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Friday, July 30, 2010 at 10:37AM 
The Edge of Seventeen
by DURGA CHEW-BOSE
Seventeen was treated like a nonrival good. Passed around from sleepovers to backpacks to bio class to cafeteria huddles, the magazine was rarely read alone and circulated with the same urgent mien of teenage insecurity. Questions about Like vs. Lust vs. Love, prom, parents, back to school layering, and ratifying horoscopes, were asked and then answered in one sweeping quiz, personal essay, or celebrity interview.
Especially iconic were the covers: a close-up of Jennifer Love-Hewitt cozied in her white turtleneck, Claire Danes crouching in a pink trench with Mod Squad 'tude, Reese Witherspoon sprawled on a chaise lounge, a Drew Barrymore cut-out from Ever After, Jordana Brewster! Brad Renfro! They just don't make 'em like they used to. Luckily, I dug up some old covers and added a few extra trimmings for good measure.
"The New Me!"
Contemplating buying a pair of "Brilliant Blue" colored contacts
Determined to find the pink Gwyneth Oscar gown for prom
From here on out, no more smiling in pictures. Just pout.
Entrepreneurship vs. Environmentalism? Hmm...
Often seen twirling car keys
"The Cat Woman"
Self publishing comic zine based on Queen Cordelia
Family friends often remark, "You're looking more and more like your mother!"
Secretly already have an outfit planned for Accepted Students Day
Bored by girls who are only now obsessing over Christiane F.
“The Twister”
Parents are upstairs
Apparently there’s a boy who’s coming who might spike the punch
The girls know all the words to "The Boy is Mine"
Count four pairs of dELiA*s platform Mary Janes
Later, Donna Martin Popcorn Ice Cream in bed while reading Little Girl Lost
“Doing Homework On the Bed”
Middle part, no eyeliner, no mascara, just ChapStick
Uses Rhodia notebooks
Surprises everyone and auditions for the lead in the school play
Reads her mother’s copy of To Kill A Mockingbird instead of the one handed out in class
Likes resting face on cold surfaces like marble countertops
"The Pre-Haircut"
Summer before college road trip with Mom to The Mount
Rosy cheeked after one glass of red wine
Recites The Gettysburg Address as nerve pacifying technique before tests or first dates
Romanticizes growing up in a suburb subdivision
Durga Chew-Bose is the senior editor of This Recording. She is a writer living in Brooklyn. She last wrote in these pages about list-keeping. She twitters here and tumbls here.
"Edge of Seventeen" - Lindsay Lohan (mp3)
"Edge of Seventeen (White Label mix)" - Stevie Nicks (mp3)
"Edge of Seventeen" - Stevie Nicks (mp3)
Reader Comments (4)
I owned all of these issues of Seventeen magazine.
that cover with alicia silverstone was the first issue of seventeen i ever owned and i was seven when i demanded my mother buy it for me.
First, I actually remember the covers from 1998, which may or may not be unsettling. Also, you know how sometimes you write a paper for school that you actually really, truly love? I did one on Seventeen and the like in the '50s. So much fun and completely fascinating.
Once when I was seven, I accidentally read a Seventeen in its entirety. I was so shocked I cried.