i-D Is Back on Shelves — and Gen Z Is Bringing Fashion Magazines Back
Something unexpected is happening in 2025: fashion magazines, the glossy, collectible kind, are back in the hands (and tote bags) of Gen Z. And leading the revival? The long-awaited return of i-D to UK newsstands.
After a brief disappearance following Vice Media’s bankruptcy in 2023, i-D has been given a second life under new ownership: model-turned-media-entrepreneur Karlie Kloss, who acquired the publication through her company Bedford Media. For Kloss, it wasn’t just a business move, it was a rescue mission. “I didn’t want it to die” she said at the magazine’s relaunch party, calling i-D “an extraordinary piece of fashion history”.
The return of i-D isn’t an isolated event. It’s part of a broader cultural shift where Gen Z, a generation raised online, is reaching back into the past for analog media. With print nostalgia and digital fatigue rising, Gen Z is embracing indie fashion magazines like i-D for authentic storytelling and subversive style coverage. From point-and-shoot cameras to CDs, vinyl records, and now independent fashion magazines, there’s a growing appetite for the physical, the nostalgic, and the tangible. So why, in the age of TikTok and AI, are young people falling for print?
The Past Feels Like a Safe Place
For Gen Z, who have grown up navigating social upheaval, a pandemic, climate anxiety and constant digital surveillance, the past offers something increasingly rare: comfort. Nostalgia, even for eras they never personally experienced, provides an emotional anchor. According to a recent GWI study, half of Gen Z feels nostalgic for media from before their time because it reminds them of "simpler days", a world before algorithmic feeds and constant push notifications.
Fashion magazines, with their rich visuals, longform storytelling, and iconic cover art, offer a kind of slow, immersive media experience that feels almost radical today. They’re not updated every second. They don’t come with likes or comments. You sit with them. You keep them. And for many Gen Z readers, that’s the point.
Print Feels Authentic, and Worth Collecting
Thom Bettridge, i-D’s new editor-in-chief, has leaned into the magazine’s legacy while embracing its relevance for now. His first issue since the relaunch, titled The Unknown Issue, blends archive influence with fresh discovery, featuring cultural icons like Naomi Campbell and FKA Twigs, alongside new talent like 18-year-old Enza Khoury, discovered through an open casting call.
Bettridge describes the issue as “incredibly dense,” and at £20, it’s designed to be kept, not discarded. Like vinyl or art books, these magazines are built to live on bookshelves, coffee tables, and bedside stacks, not just in recycling bins. “Everyone knows about trends” Bettridge says. “And no one wants to be trendy. Everyone wants to be unique”.
That mindset, not wanting to follow, but to differentiate, is exactly why physical media is having a moment. In a world where everything online starts to blur, holding something real in your hands feels like a small rebellion.
This isn’t just about fashion magazines. Gen Z is resurrecting every corner of early 2000s culture. We’re seeing a resurgence in flip phones, MP3 players and Y2K fashion. Teen bedrooms are being lit with lava lamps and covered in band posters. Photography is being rediscovered through film and instant cameras. It’s not ironic, it’s intentional. More than a gimmick, it’s about emotional clarity. Old-school tech limits distractions. Print magazines create space to slow down. These artifacts of a pre-digital world offer something Gen Z has had to fight for: presence.
At MagCulture in Clerkenwell, where over 800 titles are stocked, founder Jeremy Leslie says younger shoppers aren’t just browsing, they’re building collections. Some magazines now feature designed spines to make a statement when stacked, while others, like old issues of Dazed and The Face, are fetching eye-watering prices on resale platforms. It’s not just about what’s inside the magazine, it’s about what it represents. Owning a physical copy of i-D is now a form of cultural signaling. It says: I care about craft. I care about fashion. I have taste.
A New Golden Era?
What’s striking is how Gen Z isn’t simply mimicking the past, they’re remixing it. From archive-inspired shoots to open-casting models found on Instagram, the new i-D marries the best of old and new. And it isn’t alone. Titles like Grazia, Dazed, and The Face are all seeing a resurgence, especially in biannual or collectible formats that value substance over speed.
At Central Saint Martins, demand for fashion communication courses is higher than ever. Meanwhile, fashion and design students are drawing inspiration not from TikTok trends but from 90s editorials, early 2000s zines, and out-of-print magazines being rediscovered on Tumblr and Pinterest. It’s clear: what was once seen as “dying media” is now essential, not despite the digital world, but because of it.
In a time when everything moves faster, Gen Z is slowing things down. They’re choosing permanence over performance, depth over scroll, and print over pixels. Just like vinyl, brick phones, and low-rise jeans, fashion magazines are making a comeback, and not just as novelty. They’re being reimagined as art, archive, and expression. At Scarlet Destiny, as daughters of a different time, we couldn’t be happier to see the return of the magazine stack. We’ve always believed in beauty you can hold in your hands, and we’ll always save room for i-D on our shelves.
Sources: theguardian.com and contentgrip.com
Images: canva.com