Blake Lively launched her foray into the online world of cool on Monday promising to be a younger more hip – and slightly less expensive – version of the fellow actress’s long running site Goop. The 26-year-old’s part blog – part store also ended up with a slightly gloopy name, specifically the jelly-inspired title Preserve.

The Gossip Girl star has previously avoided calling the site a lifestyle one, but just like Gwyneth’s, Blake’s offers a host of stories about cool clothes, places, foods and fashion scenes. Cue videos of artsy snippets, stories on tattooed men and organic health remedies and, of course, a store which sells everything from spoons to clothing and hot sauces to lighting options.

The actress has been speaking of the project for months and now it is finally here, Blake was at pains to point out that she is not being a star trying to show people how to live like her, but merely pointing out how people live already.

As the name suggests, while using the modern medium of the internet, she wants her page to harken back to the small batch jam making times of yesteryear including things like preserving and promoting underground designers and produce. Confused? Well that’s alright, so is Blake.

The 26-year-old wife of Ryan Reynolds happily admits in her first Editor’s Letter that this is something of a learning curve for her. She writes: ‘Sitting down to write this editor’s letter has been the hardest thing I’ve done yet on my Preserve journey.

‘I’m more intimidated than I should probably admit. I’m no editor, no artisan, no expert. And certainly no arbiter of what you should buy, wear, or eat.

‘I am hungry, though… not just for enchiladas. I’m hungry for experience.

‘I’m comfortable with the knowledge that I’m not a teacher, but rather, a student. I don’t do any one thing perfectly. I do a lot of things though. Some well, some not-so-well.’
According to Blake, she and her team think of the site not as a lifestyle website but a ‘new street.’

‘A sort of greatest hits of “Main Street, USA”. While the whole world races to keep up with technology, we tighten our laces, join the race, but our end goal is to preserve what’s already there.’

The function of Preserve is part magazine, part e-commerce hub, part philanthropic endeavour and – above all – a place to showcase the power of imagination, ingenuity, quality, and (simply put) people.

‘Preserve is a creative space. An indulgent space. A space for pleasure and fun. But also a space for knowledge. A space that honours both tradition and innovation – a space that honours the future, while having a love affair with the past…’

However, now that they both have lifestyle sites, don’t expect Blake to start a war with Gwyneth. The Gossip Girl star recently name dropped her fellow online retail blogger, telling Vogue she is always in both the actress’s and Martha Stewart’s corner.

Blake said: ‘I’m always the first person to defend Gwyneth Paltrow. Or any woman in a position of power, like Martha Stewart or Oprah, who gets burned. Because they have paved the path for so many other women who are doing something they believe in.’

view blake livelys new lifestyle website preserve.us