Editor's Note: Glossed Over Returns

Welcome back to Glossed Over! I’m so glad you’re here.

Taking a break from the world of women’s glossies was more trying than I expected. I started buying fashion magazines for myself twenty years ago, when I started junior high. Although I’m quite sure I’ve read every iteration of the lose-10-pounds-fast diet and the perfect skin cleansing regime, that didn’t stop me from glancing wistfully at the new issues on the newsstand as I breezed by to pick up Wired. Was I missing something life-changing by forgoing Glamour? How would I keep up with the newest sunscreen formulations and spring sandals? I don’t think I missed much, but that didn’t stop the pangs of uncertainty when I skipped Lucky for the first time ever.

My hiatus turned into something I didn’t anticipate: it proved to be a much-needed opportunity for me to figure out why, exactly, I’ve been under the spell of fashion magazines since I started purchasing Mademoiselle and Model in seventh grade. I’ll be posting some of my thoughts here in the coming weeks, and I’m eager to hear your experiences, too.

I also spent some of my time off reworking the site. Most of the changes should be self-explanatory, but I’d like to take a moment to point out a few things:

• The community page is where you’ll find links to keep up with Glossed Over on MySpace, Twitter, del.icio.us, and (very soon) Facebook. Feeds from Twitter and del.icio.us are in the sidebars; and I’ll publish new posts on Tumblr, so you can follow Glossed Over on your dashboard.

• The Tables of Discontent distill magazine contents to their essence, cataloging the predictable elements that appear in each issue. There are currently dossiers for Cosmopolitan and Lucky, and more will be coming shortly.

• New features are on the way, too. One of them, Working Girl Wednesdays, will debut later today.

Not everything’s changing, of course. Look for a new Lowest Common Denominator in the next few days. And I’m already anticipating my second annual live blog of Vogue’s September issue at the end of the summer. (Will the weakened economy result in a smaller issue than last year? I can only hope.)

If you have comments, tips, or suggestions, feel free to email me. And now, on with the show.