George Lois' Esquire

In Esquire, Lois created unpolished images of women that either starkly differed from the typical sexualization and objectification, or ironically and humorously ridiculed misogynistic attitudes. His work humanized women, questioned established gender norms, and often cleverly subverted objectification with irony and humor. This kind of artistic jujitsu was noticeably different from the prevailing droll and sexualized double entendre of the day.

Starting from the 1964 Coty Creamstick Lipstick ad, to the 1966 Claudia Cardinale bike cover, the 1967 “Through at 21” cover, and the 1968 Lauren Hutton cover, respectively, Lois played with the accepted objectification of women as an unrealistic and bleak reality of male expectations.   Lois used the bike cover to exaggerate the absurdity of overt sexualization and covered the model’s seemingly unimportant identity. He sarcastically questions a further need for women to be anything more than young feminine damsels by literally placing one in the trash. The constant molding to what role is considered attractive is exemplified by the bizarre result of multi sectional makeup use reminiscing of a clown, or the instant metamorphosis into a young vamp with the simple application of makeup.  Sadly, the idea that women are only desirable in specific roles at a certain age is still prevalent today.