We started seeing signs of new life in the January issue of Architectural Digest—the first produced under the reign of editor in chief Margaret Russell. Today Russell opens up in an enormous New York Times profile—the problem is, there are only a few tangible details about how the March issue, the first with her own real content bulk, will differ from what the magazine looked like under former editor in chief Paige Rense Noland. ("Shades open, lights off!" is the general school of thought.) However, the piece is stocked with juicy tidbits about Russell herself and the state of the shelter industry. Stay tuned for an update—Curbed's getting their hands on a copy of the March issue this afternoon. In the mean time, here's what's what:
ON THE MARCH ISSUE: (not pictured)
· It's entitled "The Age of Elegance."
· Michael Smith President Obama's decorator and one of Russell's known BFFs, scored the cover project—"a sumptuous gold-and-silver living room."
· Captions are shorter and more resource-oriented. Enough with the fluff!
ON RUSSELL:
· Smith also decorated Russell's office in Conde Nast's 4 Times Square headquarters.
· She eats PB&J for lunch.
· She lives in a rent-controlled apartment in NYC's Upper East Side—it's all white. "White upholstery, Saarinen table, a very white bedroom. The crazier my life in the office, the more I wanted my home life to be serene," she says.
· She gets to work by 8:30 a.m.
· She's single and doesn't admit to dating someone either way.
SHELTER INDUSTRY:
· Thirty-five years ago, Arch Digest was merely a trade pub covering the building industry. It was Rense Noland who turned it into a consumer shelter book.
· The magazine has a larger male readership than other shelter brands.
· Rense Noland once went on the record by saying, "“People are much too concerned with having good taste. I mean, it’s not a character flaw if you don’t have good taste.”
· In the wake of the recession, the publication lost "nearly half of its pre-recession ad dollars" and some of its circulation, too.
· The New Arch Digest—a Totally Nitpicky, Obsessive Review [Curbed Ntional]
· Margaret Russell Unveils the New Architectural Digest [NYT]
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