February 2003
Cover Girls
From Lady Bird Johnson to the Dixie Chicks, outstanding Texas women have been putting our best face forward for thirty years.
SEEMS LIKE EVERY FEMALE IN the state, from first lady to floozy, has graced the cover of Texas Monthly since the magazine debuted in 1973. Over the course of 361 issues, including this one, the cover has captured or mirrored the many faces of Texas women, from the traditionally feminine, such as cheerleaders and beauty queens, to the more challengingly modern, like politicians and self-made millionaires. (And yes, there have also been some unsavory types along the way: stripper, cult leader, murderer.)
Here we have resurrected fifty of our favorite covers featuring girls and women, from a wide-eyed toddler in day care to 99-year-old rancher Hallie Stillwell. You'll also find Congresswoman barbara Jordan and makeup magnate Mary Kay Ash. Naturally we've paid homage to first-ladies-in-law Laura and barbara bush, although our most famous cover ever showed a governor Ann Richards, who was depicted in July 1992 dressed in white leather and straddling a motorcycle. (Actually, the photo is a composite we stuck photographer Kevin Vandivier's head shot of Richards on a model's body.) Besides the "White Hot Mama" shot, Richards showed up on two other TM covers for a total of three appearances, a record matched only by Selena, the tejano singer, and Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playmate and model and a perennial Bum Steer. But a larger-than-life icon trumps them all Texas' beloved Lady Bird Johnson has graced a quartet of covers, all since 1994.
