Blake Lively is perhaps still reeling from her sudden announcement that she was shuttering her Preserve lifestyle site after little more than a year. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she had lost a lot of money in the venture, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if her sales sucked because Blake’s “curation” of a certain kind of lifestyle was A) boring, B) ugly and C) incredibly overpriced. You can see the Preserve Sale items here. An ugly necktie with a reduced price of $75? Gender reveal balloons now at a sale price of $7.90 each? Ugh.
Anyway, Blake posted the above Instagram yesterday with this message:
Thank you guys for your support every step of the way in the @preserve_us adventure. I couldn’t be more grateful!! One day I’ll stop wearing so many hats ….but …I’ll probably be dead by then, so… 🎩💀👒☺️😉 I’m just doin’ what mama taught me 😉 She’s my idol. Who’s yours? 💖 💪👗💖#WhyIsThereNoEmojiForSpiceGirlsGirlPowerFingers ?!!!
“One day I’ll stop wearing so many hats…” Yeah, if that’s what she wants to tell herself, God bless. I do have sympathy for the fact that she failed so hard so publicly, although her lack of realistic self-awareness is off-putting. Preserve failed because no one was particularly interested in a lifestyle curated by the chick from Gossip Girl, you know? It didn’t fail because Blake was wearing “so many hats,” or because she simply didn’t have enough time to devote to launching Preserve. If you remember Blake’s pre-Preserve career, she basically filmed one project (The Age of Adeline) in a four-year time period. She also got married. That was it. Those were all the “hats” she wore in a four year time period. She was a wife and a semi-retired actress who devoted more than a year to creating Preserve (then complained about how Anna Wintour forced her into launching it too soon to coincide with a Vogue cover). It’s like she won’t acknowledge the fact that maybe lifestyle stuff isn’t her jam?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Wasn’t she supposed to be the next Carrie Bradshaw? I seem to recall when GG was on the air she was a fashion and hair darling. I think she should stick to shilling for Loreal, that’s her millieau.
I agree, there’s nothing high-fashion about her look at all. She’s more suited to shilling to the mid-market like her L’oreal contract.
@Veronica – Agreed she’ great for L’Oreal, and was sexy for Gucci.
Alex Shulman has said she wants her on UK Vogue; so maybe a British fashion house next?
Yes. Primark would be great.
Meh, Blake will be fine without her Goop rip off. I’m honestly kind of surprised because I thought her time in the spotlight had passed….especially with all the other blonde bombshell type of actresses. However, when I read a piece on her recently I realized she kind of has a decent amount of films lined up. Age of Adaline was a modest hit and she’s got the lead in a big budget Sony film about a great white shark. She’s also got a few other decent-ish projects that I can’t remember right now…Watch her grab a starring role in a TV series in a few years.
THIS!
Good points
Speaking of Goop; how is it that records show her blog has been running at a loss 2 years running, but she’s still going??
No snark or shade. Legit question
Goop’s stuff may sell at a loss, but it still sells and gets way more publicity because of the high-end stuff on offer.
And as someone noted, Paltrow has $140 million and a properly designed website – THAT is how she’s still going.
I think that’s partly why she started Preserve. She had a three-year period when she wasn’t working (and had her baby too), and you have zero guarantees when it comes to your next role. Even just a few months ago – if I recall correctly – she was still going on about preferring business to acting. Then she landed a few leading roles so I think that probably also convinced her to close down the site. Plus it was probably bleeding money, as others have noted. She’s worth $8 mill vs GP’s $140 mill. Obviously GP can keep her vanity site and lose a bit of money for a long time yet.
@Cam –
Thanks.
At least you gave an honest & fair minded opinion.
“Then she landed a few leading roles so I think that probably also convinced her to close down the site. Plus it was probably bleeding money, as others have noted. ”
LOL yes it was bleeding money. She didn’t close it cause she got leading roles. She wouldn’t if she was making money off of it. You sound like you work for her.
I think she should’ve persevered and stick with it. Most companies struggle in their first several years. Maybe she needed a better team or a better marketing model or whatever. Why drop it after just ONE year? One year is nothing.
My thoughts exactly. Especially now that has Etsy has officially done away with its handmade brand and now invites third-party manufacturers in, perhaps there was scope and opportunity for her to re-model and re-market the Preserve brand to fit even more in line with the handmade niche.
A lot of companies also go under in their first few years. She probably closed it down because it was a gushing financial wound that nobody could afford to fix. Perhaps she’ll learn something from it and come back with a better business plan. Perhaps not because the whole thing seemed like a vanity project anyway and was just a mash-up of Goop, Restoration Hardware and countless lifestyle blogs full of artsy photos and Instagram bait.
Nothing wrong with trying and failing. It’s all a learning experience even if she may have lost on this one. I like Blake.
Ditto.
THAT OUTFIT. Good GOD. It makes my eyes hurt. So tragic, even more tragic than the demise of another celeb lifestyle blog that nobody cared about.
That being said, I like Blake because she is GG alumn and I hope she succeeds with whatever silly sh*t she choses to pursue.
“That being said, I like Blake because she is GG alumn and I hope she succeeds with whatever silly sh*t she choses to pursue.”
Same here Kitt. As usual.
She’s doing movies, still has her contracts, and has (apparently) a beautiful blue eyed little one. She’ll be fine.
I do prefer that she leaves this lifestyle thing alone though.
I have a feeling that at a later stage she will revive the site, probably reducing it to fashion items, such as clothing, shedding the other items (food, jewellery, etc.).
That poor baby will prolly have Blake’s old nose.
I think she does that very out there glamour well (award shows, film premieres) – probably because designers get a lot of input then – but her smart casual and semi-formal outfits are so strange. She said herself she’s basically a tranny when it comes to dressing up and make-up. I don’t know what to call it but it’s not good.
Or you know, you could try to do a job you’re actually qualified for. E-Commerce and lifestyle go way beyond just a little bit of alliterative prose and some cool stuff from Etsy.
Girl, stop. Take a big old bite of humble pie.
I guess this is what happens when a person has their butt kissed from a young age. She never had a boss put her in her place for showing up late too many times, never stayed up all night finishing a paper only to be told it needs a complete re-write, never worked 50 hours in a week and still stressed about paying rent, and all the other things that young people go through to learn humility.
+ 1
She would be nowhere with her old nose and breasts.
Shes a had a nose job!? Go get your refund, Blake.
Lol on her comment re wearing so many hats…
Even bigger Lol @minx’s comment.
Christ – she sounds so entitled.
I know she has fans/admirers – obviously – she’s a celebrity.
I simply don’t get her appeal…
I’ve always thought that was the problem with Blake Lively: there’s no struggle. She seems like a nice girl, but everything seems to come so easily to her. It’s hard to root for the beautiful girl who has everything fall into her lap.
Showbiz family. Her big sister was Teen Witch!
Edited to add: and her brother was Rusty in National Lampoons European Vacation.
“I mean, champagne problems—thank God these are the things I get to complain about.” Blake Lively.
Ugh.
this exactly. She’s never had to put in more than the most superficial effort on any part of her acting career, but too bad she never got the memo that the half-assed, publicity-hungry approach does not work when running a business.
Well she also had a kid… and this is not the first website to fail! A slick Silicon Valley venture cap guy told me recently that “no one who knows anything invests in someone who hasn’t failed yet.”
She should be careful in implying the failure of her lifestyle website is somehow Vogue’s fault, because Anna Wintour wouldn’t think twice to cut her off and stop giving her covers.
She said she had been working on the website for at least one/two year, she tried, kudos for this, but trying to subtly blame someone else for the fail isn’t gonna work.
I know, I can’t believe she went there. The blaming in itself is poor form, and then to put it on Her Worship Anna Wintour? Not smart.
That dress is everything – made of nightmares.
It looks like a quilt blanket. I am giving her a pass because I have fond memories of it.
I think it’s a Valentino.
No, it’s Preserve lol.
Preserve was awful, so not surprised that it failed. I am surprised that Blake’s Instagram is pretty funny. Who knew she had a sense of humor?
She reminds me of Amber Heard – pretty but bland.
Except Amber Heard married a rich man and could afford financial losses if she ever decides to launch a pet project.
Atleast I can see Ambers pretty in her moving pictures. This girl is average, basic and bland.
I much prefer Blake & her efforts to Amber Heard. Nothing in Amber I find attractive but she does have a nice figure. Amber seems too graspy-opportunistic & has yet to show any talent, except for creating drama with her supposed bisexuality. Blake doesn’t hide behind her husband 100% of the time & does show a capacity for humor & some self-awareness.
@taxi
Blake was also actually on a hit TV show, and had appeared in popular movies like The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants when people started noticing her.
Amber has the bisexual thing going on. That makes her a tad more interesting. Blake is like flat water bland.
Amber uses her bisexuality as a selling point. I find that kind of gross, actually.
I don’t find it interesting when a celebrity comes out as bisexual. I find it annoying and rather disgusting how so many young women use there supposed bisexuality to get attention and create interest, instead of relying on actual talent to drive there careers. I have to wonder how many of these bisexual celebrities are’nt even bisexual at all, and just claiming to be to get attention? And why are these supposedly bisexual celebrities always white and female? When was the last time a male or black female celebrity came as bisexual? I think most of these bisexual celebrities are just attention seeking phonies who have figured out a way to make themselves seem different. If Blake lively has any real talent and can put her career first without using some (probably phoney) claim of bisexuality as a way to get more attention then more power to her.
She should have gone the Olivia Palermo route with the site. She was awful on that reality show, but her site is cute.
Olivia Palermo has amazing style. Blake has none. Look at the pics in this post.
The bistro apron is my favorite, before $100, now $39. It’s a piece of dark fabric with a pocket. ????
She needs a hat over her mouth since it’s never closed and stuff must drop into all the time.
The Gods were playing a joke on us, as the prayers for GOOPs demise, boomeranged.
I clicked on 4 items on her website and 3 of them were dry clean only. Is she serious?