News

September 21, 2009
ELLE DECOR celebrates its 20th Anniversary and takes the lead in ad pages in the shelter category, surpassing Architectural Digest.

The anniversary is being marked with the publication of VP, Editor in Chief Margaret Russell’s new Book Style and Substance and the Special Anniversary Issue, “20 Years of Dazzling Design.”

 

Dear colleagues,

We start the week with wonderful news.  As of the October 2009 issue, ELLE DECOR has secured the number one position in total advertising pages in the shelter category year-to-date, surpassing Architectural Digest which has held the top spot for 20 years.  As the magazine celebrates its 20th anniversary, I want to congratulate VP, Editor in Chief Margaret Russell and her editorial team for producing a beautiful and chic magazine which is now the leading luxury design magazine in the U.S. 

For the advertising successes, congratulations go to Barbara Friedmann, VP, Group Publisher, Luxury Design Group and her team.  We all appreciate that in order to win, it takes a close collaborative partnership between the editorial and publishing groups.

“ELLE DECOR deserves to be the leader in its category,” said SVP, Chief Brand Officer, Luxury Design Group Deb Burns. “Margaret Russell is an extraordinary editor in chief, and Barbara Friedmann is a gifted publisher with outstanding marketing instincts.  As leaders, they have both chosen and inspire teams that are the best in the business.”

For two decades, Margaret Russell has infused ELLE DECOR with a singular sense of sophistication while helping to preserve its mission to inspire designers.  She became editor in chief in July 2000, and each issue of her magazine delivers her clear vision for what is elegant, inspiring and fresh. 

Margaret was one of the first staffers hired when ELLE DECOR was launched in the United States, and two decades later, she comments in her Editor’s Page “The occasion prompts one to reflect on the past as well as to anticipate what lies ahead.  And though I admit a few of our previous stories made me wonder, What the heck were we thinking?, hundreds of photos from as far back as our very first issue are as relevant now as they were then.”           

The anniversary will be celebrated at a special reception hosted by Margaret at Bergdorf Goodman tomorrow evening.   Style and Substance by Margaret Russell and the editors of ELLE DECOR will be released by Filipacchi Publishing in November. In 240 pages, the reader will find a closer look at hundreds of dazzling spaces culled from the magazine’s archives.

In the book’s introduction, Margaret explains, “We believe that luxury needn’t be expensive, and there’s no reason that affordable furnishings shouldn’t be chic. And when offered a choice, we’ll take a bit of patina and wear and tear over brand-spanking-new decor every time.”

ELLE DECOR’s philosophy is simple: to inspire 2.3 million readers to make their world more beautiful, one room at a time.  The brand’s vision is international and is part of a worldwide network of 25 ELLE DECO publications.