16 COSMOtastic Facts From Delhi

I am back from the 2010 COSMO gathering of the clan, aka COSMIC, our biennial International Editors’ Conference. This time it was held in Delhi. And even after all these years I came back inspired and energised! So, in the spirit of the conference, I’ll share some of the seriously important stuff I brought back:

1. The tribal dress of the international COSMO editor is a killer blow-dry, excellent lipstick and heels at least 10cm high. (Fact.)
2. If COSMO readers formed a country, it would be the sixth biggest in the world.
3. UK COSMO’s most successful recent cover line was: ‘How to hide hangover skin.’
4. The UK’s favourite cover girl ever was Cameron Diaz. The question that Louise is wrestling with? Who is the new Cameron D?
5. Kate, the editor of US COSMO, is taking her edition in a ‘more edgy, more rock chick’ direction.
6. COSMO Netherlands editor Claudia says that sex doesn’t sell that much over there. What sells? ‘You, you, you!’
7. One in every 12 lipstick applications in the UK is applied by a COSMO reader.
8. In the Phillipines, readers want to be ‘fashyon’ (which seems to mean – translated loosely - fun, fearless, fashionable).
9. COSMO Malaysia’s editor, Izza, can’t show images with cleavage in the magazine (she retouches it out). Or armpits. Or shoulders.
10. Payal, the editor of COSMO in India, has to give sex tips to readers who cannot have sex ... anywhere. They live with their families. He lives with his.
11. Lala, editor of Spanish COSMO, has the longest legs, the highest heels and the shortest skirts. And she is super bright - COSMO to the core.
12. In US COSMO, any piece on gynaecology gets an 80%-plus approval rating, according to their research.
13. Bronwyn, the editor of COSMO Australia, is the authority on body love. (Not just the sexy kind, ‘the healthy body, happy mind’ kind.)
14. Violeta (love that name) says our covers rock Lithuania, where she is editor.
15. If you ever get lost somewhere scary and messy in Delhi at night, you want the Greeks and Cypriots (fun, feisty, fearsome) by your side.
16. And, although I loved meeting, reconnecting, eating, drinking, laughing, learning and sharing with the sisters from all over the world ... there’s no place like home.

Author: Vanessa Raphaely