The bright, turquoise blue cover featuring Buddha Mama jewelry and the stories inside the directory, which included re-purposed editorial coverage written by yours truly, and some of the exquisite monthly Trend Reports written by Marion Fasel of The Adventurine, was so well-received that we thought, “Why not produce a standalone magazine?” Jewelry is such a tactile artform, we wanted an opportunity to bring a bit of the COUTURE experience into people’s homes and offices, where they could sit with a cup of coffee or tea and learn more about the larger than life personalities that make our community so special.

After getting the green light, the naive confidence I’d felt in taking on the project vanished immediately! While there was obviously plenty of material to work with, so content wasn’t going to be a problem, despite my love for printed books and magazines, I’d never, actually, published one! Thank goodness for the kindness of two friends from HD and BD Magazine, who responded to my admission that I wanted to cry with, “Great! That means you’re doing it right,” before sitting me down and outlining the layout of sections and ads. If not for them, I surely would have broken every cardinal rule of publishing (and my spirit).

While I can’t say I’m an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I have a newfound respect for all of my friends in media who are charged with producing print publications on a regular basis, and I am proud of what we’ve created. Our second standalone issue and the 4^th time we’ve put our online content onto the printed page, this edition also includes never-before-seen stories, a Zodiac Personality chart, restaurant reviews, an advice column, and COUTURE puzzles and games.

If you walked through the doors of COUTURE 2025 in any capacity, your copy of the magazine should be coming to you soon. We are also going to send an issue to the first 10 people who sign up to receive a physical copy here. And if you prefer a digital version, it can be found here. Our hope is that you enjoy reading these stories and features as much as we enjoyed putting them all together!