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Cet article traite de la manière dont les femmes sont dépeintes sur les couvertures de la revue de photographie française Photo, du lancement de la publication en 1967 jusqu’à 1990, où le phénomène des top-models était déjà bien présent. L’hypothèse est que, au long de cette période, les mannequins sont passés d’une condition d’objets, sans droit à exhiber leur propre nom, à celle de sujets participants de l’acte photographique. L’article examine aussi la possibilité que le mouvement féministe ait contribué à un repositionnement des mannequins, en leur donnant un traitement plus digne, bien que la revue ait continué à travailler dans une perspective voyeuriste. Une analyse quantitative des crédits des femmes sur les couvertures indique, néanmoins, un changement brusque de ces stratégies, répondant à un phénomène de l’univers de la mode, et non à une exigence sociale revendiquée par la force du féminisme.

This essay discusses how women, especially models, were credited on the covers of the French photography magazine Photo between 1967 (when the publication was launched) and 1990 (when the phenomenon of top-models was already established). The hypothesis is that, over this period, the models went from a condition of simple objects, “things” in front of the camera, without the right to display their name, to subjects participating in the photographic act. After 1990, this process of subjectivity intensified until it became virtually mandatory to place the names of the models on magazine covers, sharing the space with the names of the photographers. By drawing on a small body of literature on the feminist movement in the late 1960s, this article also speculates on the possibility that this movement contributed to a positive repositioning of models in the editorial strategies of Photo in relation to the front covers, giving them more dignified treatment, even though the magazine continued to work with women’s bodies and faces from an erotic and “voyeuristic” perspective, a phenomenon that still dominated (and continues to dominate) the publishing market. Also, a quantitative analysis of the credits of the models on the covers points to a sudden change in editorial strategies, responding to a trend within the fashion world and not to a social demand, as claimed by feminist movements.