Karlie Kloss Brings LIFE Magazine Back to Print With a 250-Page First Issue Priced at $45
LIFE magazine is returning to regular print publication, with its first new issue due on 23 November. The 250-page issue will retail for $45 and will be published quarterly, PEOPLE reported, citing The New York Times.
The relaunch is led by Bedford Media, the company run by supermodel Karlie Kloss and her husband, billionaire investor Joshua Kushner, who purchased LIFE in 2024, PEOPLE reported. The New York Post reported that the debut issue will mark the magazine’s return to regular print publication for the first time since 2007.
In a letter from the editors shared on Wednesday, 28 October, the magazine said the first issue, themed “Where Are We Now?”, was assembled by more than 120 people, PEOPLE reported. The letter described the issue as offering “a window into an America searching for meaning: scientists and artists, entrepreneurs and athletes, children and octogenarians, coal miners and drone makers.”
Preserving the legacy
Kloss told The New York Times: “What made Life extraordinary was its ability to make the world feel closer,” PEOPLE reported. “And our responsibility is to preserve and to protect that legacy.” The New York Post reported that Kloss said she is focused on developing LIFE’s business, leaving editorial decisions to the magazine’s staff.
The revival is planned to extend well beyond print. In addition to returning in print and online, LIFE plans to venture into documentary films, video, collectibles, events and special edition prints, according to the editors’ letter reported by PEOPLE. The New York Post reported that electric vehicle maker Rivian and software firm Figma are sponsoring the debut issue, which will carry no traditional print advertisements.
A magazine with a long visual history
LIFE was founded in 1936 by Henry Luce, who had also founded Time and Fortune magazines, according to The New York Times as reported by PEOPLE. Its inaugural issue featured a black-and-white photograph of Montana’s Fort Peck Dam taken by Margaret Bourke-White and sold out instantly. The Times reported that the magazine’s circulation peaked at more than eight million copies in the 1960s, before it stopped publishing weekly in 1972 and became a monthly magazine until 2000.
The agreement that set up the relaunch left LIFE’s vast historical photography archive in the hands of People Inc, formerly Dotdash Meredith, while Bedford Media took charge of the magazine itself, the New York Post reported.
Sources: PEOPLE and the New York Post, 28 October 2026, both reporting The New York Times.