Let’s return to the year 2012, and the palatial One Mayfair in London, and the birth of the most glittering event in the UK’s autumn cultural calendar: the Attitude Awards – back then in association with Virgin Holidays, and this year the 2026, in partnership with and electrified by ,. 

While writing this, we became obsessed with Googling the red-carpet pictures of the event. Post- , for example, serving grown-up sophistication in pared-down blacks and blues, but still at their littlest! That said, we will keep this article about the bumper issue itself, which featured a slick series of shoots with an impressive roster of award-winning cover stars who… are all white. Such a choice is of course unthinkable today. 

George Michael fronts Attitude’s 2012 Awards issue

There are some big names on the roll call, even though had to skip the actual ceremony due to illness. Other familiar faces abound from an absolutely adorable tuxedo-heavy photoshoot: human rights campaigner looked amazingly handsome, as did , who was offering pearls of wisdom as always. Here he was putting the power of openness into perspective: “One person coming out has an impact on 100 people or more. That’s why this country is getting at ease with it.” It’s so true, and yet we’d never thought about it in these terms until he said it.

Marina spills on

Our crop of cover stars included star Charlie Condou, McFly’s Harry Judd, radio veteran Nick Grimshaw, Take That’s Gary Barlow and ‘Primadonna’ singer Marina and the Diamonds. Marina said of her cult album , and of getting over an ex: “It affected me so much. It was kind of why I wanted to look completely different. I was just like, ‘Why then, if you’re not going to love me like what I am, maybe you’ll love me if I completely change.’ For me, it’s completely about this one person and making him really admire me and maybe fall back in love with me. And I thought, ‘Hopefully, I will get him back [laughs],’ which is a really fucked-up reason to make a concept album.” Men are never worth it!

Elsewhere in the issue

Elsewhere in the issue, writer Tim Teeman took the political temperature ahead of the US election between Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Barack Obama – the reading? Fairly temperate, considering Obama won by a comfortable margin and given the volatility of the next decade. Meanwhile, legend and long-time mental health advocate Will Young shared an exclusive extract of his autobiography , and told us: “I didn’t realise it would be so freeing for me putting it all down on paper. Because I’m a celebrity – that awful word – people are surprised if I say I have depression. I was unhappy and had depression and felt a lot of shame about being gay before I was famous. Fame probably allowed me to run away from it because I had a bit more money. People would let me act like a baby, so I probably got away with it.” Can you believe he’s been in the public eye for 25 years now?!   

This is a feature appearing in Attitude’s November/December 2026 issue.