It’s been quite the busy year for the 20/20 editors as we have spent a good part of 2024 researching, reminiscing and writing to create content in celebration of our 50th anniversary year. We spent a lot of time digging through our bound volume archives spanning the last 50 years—reading through and scanning old covers and pages of issues printed before digital times to compile the content for the anniversary features, our brand installation at Vision Expo (read more on p. 76) and for this special August anniversary edition.

Browsing our archives has been a fun and rewarding experience for our team. Revisiting past issues was a proud reminder of our hard work, while looking back at issues before our time truly gave us a sense of how far we have come, and how much our industry has evolved. I was around when was 20/20 still tabloid sized, much larger and longer than the square size we are today. My younger team members started long after our size change, but for me, even looking back at the old sized issues, I was amazed at our transformation throughout the years. Our first issue published in September 1974 featured multiple articles and photos on the cover in short newspaper format. This would be the format for almost two decades until in 1990, the first single cover image issue was published, setting the cover standard we continue to follow today. The inside pages also evolved over the years to a more fashion and style driven look with a consumer magazine feel. Our covers and pages overall became more colorful and vibrant—glossy and shiny to the touch and to the eyes.

While we continue to be loved today for our modern, high fashion look, we still hold the issues of yesteryear in high regard. They are vintage classics of our rich heritage and will always remain a cherished part of our history. As we wind down our anniversary at year’s end, we might not need to reference our bound volumes as often, but we are certainly not closing those books for good. We can always look back at them as inspiration for the future—I hope one day they can inspire new generations to come.

Before I sign off on this special anniversary issue, I want to take this time to acknowledge the individuals past and present who have all played significant roles in bringing 20/20 to our golden anniversary. It’s not just our team of editors who make 20/20 happen, it’s a collaborative effort among a collective group of passionate and dedicated individuals. Founder Robert A. Amato (Bob A.), Robert S. Amato (Bob S.), Marc Ferrara, Rick Bay, Marge Axelrad, James Spina, Gloria Nicola, Andrew Karp, Nancy Ness, Mark Mattison-Shupnick, Judith Michael, Iris Johnson and many more—thank you for all that you have established and contributed. And to our current team: Anne Cooper, Victoria Garcia, Jillian Urcelay, Maria Cruz Lord, Julie Zidel, Deborah Kotob, Linda Conlin, Bill Scott, James DeMatteis, Dennis Murphy, Amanda Churchill, Samantha Armstrong, Jennifer Waller and the rest of our marketing, production and art teams, I look forward to our continued collaboration for our next chapter. Stay gold, 20/20.

—Christine Yeh