Domino Magazine Returns!!!

all new content! read it and weep sweet tears of joy!

We've all heard the rumors and now it is a fact! Domino magazine, which once came out of nowhere to bring home design to the average workaday Jane, is now back in print! No more biannual rehashes, but a quarterly publication of fresh, new content. Let's all give ourselves a pat on the back for keeping the beacons lit. Many things die on the battlefield of American commerce and only occasionally do we, the people manage to demand it back from the grave. (I'm looking at you, Milani Cosmetics. Some of us depend on Gourmet Coffee #37 lipstick!) 

But, I digress...
Being a quarterly, the new edition is still $11.99. The number of pages is the same as the old $4.99 issues - a trim 128 pages. This doesn't bother me, maybe because a) it's all-new Domino and b) I'm a New Yorker known to pay that much for foreign mags on occasion. You'll have to follow your own gut on that in the future. But for now, here's my impression after skimming through the magazine:

First, a word about the new Editor, Michelle Adams. Yes, the young woman who founded Lonny online, after being an assistant at the original Domino. And that was after she started her little textile company, Rubie Green. I don't follow the lives of editors, but even I have managed to see the coverage of Michelle's humble yet stylish digs around NYC. Living as best she could in the same sorts of pads the rest of us workaday Janes are snuggled up in. So, when her new glossy skybox pad was featured in Lonny, right after she moved on... Respect! She came a long way, baby. And now she's running the magazine that she started her working life at, less than ten years ago! She is a motherfucking go-getter. Not someone who thinks they're making it happen by showing up early and talking themselves up. Michelle Adams has ideas, sees opportunities and she executes. 

Hats off to you!

beautifully photographed holiday meal spread

I like that the cover is standard issue for Domino. Their covers have always been great and I can't think of many that left me cold. (Heaven knows the debut issue popped like no other and remains a legend - in my mind.) Holiday covers are pretty boring, tinsel, berries, ornaments. Pretty but generally I can't stand them. Actually, I don't Holiday Issues at all, content included. Maybe because all the magazines are so narrowly focused on the same topic that it feels like they all say the same thing. Well, Domino has brought us an issue that combines a little holiday with a whole lot about cool homes for the young, the relatively young, families, men and women. 

a classic feature on pairing items for eclectic, functional looks

OH! And we get to see Eva Chen's new office at Lucky magazine - that is we get to see an editor's office at Conde Nast. I don't read Lucky any more, but as one of the many who once came to the city hoping to work at Conde Nast (the old Madison Avenue offices, not 4 Times Square), may I say that this feels like a treat.

the perks of heading up a top national magazine

There's one of those urbane how-to guides for upping your hostessing game, set in a very lovely apartment:

And there are several different homes that I'm gonna have to sit back and consider at my leisure. Yes, Nate Berkus and India Hicks are well-photographed, but these spreads felt new. I didn't feel like I've seen their homes before. As for the rest, they were all new, and more importantly, featured fantastic examples of color + texture + pattern and laid back style. 

And don't get me started on the Morocco features:

a 250 foot studio apartment is fresh and airy

a rich and restrained california home

i've been meaning to do a huge inspiration wall like that

a man after my own heart: color + texture + pattern to the hilt!

That's just to give you an idea. By all means go get a copy and explore on your own. One thing: the magazine is riddled with pages and cards telling you to go to domino.com to shop the mag and see more homes. Sadly the site is still just a holding page that collects emails. Hopefully it will be up and running soon. I like to pin crisp images for future reference. 

Oh, and there's a little Sofia Coppola in there, too. 

Welcome back, Domino. You have been missed.