Paige Rense, editor emerita of Architectural Digest, who memorably reigned on the high of the journal’s masthead for greater than three many years, died on January 1 at age 91. The reason for dying was associated to a coronary heart challenge, the New York Occasions reported. Rense was an instrumental pressure in rising—and finally reworking—AD as quite a few people got here to realize it. And whereas she served as editor in chief for 35 years—from 1975 to 2010, particularly—Rense’s signature stamp might be traced nonetheless additional again.
Throughout the early Nineteen Seventies, Rense was named govt editor within the wake of editor in chief Bradley Little’s homicide. On the time, Architectural Digest was one thing of a specialty publication, with its roots as a Southern California regional journal nonetheless clearly evident. Shortly nevertheless, Rense imbued its pages with star wattage on all attainable fronts. Maybe most evident to readers was her concentrate on movie star properties—a considerably pure emphasis given the journal’s then Wilshire Boulevard tackle. Extra importantly, it demonstrated a eager foresight as to the approaching acceleration of movie star tradition.
By 1977, there had been sufficient “Celeb Properties” printed within the Architectural Digest to warrant the publication of a guide by the identical title. Whereas numerous options targeted on the Hollywood legends and pop idols whom readers actually appreciated, the depth of Rense’s broader curiosity in what constituted a notable dwelling served each her and the journal effectively. Sure, residences of the likes of Candice Bergen, Kirk Douglas, and Barbra Streisand have been featured through the years. However the identical will also be mentioned of vogue business luminaries, artwork world visionaries, and different such people on the apexes of their very own professions. From Valentino’s Italian abodes to the studios of legendary artists resembling Frank Stella, the options Rense made attainable make the archive of Architectural Digest a useful useful resource to today.
Rense didn’t, nevertheless, ignore the ample expertise inside the inside design and architectural fields. Removed from it. She repeatedly up to date the annual AD100 listing—which continues to be a key benchmark of success for designers in the present day—and championed the work of numerous such people.
Chatting with AD PRO, AD100 architect Lee Mindel mirrored: “The world of artwork, structure, panorama, and design has misplaced considered one of its founding members with the passing of legendary Paige Rense. . . . She solely and from the bottom up created a portal that may doc all kinds of aspirational design that mirrored the social and political local weather by the lenses of the best photographers and with the phrases of esteemed writers. . . . She was a real loyalist and nice good friend who will probably be sorely missed, however her legacy will stay on as her creation AD is now stronger that ever.”
Regardless of Rense’s deft capacity to marshal acclaimed expertise—from commissioning Pulitzer Prize–successful writers to collaborating with photographers resembling Derry Moore—she herself got here from humble origins. A highschool dropout who fled her adoptive mother and father, Rense’s imaginative and prescient and arduous work ethic sustained her effectively. These qualities have been evident too within the myriad of different causes and tasks she diligently undertook. From spearheading particular points and launching new editions to overseeing award present greenrooms and internet hosting design symposiums and reoccurring boards, her far-reaching efforts is not going to quickly be forgotten.
Simply two years in the past, Rense printed a guide on the historical past of Architectural Digest, which stretches again to the journal’s 1920 founding. The Rizzoli tome, which covers her personal tenure each earlier than and after Condé Nast’s acquirement, is a testomony to her immense information. Rense is survived by her seven stepchildren, together with the 2 sons and two daughters of her last husband, the artist Kenneth Noland.