A French magazine name, an American publisher and a shelter monthly.

Elle Decor borrows its name from a Paris weekly. English Wikipedia says Elle was founded in Paris in 1945 by Hélène Gordon-Lazareff, with a first issue dated 21 November 1945, and that the word means “she” in French. Over the following decades the Elle name was extended to other titles. English Wikipedia says the French publisher’s parent, the Lagardère group, launched Elle Decoration in France in 1987, and lists it among the spin-offs of the fashion weekly alongside Elle Men and Elle à Table.

The American title came two years later. Business of Home reported on 11 September 2024 that the magazine had celebrated its 35th anniversary that year, and in a podcast write-up of 2 June 2025 it quoted the editorial director, Stellene Volandes, saying the same. That places the launch of the American Elle Decor in 1989. The American title is spelled Elle Decor, without the French word ending used by Elle Decoration, and Business of Home has printed it both as Elle Decor and, in a 2010 report, as Elle Décor.

The publisher at launch was the American arm of Hachette. English Wikipedia says Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., based in New York, began as CBS Publications in 1972, was bought by the executive Peter Diamandis in 1987, and passed to Hachette when it bought Diamandis Communications in 1988. The same article lists Elle Decor among the company’s titles, together with Elle, Car and Driver, Road & Track and Woman’s Day.

The magazine then changed owners with the rest of that list. English Wikipedia says Hearst Magazines acquired the Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. magazines, along with a large share of Hachette Filipacchi’s international titles, in May 2011. Adweek reported on 31 May 2011 that Hearst had announced that its acquisition of the magazines owned by Hachette Filipacchi Media was complete. Hearst has owned Elle Decor since 2011. English Wikipedia adds that under the 2011 agreement Lagardère kept the French edition of Elle and the Elle brand itself, which it licenses for magazines in other countries.

Editors from 2010 to 2025.

The dated record of editors begins in 2010. Business of Home reported on 22 August 2010 that the magazine’s executive editor, Michael Boodro, had been promoted to editor-in-chief, replacing Margaret Russell, who was to start as editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest on 7 September 2010. The same report said Boodro had overseen the magazine’s editorial content since rejoining it in April 2009, having held the same post in 2005, and that he had earlier been editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Living.

The 2010 change also reached the art department. Business of Home said Anita Sarsidi was promoted to design director and Florentino Pamintuan to creative director, while Vicky Lowry took the title of executive editor. The report described the three as the magazine’s core editorial team, kept in place under the new editor.

Boodro stepped down in 2017. Business of Home reported on 27 June 2017 that Whitney Robinson would become editor-in-chief on 10 July, a month after Boodro’s departure, in an announcement by Hearst’s president and chief executive, Steven R. Swartz, and Hearst Magazines president David Carey. Robinson had been style director at Town & Country, had been deputy editor on Hearst’s relaunch of Metropolitan Home, and had begun his career at House Beautiful in 2005. He said he wanted the magazine to cover interior design together with fashion, travel, real estate and art.

Robinson left in 2020. Business of Home reported on 30 April 2020 that he was stepping down after nearly three years to focus on his design consulting business and a new industry organisation, and would stay on as a contributing editor. Stellene Volandes, editor-in-chief of Town & Country, took on oversight of Elle Decor as editorial director.

The next editor, Asad Syrkett, began in 2020. Business of Home reported on 11 September 2024 that he had stepped down after four years, that Hearst Magazines had confirmed it, and that Volandes would continue as editorial director. On 2 June 2025 the same publication reported that Elisa Lipsky-Karasz had joined in March 2025 as head of editorial content and was running the magazine’s editorial work together with Volandes, whose title it gave as editorial and brand director.

A Paris name, a 1989 American launch and Hearst since 2011.

A magazine can keep its name for decades and still change the way that name is set. InPublishing reported on 5 November 2015 that the London design magazine Icon, launched in 2003, marked its 150th issue with a new logo, new typefaces and a faster-paced layout, together with three new sections and a new strapline, “Design worth knowing”. English Wikipedia says the same title moved from monthly to quarterly publication in 2020, so the masthead now appears four times a year.

A name can also travel between titles. English Wikipedia says the Paris weekly Elle was founded in 1945 and that its publisher launched Elle Decoration in France in 1987; Business of Home reported that the American Elle Decor marked its 35th anniversary in 2024. Covers carry the other half of the change. Business of Home wrote on 11 September 2024 that the first Elle Decor issue under a new editor in 2020 used an illustration by Rachelle Baker that reimagined Nancy Lancaster’s Yellow Room. When reading a magazine’s identity, look at when the logo and typefaces were last redrawn, how often the issues appear, which parent title lends the name, and whether the cover shows a room, a photograph or an argument.

Two words: a borrowed name and a subject.

The title is built from two parts. The first word, Elle, comes from the Paris magazine founded in 1945; the second, Decor, names the subject. English Wikipedia says Lagardère kept ownership of the Elle brand when Hearst bought the American and many international Hachette Filipacchi titles in 2011, and that it grants licences for magazines using the name. Hearst has published Elle Decor in the United States since 2011, and the magazine sits in Hearst’s portfolio beside Town & Country, whose editor has also overseen Elle Decor since 2020.

One cover from the record shows how the magazine has used its front page. Business of Home reported on 11 September 2024 that the first issue under Asad Syrkett reimagined the decorator Nancy Lancaster’s Yellow Room as an illustration by the artist Rachelle Baker, in which the figure of a Black woman looks out at the viewer. The cover, the report said, ran with an essay by the poet Caroline Randall Williams about inheriting furniture from her great-grandparents. Syrkett told the Business of Home podcast at the time that he wanted readers to feel invited into a conversation.

The magazine also runs a yearly list. Business of Home described the A-List as the title’s annual lineup of professionals in residential interiors, architecture and landscape design, and said the 2024 edition marked the magazine’s 35th anniversary. Its 2020 report on Whitney Robinson’s departure said he had expanded the list during his time as editor.

The 2025 editors described the direction in general terms. In the June 2025 podcast write-up, Volandes said the magazine had always been about finding design in every corner of the world, and Lipsky-Karasz said the team wanted to put the people who make rooms forward in its pages.

For a design guide, Elle Decor shows how a borrowed fashion name and a plain subject word can carry an interiors title through a change of owner in 2011 and a series of editors, with the cover used to start a conversation as well as to show a room. Compare Metropolis, a New York architecture and design magazine, or Wallpaper*, a London design monthly. For this guide we use sand, green and black with a Didone serif, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

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