InStyle‘s January 2012 issue.  Photo credit: Andreas Sjödin.

It’s a magazine, it’s a store, it’s a….shoppable window installation?  InStyle‘s forthcoming midtown New York retail outpost will be all of those things.  The magazine is taking the editorial leap into retail up a notch with its pop-up store, set to debut on March 1st.

Though the product filling the space will be related to what’s featured in the pages of the magazine’s March issue, the store’s windows will offer touch screens that passers-by can use to create fashion collages and lists of shopping tips.  These can be sent to friends via the usual social networking channels, or downloaded as a “digital postcard” to one’s smartphone.  Users also have the option to take their picture to accompany the postcard, and given the store’s tourist-heavy location, this option will probably be popular.

InStyle‘s venture is the next step up in a wave of editorial-turned-retail initiatives.  GQ went all in on retail site Park & Bond, and Esquire is heavily involved with JC Penney’s e-commerce venture Clad.  InStyle‘s shop, however, seems to be a smart way to introduce and popularize its new fashion collage and listing technology.  The giveaway — the program used in the future store’s windows — will launch at the same time on InStyle‘s web site.  A “media pod” letting shoppers use the technology will be installed at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles.  We’re looking forward to checking out the magazine’s store, but clearly it’s their foray into fashion tech that’s the real hook here.