GQ (1-year)

GQ's ideal reader is probably one who actually might be able to afford any of the high-end suits, shoes, and watches featured among the countless ads packed between the covers. Though the average reader might enjoy scanning a fashion spread about steakhouses entitled "How to Dress for a Porterhouse" and reading articles like "50 Ways to Blow Your Bonus," it's unlikely that such folly holds much practical advice. Literary editor Walter Kirn keeps short fiction on display, and Alan Richman's writing on food and dining out is always entertaining, even when he comes across as borderline cranky. Two regular Q&A features, "The Style Guy" and "Dr. Sooth," run the gamut from when it's appropriate to wear a straw hat to problems in the bedroom.
--Brad Thomas Parsons

Product Description
GQ helps you look sharp and live smart. Each issue brings you revealing sports profiles, intimate photos of today's hottest up & coming actresses and models, tips on fine food & drink, sex, politics, fashion and grooming advice, The Style Guy's answers to your questions and so much more!

But, there are so many positives about GQ that a subscription is not only recommended, it is almost required. First, and perhaps foremost, Alan Richman's food/restaurant columns. Second, Peter Bart (the once-deposed editor of Variety) writes a great Hollywood column. Third, GQ is far and away superior to its rivals, which I believe are Esquire and, somewhat surprisingly, Vanity Fair.

Fourth, the fashion features and celebrity interviews are beyond compare. Finally, GQ generally has one article a month that I would describe as investigative journalism, and these articles can't be missed.

All in all, GQ is an essential for any magazine rack.


The gift of human speech.   November 5, 2001
 7 out of 8 found this review helpful

I think a very few magazines can boast of getting better and better with the years.
GQ is one of these exceptions. While most of the competitors insult you by presuming your attention span does not exceed 5-6 minutes the magazine presents you with the articles that are sometimes 6-7 pages long and very profound. It took Robert Draper 2 month to research the eunuch subculture in the modern USA (April 2000) but the resulting piece of journalism is unforgettable - just as the guy's feature on the once-famous bodybuilder, the reluctant muscle god Dave Draper. I still smile recalling some of Joe Queenan's Parisian pranks - the Froggies finally got their due. And the author puts something really funny in almost every issue.
The sophisticated grumpiness of Alan Richman makes his every visit to a restaurant at home and abroad a real clash of the concepts how things should be and how they really are - these modes rarely meet in space and time but when it happens the gourmet is the first to heap the praise. And there are also The Style Guy, the monthly advice how to get rid of these annoying extra twenty grand - with a taste and style, Adam Sach's musings on the things that come his way and a lot more.

Yeah, you get your hundreds pages of the latest fashion which is also a reason to buy the GQ but the glossiness can be found in many other places. The magazine talks to you in the voices of people you'd surely like to have as friends. There is no elitism, no showing off, no "entertaining" silliness. The authors' irony is endearing and mostly aimed at themselves. But do not get the impression it's small-scale. The magazine is very well-connected and you are guaranteed to get the interviews with and the profiles of all the celebrities you'd like to hear about. The persons which interest me no less are these common people you'll have no chance to meet reading the rest of the "men's magazines". The need to sell many sorts of fashionable merchandise and to form the yearning for a lot of expensive non-essential stuff is coped with somehow - the magazine had not lost the most precious gift - the gift of human speech.


Bring it on!!   November 2, 2002
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Many people take one look at all of the fashion ads in GQ and assume that it is devoid of substance. This is not at all the case, in fact, it is full of substance.

From the company that brings you Vanity Fair and Conde Nast Traveler, GQ has a long history of being the premier men's magazine. Whats more, they have faced a lot of competition in recent years with the explosion of other men's magazines like Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. But, GQ has separated itself from those publications and taken the high road.

Each month you will find many great columns and features, among my personal favorite are: "the style guy, Dr. Sooth's advice for the horizontally challenged, and Manly Arts." In addition, you will find many fiction and non-fiction stories from America's top writers.

This magazine is a great one to subscribe too. I look forward to it every month.


BEST EVER!   September 1, 2008
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is my all time favorite magazine of all time. It can appeal to everyone! It has articles ranging from sports to cars to clothes to relationships. Love it more than anything!!!! I have read every one since 2001!


Very Good   February 27, 2002
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

A very classy Mens magazine. Maybe a tad snobish but being aimed more at the nomenklatura of society is much more a blessing than a curse. Much better than any of its competition.