As Erica mentioned in yesterday’s 
Media Musings, the big media news in New York this week is Portfolio’s closure. Former Conde Nast queen Tina Brown says the move “suggests a worrying element of panic engulfing the steadfast publisher,” and is sad about Conde honcho Si Newhouse “exhibiting what looks like signs of throwing in the towel.” Meanwhile, over at Gawker a former staff writer blames the mag’s failure on editor Joanne Lipman.Relaying news of magazine shutterings is depressing (yet another friend out of a job with the Portfolio closure), so on a more inspirational note, I bring you some pretty, pretty blogs that I found myself bouncing around as a distraction.
My browsing started innocently
enough: I was researching an author I might interview by reading about her on Salon. Then I clicked onto another Salon piece about the joys of LOLcats. Of course, I then had to go and look at the hilariously captioned photos of “kittehs” and “goggies.” There, I saw an ad for a retro clothing boutique—I clicked and realized that it was Mod Cloth, which I’ve already browsed and loved. After scrolling through their new spring dresses, I followed the link to their blog.That’s where I saw this gorgeous photo that Mod Cloth chose for their “Style Inspiration” post. The link led me to the wonderful Sally Jane Vintage blog, where there were more pretty photos and links to Sally Jane’s Etsy and eBay shops.
Sally Jane also had a long blogroll, so I checked out some of her links. This is how I found out about The Supermelon, an online publication with a cool mix of style, arts, trends, and travel.
Another link led me to Prim Magazine, which was started by a 14-year-old. Kristin Ferrandino’s bimonthly mag is available in print and online and is like a mini Interview with a focus on up-and-coming talent in fashion, art, and music. Of course, I had to know more about this 14-year-old editor so I Googled her and found this piece from Teen Vogue, and Kristin’s own blog. Inspiring stuff.
Back over to Sally Jane Vintage to explore more links, and I took a long detour on Summer Allen-Gibson’s blog, Design is Mine. Allen-Gibson—a baker, illustrator and mum—hails from what seems to be the hugely creative city, Portland, Oregon. [Note to self:
move Portland up on the weekend-trip list.] She blogs about art, graphic and interior design, photography, and crafty things, each item cuter than the next. The grab-bag of goodies reminded me to drop into another blog I frequent daily, Made by Girl. Greeting-card designer Jennifer Ramos posts amazing interiors photos and as well as her favourite finds from fashion and jewelry to teapots and furniture. (Two other regular style stops include Dooce and Brooklyn Bride, which I found before my wedding in October but continue to check for design inspiration.)Like Sally Jane Vintage, Design is Mine has a ton of links I’m still trawling my way through. One took me to a home tour of artist Stephanie Congdon Barnes, who lives in Portland, Oregon (of course!) and is the co-founder (with friend Maria A. Vettese, who lives in Portland, Maine) of the sweet and elegant photo blogs, 3191: A Year of Mornings, 3191: A Year of Evenings, and 3191 Miles Apart. (That’s the distance between their homes.)
The 3191 series shines a light on the beauty in daily details, and proves that little ideas can have a huge impact. Worth remembering as mags continue to close, and people start breaking out their swine-flu face masks.
Happy clicking,
Rebecca/GWAS NY News Desk
Thanks for reading this post by Girl With a Satchel!