Interview with the Fabulous One

Kittens, we were THRILLED to get a chance to interview Margaret Russell! Enjoy!



Darling, we're HUGE fans. It's an honor to have you sit and get raked over the coals by us. Let's start with you, you fabulous thing: You've been with ELLE DECOR since Day Two and in the seventeen years since then, you've risen up the ranks to your current position as Editor In Chief. All this without, in your words "formal design training." Bravo, darling. So what's the secret to your success? Impeccable taste? An innate sense of design and style? The ability to learn as you go? You know where the bodies are hidden? Tell us a little about your background and how you got to where you are now.
As a child, I wanted to be an architect but loathed math and physics. Instead, I took a pre-law course of study at Brown, headed into publishing instead of law school, and was deeply inspired by Ruth Whitney, the legendary editor in chief of Glamour magazine, which is where I landed my first job. In truth, I ended up being on the launch team of ELLE DECOR because 18 years ago I was in the right place at the right time with apparently the right experience. Plus, I truly love what I do and consider work a pleasure, not a penance.

I know a zillion top-notch designers without formal training, although I’m a huge proponent of earning a design-school degree and apprenticing with the greatest talents you can find. As an editor, I don’t draw floor plans, but I must be able to write and edit text—and clearly a deep knowledge of the decorative arts and the history of interior design and architecture are key when selecting the designers, products, and interiors that we feature in each issue.

How has the design world changed in the last seventeen years?
It sounds odd, but the ability to research online and communicate by e-mail are the biggest changes—that and the tragic realization that it’s perilous to ignore the environment.

Photo with Jonathan Adler at Dining by Design dinner

Who would win in a cage match – you or Nina Garcia? And don't weasel out of this by telling us how much you love and respect her. We know. Now spill it: can you take her if you had to? Our readers are split on the question.
You’re being very silly, but of course I would win; I move furniture for a living.

You're a trustee of DIFFA, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS and the hostess of ELLE Decor's Dining by Design, which makes these two queens love you even more. Tell us a bit about DIFFA and D by D. How did you get involved with them?
Ten years ago, DIFFA came to ELLE DECOR and asked us to partner with them on their Dining by Design event. What started out as one-night charity dinner has evolved into a weekend-long gala in New York(involving more than 60 fashion and design luminaries) that kicks off a series of DbD benefits in eight cities cross the country. Dining by Design has raised millions of dollars to fund DIFFA’s preventive-education and direct-care AIDS programs, and it’s one of the most creative programs I’ve ever seen. It’s such a terrific design event and it supports a cause that I’m proud to be a part of.

Now let's talk about the show. What was the hardest thing about being a judge in a reality television show? Besides perching on the Dating Game chairs for hours at a time, of course.
It was brutal to send designers home, and we didn’t take our judging lightly. Plus, so much more went on than can possibly fit within a one-hour timeframe; a comment or decision that seems random is usually simply the result of heavy-duty editing.

When you're assessing a designer's "booth" how far do you have to go to extrapolate that out to a real room or is that not a consideration? In other words, do you have to use your imagination a little to see what the designer was attempting or is it fairly easy to see each space as an actual room?
The rooms were remarkably real and—especially for the final episodes—very well thought out and polished.

Photo with DIFFA director David Sheppard at Dining by Design cocktail party

Jonathan and Kelly are both designers. Do you think you bring a different perspective and if so, what is it? For instance, we noticed that you tend to gravitate more toward practical concerns than they do. You're the one that notices that sand pits look like litter boxes and tables have no flatware on them. Is that the editor's POV coming into play?
I’m a huge fan of both Kelly and Jonathan and admire their design sensibilities. However, I do have a different perspective, and I did always try to keep the client in mind for each challenge. As an editor, it’s my nature to be pragmatic and to care about how a space really works (and that sand pit said litter box, not zen garden). I wasn’t on Top Design to say whether or not a room would fit in ELLE DECOR except for last week’s challenge.

And may I set the record straight on a few subjects?

But of course.

*Despite the eye-rolls, Kelly and I don’t hate each other; we’re dear friends. She’s stunningly beautiful, and I admire her idiosyncratic style.

*The winner of the ELLE DECOR challenge gets a small mention in our July/August issue Dossier column—not a major spread—and Matt’s win for that specific challenge was a unanimous decision.

*Although Carisa is clearly a tad pillow-happy, I think she is an amazing talent and I’m crazy about her confidence and joie de vivre.

*The final projects will take your breath away!

Once again darling, thank you so much for sitting down with us (figuratively speaking). Stay fabulous!
And thank you for asking me to be a part of your wildly clever blog! Nothing gets past you guys.

You got that right.


[Photos: Peter Tangen/BravoTV.com/Getty Images]

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