the first step is admitting it..

true story: i am an incorrigible, unabashed magazine addict junkie. i can't help it. if you take a collection of pretty pictures and slap them onto some glossy pages, i'm liable to buy it, at pretty much any cost.

i got hooked when i was just a wee pandora. i'd always been an avid reader, but for some reason i used to hoard kids 'r' us and macy's catalogs and snatch up my brother's disney adventures before he could get his hands on them. i'd wait breathlessly for my highlights to arrive each month, and i'd have killed for an american girl or nick magazine subscription. i talked my mom into getting me a subscription to seventeen just before eighth grade began, and i never felt more sophisticated that year than when i was reading about the the future of destiny's child or how to wear tweeds for fall.

high school came and went and college has begun, but the tide has yet to ebb. i've done vogue, teen vogue, and nylon subscriptions, and i've been known to dabble in elle, i-D, bust, missbehave, foreign vogues, vanity fair, jane (r.i.p.), harper's, and pretty much anything else. i buy foreign magazines, i buy vintage magazines, i buy non-fashion magazines (when i've exhausted my usual roster of fashion magazines within a month, i've been known to buy interior design or music magazines, or pick up free local publications, just to keep myself sated).. it's kind of a problem. i'm not even exaggerating when i say that all of my spare cash goes towards magazines. the other day, while waiting for the ferry with no cash on me, i went to an atm, took out twenty dollars, and promptly spent fifteen on magazines. magazines i don't even normally read, mind you, i just needed to pass the time.

i'm starting to run out of ideas for curbing my habit. fashion blogs help in a major way; there's an ever-growing group of innovative and diverse people who are interested in fashion and i enjoy having access to their myriad points of view, the designers and collections that they've stumbled upon, and best of all, editorials from the few publications that i don't have in my possession. foto_decadent is a godsend in that arena, as well. and now there's rive magazine, a completely paperless fashion magazine dedicated to living green. while i wouldn't call myself a green crusader or anything, i know that my little addiction isn't exactly kind to the earth. according to rive, if "a printed fashion magazine prints out 30,000 copies of one issue that contains 200 pages (100 pieces of paper), that's 3,000,000 pieces of paper for just one issue of one magazine." and i'm a major pack rat, so these reams of paper aren't even being recycled *cringes guiltily*.

you might think that someone like myself might have trouble making the leap to a paperless magazine. after all, i've been under the impression for years that if it's not glossy, it's not worth it. but i've discovered some unexpected advantages to a green publication. rive is interactive, so when there's an article about an up-and-coming band, for instance, you can simply click the video player and hear a free sample of the music, instead of relying on a critic's description of it. video clips of interviews can be found in the magazine, as well. and some of the fashion spreads are clickable, so that you can buy pieces directly. "rive does not place any strong emphasis on any type or style of fashion; rich or poor; high fashion or streetwear...since fashion is all about self expression," so i'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves with time. the second issue is out now, so feel free to check it out, become a subscriber, register for their current contest, or see more eco-friendly fashion on the rive magazine blog. as for myself, i'm glad that there's at least one fashion mag that i can read without worrying about its impact on my pocket or the environment.