Branche Magazine Summer 2014

Photo: Courtesy of BRANCHÉ.

New Yorkers, look lively on your commute this morning; if you’re lucky, you might run across a freebie that's way more exciting than the nail salon flyers you’re used to. Today, the second issue of BRANCHÉ hits the streets — and, if you caught the first one, you know this read is worth snapping out of your podcast haze.

The 44-page “pop-up magazine” from the editors of Marie Claire is a cool-girl’s guide to who to know, where to go, and what to wear — your ultimate summer black book, if you will. In it, Hannah Bronfman and Maribel Araujo share their ultimate weekend plans and go-to summer looks. Oh, and cover girl Diane Kruger spills about the time she and 15 of her closest friends rented the St. Tropez home of a “'70s soft-porn producer” — good times!

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BRANCHÉ is free, but you gotta know where to find it, so here’s the story: Starting today, 30,000 copies will be distributed on the Hampton Jitney and at major NYC travel hubs. Street teams will hand out issues throughout the Hamptons over the holiday weekend and will head back to NYC on Monday, July 7. (And, if you don’t want to leave it to chance, you can follow Marie Claire and #branche on Twitter and Instagram for street team locations.)

We spoke with Marie Claire editor-in-chief Anne Fulenwider about taco trucks, Catskills getaways, and the other things that make summer in New York worth sweating through. As for plans to bring BRANCHÉ to the world outside NYC — airplanes over Italian beach resorts might be involved.

What most excites you about the new issue of BRANCHÉ?

"I love that it's a New York girl's guide to summer. Summer in the city is full of dreams of the perfect sundress and cocktails on the beach, [but] more often consists of sweaty subway platforms and sticky sidewalk cafes. I am obsessed with how to get the most out of this season while still living and working in the city. There are so many new ways to live the dream; we found someone who started a groovy hotel in the Catskills, a perennial houseguest on the North Fork, a woman who started the 'it' taco truck in the Rockaways…we asked them how they got there, what they do there, what they eat, drink, and of course what to wear to all of these places."

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There was so much excitement around the first issue. What sort of feedback did you receive? "It was a little insane. I've never worked on a launch before, and the energy in the office before we hit the street was invigorating. But, then to see the reactions once it was out was a trip. I was in Detroit the day our first issue hit the streets of New York, and I was getting updates, photos of street teams, social media pings all day. Ping — a picture of BRANCHÉ in line for the new cronut. One guy actually Instagrammed a painting of the cover in English and Spanish."

Any plans to distribute issues outside of NYC?
"One of my favorite stories about BRANCHÉ is the friends from Italy who visited my office and suggested we rent little airplanes, fly over Italian summer resorts, and drop the magazine on the beaches. That's actually where the idea of the summer edition was born (spoiler alert: no airplanes yet). We also got a few angry emails about lack of access to the magazine outside of New York. We are just getting started, and are definitely exploring ideas for distribution in other cities."

So, what can we expect from future issues — and when will the next one be available? "Lots of surprises. BRANCHÉ is a moment-to-moment experience, even for its editors, but we're thinking fall."

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