We’ve seen every Hollywood actor with a beautiful Spanish Colonial say, “Hi, A.D.!,” before welcoming us into their newly renovated, seemingly lived-in home. Now we’re saying “hi” to Amy Astley, editor of Architectural Digest since 2016. Astley cut her teeth as a decorating assistant during her 20s and then became an editor at House & Garden, so her rise to the top of the nation’s leading interiors magazine feels almost foreordained. But it was at Vogue that she truly made her mark, launching Teen Vogue in 2003 and leading it for 13 years. These days, Astley knows the formula for a perfect room of one’s own: “Lots of windows, natural light, books, personal objects, and art. No status sofas or trophy design pieces. Fireplace, kids, dogs, and friends.” Here, she shares more of her key components of the good life. —Carolina de Armas
Airline: Air France.
Airport: Newark is 25 minutes away from my Tribeca apartment, so …
Alibi: “Stuck in the office.”
App: The RealReal, I must confess.
Bag: Old Celine.
Bedtime: 10 P.M. is the dream.
Birthday: One spent with my twin brother.
Breakfast: Plain yogurt, berries, slivered almonds, eaten only after yoga. Tea, no coffee ever!
ChildREN: Mine! Edie and Ingrid. My loves.
Cocktail: A Negroni made by Rachel Feinstein, served by her pool in Orient at twilight.
Cocktail appetizer: Shrimp from the Southold Fish Market.
Couple: Edie and Omar. Young love is the best.
Diet: A few bites of everything!
Dinner, weekend: On Yvonne and Leo Villareal’s dock in Orient, home-cooked, with everyone’s children and all our friends.
Disguise: No makeup. LOL.
Drive: Under two hours to Orient on the Long Island Expressway. No drag racers.
Escape: Northern Michigan is heavenly. Not too many New Yorkers.
Excuse: “On deadline.”
Family: My own exceeds all expectations.
Flaw: Natural teeth!
Good-bye: “See you soon!”
Hideaway: My place in Orient by the beach with spotty Wi-Fi.
Hotel: Esencia, in Tulum, Mexico, is blissful.
Indulgence: Private Pilates twice a week.
Insult: “Shiny.”
Jacket: Chanel forever!
Name: Zane? Or Zachary? It’s an inside joke.
Neighbor: Alan Shapiro, a heroic pediatrician to immigrant children at Montefiore, who has been my beloved neighbor for decades. He can cook, garden, and treat your kids’ ear infections on the weekend!
Pair of shoes: Chanel slingbacks. I have so many versions.
Pet: Bear, my dear departed dachshund.
Piece of advice: An Anna Wintour golden nugget: “Make it more you!”
Saying: “Fortune favors the bold.”
SingerS: Frank Ocean and Stevie Nicks.
Spouse: Chris Astley. Married since 1992!
View: I’ve been mesmerized by the Long Island Sound at my own North Fork house for decades now …
Work of art: My husband Chris Astley’s paintings.
Amy’s Essentials
