By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 28, 2000
Real Simple‘s mission is real simple. The new lifestyle magazine wants to help simplify your life.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look good. The premiere issue, which hit newsstands Monday, is populated with high-end ads from Ralph Lauren, Chanel and DeBeers diamonds.
“Simple doesn’t mean plain,” says publisher Andy Sareyan. “It’s a mind style as well as a lifestyle. It’s quality over quantity.”
Simplifying our lives is a hot topic these days. Simplicity, a lifestyle magazine aimed at the twentysomething market, debuted last month. And since 1995, HGTV’s “The Good Life” has been showing real-life folks trading in their hectic lifestyles to pursue a simpler dream.
Aimed at working women, working moms and stay-at-home moms, Real Simple is published by Time Inc.–home to such periodicals as People, In Style and Time. The pastel cover shot of a bowl of roses hints that it might be a Martha Stewart-type magazine–not surprising, considering that managing editor Susan Wyland was the editor of Martha Stewart Living from 1992-1996. But once you get past the 19 pages of ads for the likes of Estee Lauder eye cream, Baby Gap jeans and Jones New York swimwear to the table of contents, it’s obvious that Real Simple has a different agenda. It’s not just about beautifying the home, but about uncluttering it and rejuvenating the body and soul.
Beautifully designed, this 212-page issue offers no celebrity interviews or photo layouts to draw readers in. Nor are there stories with empty promises of how to please your mate in the boudoir. Rather, the magazine features quick, easy-to-read articles that offer practical advice.
Want better credit? Cut up those excess credit cards.
Hate cleaning the bathroom? Of course you do, but the chore is easier to stomach when you get it done in 15 minutes (I tested their method–it works).
Spend too much time weeding through junk mail? Well, do something about it. Get off the junk mail circuit.
Want to keep your home tidier without making your guests feel uncomfortable? Then how about keeping a basketful of slippers by the front door for them?
The magazine also devotes a chunk of space to nurturing the soul by creating do-it-yourself rituals out of ordinary, everyday things such as having tea.
To get a free issue, visit www.realsimple.com or call (800) 351-1100.
