@ThankYouAtoosa Is an Ode To Teen Fashion Magazines From the 90s and 00s

Teen Vogue is celebrating our Sweet 16 this year! In honor of this exciting milestone, we’re publishing a series of stories about the ups and downs of turning 16. Read the entire special issue.

Casey Lewis, who cofounded the e-newsletter for teen girls Clover Letter in 2016, and once worked for Teen Vogue and MTV, is a self-proclaimed “media nerd”. Casey, who studied journalism in college and is now in her early 30s, has always been obsessed with magazines and youth culture. Regarding her love for teens, she tells Teen Vogue, “they're experimental, that's where innovation is happening.” And we agree.

A trip home for the holidays in December 2018 sparked something in Casey. “I was feeling really nostalgic and dug up my old magazines and I was flipping through the pages and kept seeing things that were just absurd, whether they were hilariously dated or still hilariously relevant,” she says. “So, I took pictures of a few of them, with no plans to do anything, and then I got back to New York after the holidays and I decided to start [an account] and just see what happens.”

At the time, Rookie Magazine had just shuttered, while other teen magazines had recently cancelled their print issues — thus there was something nostalgic about revisiting the physical pages of her favorite teen publications. So, Casey launched her Instagram account, @thankyouatoosa, this past January. She has since been snapping pictures of her old teen magazines from the 1990s and 2000s and sharing them on the Internet several times a week; in fact, the hobby has now become part of her daily practice. “When I have time, typically in the mornings, I'll just flip through a magazine, see anything that really catches my eye, anything that's amusing or stands out in some way, and I'll just take a picture with my phone,” she says.

Her account is named after Atoosa Rubenstein, founder of CosmoGirl and former editor in chief of Seventeen. Casey says when she was growing up she was always drawn to the editor’s look and creative approach. “I just remember thinking she was so unique and not a fashion person,” Casey says. “You know, she looked a little different from the norm of what most magazine editors looked like at the time. And I have frizzy [hair], but it was much bigger when I was in high school, and she had that, too.”

Another thing she appreciated about Atoosa was how real she was; “She owned up to her awkwardness and embarrassing moments, which I thought was so refreshing because when you're that age, or at least when I was that age, I felt like everything I did was embarrassing.” In this way, the Instagram account acts as an ode to the pages of the magazines that shaped Casey’s passion for culture and media and the very people who put the pages together.

With over 200 magazines still in her personal collection, highlights include Ellegirl (folded in 2006), CosmoGirl (folded in 2008), Teen People, and of course, Teen Vogue (which is only digital now), among others. While Casey enjoys looking into the past, the pages of her old mags have ultimately revealed a lot about youth and mainstream culture today. “I think it's fascinating to look back on what we were like as teenagers and how much things have changed, especially as far as technology goes,” she says.

Though much has shifted in regard to fashion, celebrities, gender, and race, Casey has noticed how a lot of things are really very much the same. She says it has been telling to see how little representation, authenticity, or positivity there was — from different body types to various ethnicities.

“When I was a girl, I was deeply insecure and constantly thinking about how I needed to be perfect,” she says, reflecting on the pages of her old magazines. Casey has noticed how many of the magazines contained pages packed with negative messages that contributed to her now-adult mindset. “And I think perfectionism is still a big problem with teenage girls.”

Casey thinks there's still a larger issue of how we think about, talk about, and communicate with teenage girls. While she doesn’t think her Instagram account is explicitly voicing the changes that need to occur, she does hope that the people who see the account will think about these issues more deeply.

Going one step further, she’s noticed that several of the same fashion trends are in right now, which proves that fads always come back. Some of the past trends she’s noticed returning include low-rise jeans, clogs, Bermuda shorts, denim everything, and kitten heels. “Low-riders really were everywhere, and I don't know why we thought they were a good idea. Even Emily Ratajkowski, who wore a pair the other day, looks truly wild in them, and she's a professional model,” Casey says. Thus, she recommends holding onto your clothes for safekeeping (we regret not saving ours). But most importantly with this project she offers, “I hope people take away just how far we've come and how far we have to go."

When it comes to memorable fashion editorials, Casey says, “All of Teen Vogue's back-to-school fashion editorials are stamped in my mind because I loved the plaids and Fair Isles and cable knits, and still do! One of the most memorable spreads for m, is this one featuring Emily Weiss, pre-Glossier. I loved her outfits then, and looking at them now, I am still wowed at how cool she is.”

Currently, Casey is in the process of scouring Ebay for memorable print issues she sadly no longer has in her possession. “I want to make sure I have all the ones that meant the most to me,” she says. This includes an issue of CosmoGirl featuring actor Melissa Joan Hart from Sabrina The Teenage Witch, and any and all magazines with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on the cover. Excuse us while we order all of our favorite teen mags on Ebay, too. Thank you, @thankyouatoosa.