Life magazine returns to print in November at $45

Life magazine will resume publication next month as a quarterly print edition.

The publication, founded in 1936 by Henry Luce, had ceased regular weekly output in 1972 and stopped monthly publication in 2000. It appeared only in special issues or as a newspaper supplement for the final 25 years of its history. In 2024, Karlie Kloss, a model and entrepreneur, licensed the rights to the brand from Dotdash Meredith, which is now People Inc. Kloss is backing the revival through her company, Bedford Media.

The magazine’s origins date to 1936, when Luce, who also founded Time and Fortune, launched the title. The first issue sold out immediately. Its cover featured a black-and-white photograph by Margaret Bourke-White of the Fort Peck Dam in Montana, a project under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Life documented mid-20th-century America, covering World War II, the space race, and the civil rights movement. Circulation peaked in the 1960s at more than 8 million copies. The rise of television led Time Inc. to end the weekly format in 1972. The brand returned in 1978 as a monthly magazine, a format that continued until 2000.

Kloss stated that the brand’s legacy deserved reinvigoration for the 21st century. The new operation includes a website, social media accounts, and plans to produce short-form video, documentary films, and events. The first issue under the new ownership is scheduled for release on November 23. It will be a large-format print magazine containing 250 pages. The cover price is set at $45. The content will combine news photography with long-form journalism.