Nina Garcia, Stellene Volandes Bulk Up Elle, Town & Country Mastheads

Kali Hays

Updated Tue, July 17, 2018 at 5:00 AM UTC

Elle and Town & Country have a few new voices coming in, as top editors at both magazines continue to make the mastheads their own.

Melissa Giannini is the new features director at Elle, where Nina Garcia was named editor in chief last fall, succeeding Robbie Myers, who held the title for nearly 20 years. And Giannini also has the title of editor in chief on her résumé, as she led independent magazine Nylon from 2015 to 2017, when the magazine ended its print edition.

Giannini will report to executive editor Emma Rosenblum, who lauded Giannini’s “knowledge of all things pop culture” — aided by earlier stints at Spin magazine and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia — and a “deep bench” of writers to tap for the magazine.

“She has a unique eye for what’s happening next and we look forward to her delivering provocative, news-making stories to our pages,” Rosenblum said.

Giannini added: “My plan is to keep this momentum going with a dynamic, can’t miss culture section that lives and breathes on and off the page.”

Elsewhere in Hearst Tower, Stellene Volandes, editor in chief of Town & Country for about two years, is bringing on her second and third new hires of the year, after Erik Maza’s appointment as style features director in January. Olivia Martin is also joining the magazine full time as its new styles and interiors writer. She previously held senior editorial roles at Dwell magazine and Architect’s Newspaper.

In addition, Spencer Bailey, who recently left his role as editor in chief of design-focused Surface magazine as it morphs into a less editorially driven outlet, is coming on as Town & Country’s new architecture and design contributor.

Although moving into a contributor position from the top spot at Surface, Spencer said he’s known Volandes for a few years and has “long admired her editorial vision,” but also sees Town & Country as “untapped territory” to discuss architecture and design with a broader audience.

“I’ve long said that only when more people in power understand what design is…will design truly have an impact,” Bailey said. “Town & Country has the kind of influential readership that can help bring about such change in the world.”

Volandes noted Bailey “has authority and expertise” of any contributor, “but most importantly understands how it all connects back to the Town & Country world and the lives our readers live.”

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