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Esquire

U.S. monthly magazine, founded in 1933 by Arnold Gingrich. It began as an oversized magazine for men that featured a sophisticated style and drawings of scantily clad young women. It later abandoned the risqué drawings but continued to cultivate the image of affluence and refined taste. It pioneered the treatment of unconventional topics and feature stories and attracted a general-interest audience with pieces by well-known writers. In the 1940s, because of its early notoriety, it was the object of an ultimately unsuccessful court case challenging its worthiness for mailing privileges at desirable rates. By the late 20th century, Esquire had lost its literary distinctiveness.