For nearly half a century, GQ has been a leading voice in men's magazines, covering men's style and culture from fashion and politics to travel, entertainment, sports, technology and relationships. It all began in 1931, when Apparel Arts was founded as a men's fashion magazine for the clothing trade. Published in New York City, its purpose was to provide information on men's fashion to wholesale buyers and retail sellers, who in turn could then make recommendations to their customers. The elaborate quarterly contained actual samples of fabrics pasted within its pages; it cost $1.50 per copy, with an initial circulation was 7,500. Apparel Arts was so attractive that customers in stores frequently ran off with the copies. Sensing a market for such a product, the magazine's publishers decided to launch a men's fashion magazine for the general public. Thus, Esquire magazine (at 50 cents a copy) was born in 1933. Apparel Arts not only become the fashion bible for middle-class American men, it also spawned a magazine that has remained popular for more than 70 years.

In 1958, Apparel Arts was reborn as fashion supplement issued quarterly for Esquire subscribers and renamed Gentlemen's Quarterly. Through the 1970s, Gentlemen's Quarterly retained its concentration on men's fashion and style. In 1983, Esquire Inc. sold it to publishing giant Conde Nast and simplified the name to GQ. Under the leadership of new editor-in-chief Art Cooper, GQ also changed its course, introducing articles with topics that went beyond fashion, and establishing itself as a general men's magazine; this placed GQ in direct competition with its former family member, Esquire. By 1993, GQ grew to outsell Esquire. A highly respected magazine, GQ was nominated for 27 National Magazine Awards and won three of them under Cooper's direction, which ended in 2003, the same year that he died of a stroke. Under his tenure, GQ's's total paid circulation soared to more than 800,000.

Cooper's successor as editor-in-chief was Jim Nelson. By the time he took the helm in 2003, the British invasion of "lad's mags," such as FHM and Maxim, had changed the landscape of men's magazines, which were now geared toward a younger, less urbane male readership, aged 18 to 30. Nelson immediately revamped the magazine's design and content to better compete in the evolving market. "I'm trying to make the magazine respond to culture better and more quickly," Nelson said early in his leadership. "GQ has always been a thoughtful magazine built on journalism and fashion, but it often had a timeless quality to it: you'd pick up an issue and not really know what month you were in." Nelson instituted a new attitude in his first issue, which featured Johnny Knoxville, of MTV's "Jackass" series, on a cover graced with an edgy graphics. Shorter, newsier articles now filled the magazine, though the longer, more in-depth essays and profiles that once had been standard fare still appeared. There was also a new emphasis on pop culture in GQ's's pages. Even the magazine's bread-and-butter fashion spreads got an overhaul, as clothes more accessible to the ordinary man on the street became the focus.

The changes have paid off: in 2006, reports Conde Nast, GQ has 854,000 subscribers and 4 million readers. And more innovations are on the way. Beginning with the March 2006 issue, GQ launched its men's magazine franchise into the quickly growing world of wireless media, with a new service called GQ Mobile, which provides text messages to readers via their cell phones. Once enrolled, GQ Mobile users will receive original content developed for the digital mobile service.

Despite its many changes over the years, GQ remains synonymous with classic cool and sophistication. True, there are fewer well-dressed men and more undressed women on the covers, and fewer in-depth cultural commentaries. But GQ continues to offer high-quality writing from some of today's best writers, as well as the user-friendly style guides that have always distinguished the magazine. In the words of its publisher, "GQ addresses the people, places, ideas and issues that shape men's personal expression, development and experiences."

Written March 12, 2006 exclusively for MagsDirect.com. All right reserved.

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