over time rather than significant structural damage. Newsstand, no-label copies such as this one are generally considered desirable within this collecting category since they lack the address label that affects many surviving subscriber copies, leaving the cover photography fully visible and undisturbed. Early-1980s glossy fashion magazines generally hold their printed image quality reasonably well over four decades when stored with care, which helps preserve the visual impact of cover photography even as the surrounding paper shows expected signs of age. Marks on the front cover and binding wear should be weighed against the issue's overall completeness, since for a periodical of this age and type, structural completeness and a legible, intact cover are generally considered more significant to collector value than minor surface blemishes. The plastic protective covering included with this copy is a standard and appropriate preservation measure, helping to guard against further wear to the cover and pages during continued handling and storage.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Newsstand copies of Kim Alexis Glamour covers from this exact period are of particular interest to collectors given her status as the magazine's all-time cover record holder and the documented timing of this issue alongside her landmark Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut. Our Kim Alexis collection is the best place to browse other available issues and appearances spanning her career, our Glamour magazine collection offers a broader look at the publication's history, and our 1982 magazines collection rounds out the picture with other titles from this specific year.