New York Magazine's Revamped 'The Cut' Blog Will Take On The Fashion Glossies

the cut

Readers of New York Magazine's fashion blog The Cut are in for a treat when they check in on the site Monday morning.

That's when the the company plans to reveal its all new version of the blog—a standalone website that will move outside its current editorial milieu of style and gossip to take on a wide range of topics that interest women, from sex and relationships to health and media. And it's putting a whole new emphasis on photos.

"Our goal was to create a mash-up between a high-end fashion magazine and a blog," said Adam Moss, editor-in-chief of New York Magazine.

From what we saw, The Cut's new format could give traditional print glossies a run for their money. Images on the site appear at a super-high resolution and slideshows will feature a zoom function, meaning readers can get up close and personal with a sexy pair of shoes or a makeup smudge on a runway model's face.

The site also invested heavily in its image inventory, creating 100 new celebrity Look Books (in the style of the addictive Michelle Obama Look Book) and hiring freelance street photographers around the world to capture the looks of the moment.

Maureen O'Connor, formerly of Gawker, will helm the new site's features section, Love & War, which she said would experiment with "first-person confessionals" alongside commentary and longer pieces. Another new feature we're eagerly awaiting is "Celeberotica," in which a romance novelist is asked to reimagine tabloid stories.

Altogether, there are now 11 editorial staffers on the website, including seven new hires. The new Cut will also make heavy use of outside contributors, Moss said.

The launch comes as women's sites in general—Buzzfeed's Shift, The Grindstone—are on the rise. Moss said that by expanding outside the sphere of fashion, the website hoped to capture a wider audience.

It's also a boon for advertisers. Fashion is the largest single advertising category for New York Magazine, up 34 percent from last year, and digital now accounts for 40 percent of its ad revenue, said publisher Larry Burstein. Five advertisers, including Bottega Veneta, Burberry, and Cartier, have signed on for the site's launch, for campaigns that he said would "replicate print ads."

While the site doesn't have any specific e-commerce plans in place for the launch, that could come next, Burstein said. And it makes sense, considering that another section of the site, Goods, will feature a range of click-to-buy products, from bargain finds to looks straight from the runway.

We were big fans of The Cut before, and are excited to see what the new version brings.

Here's a preview of the new homepage, TheCut.com. Click to enlarge.

the cut