Editors play musical chairs at Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Elle Decor and more
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The halls at 6300 Wilshire Blvd., the home of Architectural Digest, will be quieter come September. Magazine publisher Conde Nast announced that Paige Rense Noland, retiring after 35 years at the helm of AD, will be replaced by Elle Decor Editor in Chief Margaret Russell. Perhaps the bigger news: AD will move its headquarters from Los Angeles to Manhattan.
Russell held various roles at Elle Décor and raised the magazine’s circulation from 470,000 to just under 600,000 during her 10-year tenure. (AD circulation is in the neighborhood of 850,000.) The October issue will be Russell’s last at Elle Décor. Her successor has not been announced; Executive Editor Michael Boodro is acting editor in chief.
The news is the latest note in the shelter magazine game of musical chairs. Sarah Humphreys, editor in chief of the now-defunct Martha Stewart Omnimedia publication Blueprint, became an editor at Real Simple. Editor in Chief Deborah Needleman has moved from the toppled Domino, Conde Nast’s Carrie-Bradshaw-on-a-budget title, to the decidedly upscale Wall Street Journal magazine, WSJ. Domino Style Director Dara Caponigro has taken up residence at Hearst’s Veranda, replacing founding Editor Lisa Newsom.
Stephen Drucker was named editor in chief of Town & Country after successfully reviving the 114-year-old House Beautiful with a 20% boost in circulation. He is succeeded by former Style Director Newell Turner. Eleanor Griffin, editor of the shuttered Cottage Living, was promoted to vice president of Southern Living brand development at Time Inc.
Not everyone has found a new magazine to call home. After House & Garden closed in 2007, editor Dominique Browning wrote a book, “Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas and Found Happiness.” Donna Warner, the editor whose Metropolitan Home published its last issue in December, wrote in an e-mail that she is training horses, writing a children’s book and will soon be consulting “on a cool website. There is life after publishing, although it takes a while to figure it out.”
-- David A. Keeps
Corrected: A previous version of this post misspelled Dominique Browning’s last name as Brown.
Top left photo: Deborah Needleman. Credit: Evan Agostoni / Getty Images
Top middle photo: Margaret Russell. Credit: Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images
Top right photo: Paige Rense Noland. Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images