18 Eighteen Magazine - November 2010 ›

Forget the glitter and sequins of the 2000s. The November 2010 fashion editorial was titled “What to Wear When the World Ends (2012 is Coming).” Styled with plaid flannels, combat boots, and repurposed military jackets, the spread directly predicted the “grunge revival” and the rise of thrift-core. Models posed holding defunct flip phones and paperback copies of The Hunger Games (published just two months earlier). The tagline: “You can’t trust the economy, but you can trust a good pair of broken-in Doc Martens.”

The November 2010 issue of 18 Eighteen Magazine is not remembered for celebrity gossip or beauty hacks. It’s remembered because it arrived exactly at the crossroads of the Great Recession’s lingering shadow, the dawn of the social media surveillance state, and the emotional hangover of the 2000s. For one month, a modestly circulated magazine told 18-year-olds the truth: adulthood wasn’t a party. It was a negotiation. 18 Eighteen Magazine - November 2010

The magazine even included a perforated “Digital Detox Bingo Card” – squares included “Checked phone during a conversation,” “Instagrammed your food,” and “Googled an ex.” The fact that Instagram was only six weeks old in November 2010 makes this card astonishingly forward-thinking. Forget the glitter and sequins of the 2000s