Blake Lively Is Shutting Down Her Website Preserve

She only launched her lifestyle and fashion blog last July, but actress Blake Lively announced this evening that she would be shutting down her website Preserve and re-launching it when she’s good and ready, according to Vogue.

Last summer, Lively launched her blog, a space intended ?to connect users with makers (of things, of experiences, of stories) ?with a splashy debut heralded by her third Vogue cover. She joined the ranks of fellow actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and her now infamous Goop and Jessica Alba’s billion-dollar Honest Company as another famous face who was foraying into the blogosphere – only Lively’s didn’t quite take off in the same fashion. Her own venture was immediately met with a wave of criticism. Critics said the site looked like a €2002 blog reboot,? that the merchandise was grossly overpriced (well, $850 for a diaper bag is a bit on the steep side), and that it just couldn’t hold its own amongst its successful competitors.

Given that this coincided with the birth of Lively’s first daughter James, it can’t have been easy to handle, so rather than push something that wasn’t working as intended, the Gossip Girl star has graciously admitted defeat.

Lively, who admitted she wished she had waited at least another six months before the launch, confirmed she is shutting shop and intends to start the project up again, but only when she feels the time is right.

I may not be able to draw worth a lick, but I am proud of this dress I co-designed with Amour Vert for @preserve_us You better send me pics if you buy it! I want to share your photos!! #PRSRV so I see it https://www.preserve.us/champagne-dress.html?gift=25

A photo posted by Blake Lively (@blakelively) on May 26, 2015 at 8:36am PDT

?We have an incredible team of people who do beautiful work, but we launched the site before it was ready, and 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,? she said. ?And that’s the whole reason I started this company, not just to fluff myself, like, ?I’m a celebrity! People will care what I have to say!? It was so never meant to be that.?

ICYMI: Blake Lively Launches Blog

?It’s very exciting, and it’s also incredibly scary,? added Lively. ?I never thought 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.??

Lively admitted that she’s ready for the impending backlash and ?we knew she couldn’t do it? comments but had this to say: ?I know what it’ll look like, but it’s so much worse to continue to put something out there that isn’t the best we can do. 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. And I have that plan,? she said.

It really does take courage to stand up and admit that a project just hasn’t panned out the way you hoped it would (especially if you’re in the public eye), so we applaud Lively for that.

The more cynical will naturally think that the actress is taking the easy way out and simply disbanding the blog because it hasn’t taken off (and we’ll never truly know if that was the’reasoning behind it) though perhaps she deserves the benefit of the doubt and the chance to try it again.

It will be interesting to see what she intends to unveil in its place.

Via Vogue