Last year, former Gossip Girl and one of Teen Vogue's ultimate sartorial crushes, Blake Lively, announced that she was joining the celebrity lifestyle brand club. Preserve, as it was called, was a place where users could connect with makers — makers of clothes or home decor or jewelry or anything else you could imagine. However, just a little over a year after its launch, Blake has announced that the site will cease operations as of October 9.
"We launched the site before it was ready," she explained in an interview with Vogue. "It never caught up to its original mission: It's not making a difference in people's lives, whether superficially or in a meaningful way."
"It's very exciting and it's also incredibly scary," she added. "I never thought that I would have the bravery to actually do that, to take the site dark and to say, 'You know what? I haven't created something that is as true and impactful as I know it can and will be.' And I'm not going to continue to chase my tail and continue to put a product out there that we, as a team, are not proud of."
While we're bummed to hear that Preserve never became what Blake wanted it to be, we can't help but take inspiration from the star's grace in a difficult situation. After all, sometimes admitting that something didn't turn out the way you wanted it to is just as important as succeeding.
And, don't worry, the site isn't going out without a celebration — there will be an incredible sale to mark its closure — and Blake has said that she will be rebuilding and rebranding to open again at a later date. "I'm going to take this hit, and the only way I can prove all the negative reactions wrong is to come back with a plan that will rock people," she concluded. "And I have that plan." We can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve.
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