In her 40-year tenure at Architectural Digest, Paige Rense transformed a sleepy regional quarterly into an iconic brand—and catapulted interior designers to stardom along the way.

Editor’s note: Rense passed away on January 1, 2021, at her home in West Palm Beach, Florida. This profile of Rense, originally titled “Star Power,” was published in the Fall 2018 issue of BOH.

Like attracts like. It’s a simple enough premise—and for Paige Rense, it was the key to success when she joined the Architectural Digest staff in 1970. Her unwavering objective was straightforward: to be the best. To do that, she reckoned that she needed the best projects; to attract the best work of premier designers, she assured them that their project would be covered by the best photographers and writers. And as she delivered on that promise again and again, the magazine’s influence—and her own—grew.