Mag Hags
The culture and history podcast that every modern woman should know.
Join Franki and Lucy as they dive into the glossy archives of women’s magazines to find out what's still hot, and what's definitely not.
✨As featured in ✨
Podcast Episodes
Travel back in time to check out your favourite title!
Sidebar: Magazine lingo cheat sheet
Do you know your masthead from your standfirst? Could you make a pull quote out of a vox pop? And what, oh what, is a slug? Welcome to Mag Hags “Sidebar” where we talk about the stuff we couldn’t fit into the main episode. Or else go off on a mad tangent about something that’s sparked our int...
Elle, July 1987
The Mag Hags are back! It’s July 1987 - aka Lucy’s birth month - and to kick off the new season she’s leading a voyage of “style with content” to Elle magazine! The contradictions of the late 80s are writ large: we’ve got innovation and progress (portable CD players!! Iced coffee!!!) alongside depr...
Season Two coming soon!
Mag Hags is back! We've got smashing financial advice, explosive relationship drama, and the latest shoulder pad discourse. If you love magazines, 20th century pop culture, and questionable life advice, then join us every week to find out what’s still hot, and what’s definitely not. First episode d...
Cosmopolitan, October 1992
It’s the end of season one! And what better note to end on than right back where we started: with the OG of having it all, Cosmopolitan. It’s October 1992 and Lucy is at the helm as the Mag Hags navigate post-Thatcher pre-Loaded gender politics to explore the timeless editorial territory of: has fe...
Who We Are
Journalists, magazine readers, and IRL mates
CO-HOST
Lucy Douglas
Lucy is an award-winning editor. Before moving into the less-sexy-but-better-paid world of brand content, she wrote for the likes of The Guardian and The Telegraph, and edited indy magazines including Positive News.
She came up with the idea for Mag Hags while brainstorming with Franki for an upcoming job interview. One of the tasks the recruiters had set was to suggest features for the forthcoming 50 year anniversary edition of the publication. As they went through the archives, looking for ideas, they were gripped by the stories they encountered, by turns fascinating, twee, hilarious, and problematic. “This would make a great podcast,” she said. Three years later, Mag Hags was born.
Like many Millennial women, Lucy can trace her love of glossy mags back to poring over the problem pages of Sugar and Just 17 in the mid-90s. Graduating to titles such as New Woman and Cosmopolitan, her passion took hold and from then on, she knew was going to work in journalism. 
CO-HOST
Franki Cookney
Franki has been a reporter and features writer for over 15 years, writing for The Guardian, The Mirror, The Independent, The Sun, Cosmopolitan, The Sunday Times, Forbes, WIRED, and many more.
She got the podcasting bug in 2016, making her first show at her kitchen table, and hasn't looked back. In 2019 an episode of her sex and relationships podcast The Second Circle was shortlisted for an MJA Award. In 2021 she successfully crowdfunded a limited documentary series, which allowed her to outsource the editing to focus on reporting, writing and hosting. With Mag Hags she's excited to be back in the audio production seat again.
From being inspired by the investigative reporting in Marie Claire, to obsessing over the sex tips in More (and eventually going on to write a fair few sex tips herself), magazines have played a huge role in Franki's life. While she may have moved on from free lip gloss and hair mascara, she still enjoys the occasional DIY face mask.We're On Instagram
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Or maybe you just want to share your magazine memories with us.
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