In nearly every fashion season, something old is new again. If you live long enough, a trend you loved in your teens will return. We have seen leg warmers, prairie dresses, cargo shorts, Doc Martens, and more come and go, only to see them return a decade later. Earlier this week, my sisters alerted me that jellys are back. You remember those plastic shoes that stick to your feet, give you a blister on your pinky toe, and leave an outrageous imprint on your skin. Yes, this footwear faux pas is back. 

I am not too proud to admit that I swiftly voted, pass, on revisiting these shoes for my wardrobe.

However, just yesterday, a friend was talking about taking a quiz on her listening skills and referenced how it was like the beloved quiz from Cosmopolitan magazine, but more complex.

Pow! Just like that, my mind and body were alive with remembering the ubiquity of the magazine quiz!! 

Every woman over the age of 45 reading this is likely feeling the same way I did when I heard that phrase. Much of my youth and early 20s was spent reading magazines stuffed with caustic perfume paper samples, subscription cards that fell out every third page, and taking quizzes!!

It wasn’t just Cosmopolitan magazine. It was Vogue, Seventeen, YM, Teen, Marie Claire, Rolling Stone, and Self. I feel oddly forlorn thinking about it. Getting the monthly issue of your favorite magazine in the mail was a highlight. Trying all the crappy perfume and lipstick samples inside was like a slightly more grown-up version of finding a prize in your cereal box. 

Instant gratification is intoxicating, but I miss the pace of the magazine era. You would listen to music, paint your nails, read the latest issue of a magazine, and feel transported to another life. Maybe it’s because I lived in a small town, so these magazines always seemed glamorous and sophisticated. 

If these were to return, I would jump on board. This is one trend that many of us would gladly welcome back. A Saturday night, a bottle of Faygo, poorly painted nails, and an ink pen in hand, while racing to the page in the back of the magazine to discover the hidden answers.

Come on… I know you can smell the Calvin Klein’s Obsession in the air.