Jesinta Campbell recreates first Cleo cover for its final issue

AFTER 44 years in print, Jesinta Campbell will be the last ever Cleo cover girl, recreating the first ever cover that launched the mag back in 1972.

Campbell recreates first Cleo cover

AFTER 44 years in print, Jesinta Campbell will be the last ever Cleo cover girl.

The 24-year-old appears on the cover of the final issue of the iconic Australian magazine which was started in 1972 under the direction of Ita Buttrose.

“I actually had tears in my eyes,” Campbell told Today Show host and former Cleo editor Lisa Wilkinson of being given the honour, “because it was the very first fashion magazine that I got to be on the cover of.

Jesinta Campbell on the last issue of the March 2016 issue of Cleo. Picture: Cleo/Bauer Media

“I remember reading articles and feeling empowered myself, so I can’t imagine what those articles did for women 44 years ago, so Cleo is one of the reasons both of us are here today as strong women on television, talking, doing our thing and being independent and kicking goals.”

I got a bit teary the day the call came from @cleomag asking if I would b their final covergirl. Sad 2 say goodbye pic.twitter.com/ZdjZeRt5At

— Jesinta Campbell (@JesintaCampbell) February 18, 2016

Cleo posted a picture of the final cover on Instagram, farewelling “44 years of sass, bachelors, sex and centrefolds”.

“44 years never looked so good. The farewell issue of CLEO hits stands on Monday,” the caption read. “Thanks to @jesinta_campbell for recreating the very first Cleo cover so beautifully.”

Campbell, who is engaged to WA-raised AFL player Lance “Buddy” Franklin, has appeared on the cover of Cleo twice before — in April 2012 for her first ever magazine shoot, and again in January 2015.

Jesinta Campbell on the cover of Cleo in January 2015.

The first ever cover of Cleo in 1972.

For this particular shoot, she had her hair tucked and pinned up underneath to give the illusion of a bob.

“I haven’t had the big chop,” Campbell told Wilkinson of the look, “but I’m kind of loving it actually. I’m loving this 70s vibe.”

Editor Lucy Cousins said of the final cover: “It’s an ode to the 44 years. We didn’t want to go out with a cover that didn’t really say anything, we wanted to pay tribute to that first one.”

A statement from Bauer magazines said the company chose to close the mag because “in its current format, CLEO was no longer sustainable for the longer term.”

The closure comes just three years after it became the focus of hit ABC miniseries Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo.