It may be difficult for independent print magazines to stay afloat these days—they offer unique, premium content not dictated by trendy news cycles or social media fads, a tough choice which comes at a price. As we think it’s important that these small, passionate voices continue to be heard, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite print magazines which offer beautiful, deep content with original perspectives worth investing in.
So It Goes
So It Goes is a biannual publication featuring artists of all stripes, many of whom are still undiscovered by the mainstream media. If you want to be in-the-know regarding the who's who of the underground arts scene, this is the publication to pick up.
Darling
Darling is the first photoshop-free print publication, and within its pages you'll find women pictured who actually reflect the diversity of reality in terms of ethnicity, body type, and more. None of them have been retouched. This publication's articles are geared towards those who are introspective, conscientious and globally-engaged.
Apartamento
Based out of Barcelona, this interior design publication is less about the things people own and more about the people who own them. Apartamento features lived- in spaces, and its writers dive deep into the personalities that have created and curated the homes they feature.
Boat
If you love travel, or love the idea of travel but don't get to do much of it yourself, we highly recommend a subscription to Boat. Each issue deep dives into the culture of one specific city—the editors go so far as to move in while creating the content—so an exploration of its pages is somewhat akin to visiting the locales featured without all of the requisite flight delays.
Luncheon
Despite its moniker, newbie biannual print mag Luncheon is not about food per se. Rather, its creators set out to invoke the spirit of a meal shared with friends through content reflective of "an appetite for style and culture." Aesthetically, it's similar to a 1950s-era Vogue, which was created when, according to Luncheon's London-based founders, magazines were designed around "how the eye moves across the page."
Russh
Like most independent magazines, much of Russh's appeal comes from its profiles on people and projects that are at least a bit underground in nature. Russh focuses on those innovating in the fashion and beauty spaces, so it's perfect for fashion fanatics who are interested in what's next.
The Gentlewoman
In much the same way Apartamento approaches interior design, The Gentlewoman approaches style through individuals rather than through trends. It's also unlike most magazine geared towards women in that its featured non-traditional "cover girls" such as Angela Lansbury, Vivienne Westwood and Inez van Lamsweerde.
Kinfolk
Kinfolk was one of the first harbingers of society's return to slow living, wherein quality is prized over quantity, hyper-local is the buzzword du jour, and anything inauthentic is shunned. Though global in origin, the Kinfolk aesthetic is one of Scandinavian simplicity.
Cereal
We might be just as into it if Cereal featured Count Chocula and Captain Crunch, but it's moniker is actually quite the misnomer. Cereal is a travel magazine first and foremost, though its pages also include features on style and culture. We highly recommend picking up a Cereal city guide—which are published separately from the magazine—before your next trip.
Drift
This far into our list, you've probably started to sense how obsessed we are with faraway places. Outwardly, Drift is about coffee. Dig a little deeper, and it's about the places and ways in which people all over the world drink their coffee which, if you think about it, is one of the biggest cornerstones of daily life. The founders put it more eloquently, here: "Coffee helps us chart the geography of our cities."
Atlas
If you are an up-and-coming creative in the fashion, beauty or art space, you may want to pick up a copy of Atlas. The content of its biannual pages is entirely submission-based, so Atlas may be the perfect platform from which to gain traction for your creative efforts.
Suitcase
If you're only going to subscribe to one magazine from this list, we think we might have to recommend Suitcase. Unlike some modern magazines and content creators, the publication approaches travel in a way that makes sense to millennials. Look for recommendations you can trust, photography that will inspire you to sell your car for an around-the-world plane ticket ASAP, and profiles on people worth traveling to meet. If you already subscribe to Suitcase and are looking for something to further feed your wanderlust, look to Elsewhere, a new travel publication launching July 12.
The Ground
The Ground is somewhat of a crowd-sourced effort. Their staff publishes content submitted by creatives all over the world, allows an audience to interact with it, and then builds a biannual magazine out of the exciting results of the collaboration that ensues as a result.
