ELLE DECOR Editor’s Page: October 2009
What's up at ELLE DECOR
Anita Sarsidi, our design and decoration editor—who helped to launch ELLE DECOR 20 years ago—with me in Malibu, California, during the photo shoot for this month’s cover story. Photo by Simon Upton.
Twenty years ago, I was happy just to land a job. I had recently moved back to Manhattan when I managed to score an interview at ELLE DECOR, which was about to launch, and ended up being one of the first staffers hired. Two decades later—after scouting a zillion houses and apartments, organizing thousands of photo shoots, scouring miles of trade shows, and writing and editing reams of text—we’re celebrating our anniversary with this issue as well as a new book, Style and Substance: The Best of ELLE DECOR.
Design ideas and inspiring images are clearly the stars of the book, but as I combed through our archives to select them, it was the wit and wisdom of the decorators, architects, and savvy homeowners that also caught my eye. Their simple truths of decorating definitely deserve a reprise, so look for them to be posted in our new elledecor.com feature, ELLE DECOR’s Quote of the Week.
Here are some of my favorites: Todd Merrill: “Decorating should be a pleasure, not a checklist.” Bill Blass: “It’s all about editing one’s life—refining, simplifying, constantly editing.” Bunny Williams: “If you love something, it will work. That’s the only real rule.” Miles Redd: “Buy the best and you only cry once.” Peter Som: “Matchy-matchy is not for me. I don’t want things to be too perfect.” Rayman Boozer: “Most people start out wanting to go for their fantasy but end up painting their walls dove-white.” David Netto: “The most elegant interiors are just slightly tatty.” Steven Gambrel: “Color is the greatest way to convey personality.” Vito Giallo: “Objects really do acquire a life of their own because they’ve been held and loved for years.” Jason Pomeranc: “When it comes to art, buy with your eyes not your ears.” Peter Pawlak: “Imperfection is closer to reality.” Charlotte Moss: “The two things that make a room timeless are a sense of history and a piece of the future.”
The same holds true for an anniversary—the occasion prompts one to reflect on the past as well as to anticipate what lies ahead. And though I’ll 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. For me, that’s the definition of a timeless room—it’s one that still makes your heart pound, 20 years later.
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