25 Years of Sexiest Man Alive

It all began one afternoon around a layout table, in PEOPLE's Manhattan offices, in 1985. Various photos, for various reasons, were scattered around, and one happened to be of Mel Gibson, then in his late 20s and crazy good-looking. The photo editor at the time, Mary Dunn—an elegant southern spitfire who spoke her mind freely—walked in, pointed to a picture of Mel, and proclaimed, "He's the sexiest man alive!" A cover was born, and in the words of former assistant managing editor Hal Wingo, "out of that little acorn grew the mighty oak that is the Sexiest Man Alive franchise."

This collection of Top Stories from PEOPLE explores the past 25 years of People's Sexiest Men Alive.