At 84 years old, Joan Kron — editor-at-large for Allure and veteran investigative journalist covering all things plastic surgery — has seen it all. The New York Times reports that during her 20 years of covering the field for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, the Times, and New York, not many people get exposed to what she has:

She can often describe in stomach-churning detail the painful risks these surgeries carry, like the burns and nerve injuries that come with liposuction or the scarring that follow abdominoplasties.

Yikes. And some more:

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In his over 20 years in the fashion business, Elle creative director Joe Zee has worked for such titles as Details and Allure and styled advertising campaigns for companies like Gap and DKNY. And, in our Media Beat interview, the Toronto native and star of Sundance Channel’s All On the Line with Joe Zee was very clear about how he got to the top.

One: he worked for people he could learn from, namely legendary fashion stylist and editor Polly Mellen. (“She taught me what it was like to have a passion for something.”)

And, two, he worked his butt off. “I won’t put stock in people who tell me they wanna work in fashion, because they wanna be glamorous. They wanna be famous. They wanna be well known,” he said. “If you wanna be those things, wrong business.”

Part 1: Elle‘s Joe Zee Puts It All on the Line for Sundance Channel
Part 2: Elle‘s Joe Zee Reveals Exactly What a Magazine Creative Director Does

Marie Claire had a great May, as it saw a 57 percent ad page jump from last year’s issue. Min reports that Marie Claire’s May 2011 edition posted 133 ad pages; this year it jumped to 190. Its Vice President and Publisher, Nancy Berger Cardone, said May’s issue was only part of an upswing at the title.

“Marie Claire’s momentum continues with our third consecutive record-breaking issue,” she told min. “[Enhancing] our ‘Global Beauty’ issue was  Prix d’Excellence de la Beauté — the only international beauty awards.”

Allure — which saw a 42 percent ad page jump from last year — is also enjoying a nice spring. For the rest of the top five ad page gainers, click through.

Amy Keller Laird has been named the new Co-Executive Editor of Women’s Health. Keller Laird was most recently Deputy Editor at Allure, where she had worked since 2006. She will work with the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Michele Promaulayko, on the overall direction of the magazine.

“Amy has a keen sensibility about what women want from a magazine,” Promaulayko said. “Her passion for Women’s Health coupled with her background in beauty — an increasingly important part of our editorial mix — will make her an asset to the brand.”

Keller Laird begins on November 28.

Allure is coming to Russia next September. The magazine will be the latest Condé Nast publication available there, in addition to Vogue, Glamour, GQ, GQ Style, AD, Tatler, and Condé Nast Traveller. WWD reports that the Russian Allure will be edited by Ksenia Solomatina.

Jonathan Newhouse, the Chairman of Condé Nast International, said that as Russia’s economy has expanded, the market for more titles has increased.

Oh, and here: “Давайте поговорим Louboutins.” That’s how you say “Let’s talk Louboutins” in Russian. Don’t say we never taught you anything.

For its first issue to be featured on an Apple tablet, Allure has gone with the classic way of getting attention — featuring undressed, beautiful female celebrities.

Keri Hilson, Bridget Moynahan, Ashley Tisdale, and Kaley Cuoco all posed without clothing for Allure, and discussed their decision to disrobe for part of the magazine’s annual nude issue.

Cuoco admitted, “I have not told my family about this.” Mom, Dad… surprise!

Lucky day for Condé Nast publication Lucky: the magazine has just hired back publisher Michelle Myers to the company from Time Inc., where she’s been publisher of People StyleWatch for the past two and a half years. Prior to that, Myers had worked as the publisher of Star magazine, as well as associate publisher of Allure and Shape. In her new role at Lucky, she will also be serving as vice president to the title. Said Condé CEO Chuck Townsend, “We know she will bring her energy and excitement to the Lucky brand and we are pleased to welcome her back to the company.”

Full press release after the jump.

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The death of Cond&eacute Nast‘s award-winning Gourmet might already exist in the “things that happened last year” category, but the ghost of the beloved title still lingers in today’s stories.

Consider the announcement from Marie Claire today, which mentions that the U.S. edition of the magazine has just hired two new ad executives to work with Nancy Berger Cardone, the vice president and publisher of the Hearst mag. Both Diane DePaul and Anne Yost Carroll come from previous jobs at both Allure and Gourmet, where Cardone was formerly vice president and publisher. The new appointments bring DePaul on at the women’s magazine as associate publisher/advertising while Carroll will serve as account director. DePaul and Carroll are replacing Tami Eagle Bowling and Rachel Schauman, respectively, who are both leaving the company, today’s announcement said.

Prior to working as associate publisher at Allure, which she left in 2008 to join Gourmet, DePaul worked as associate publisher for Seventeen and advertising director for Soap Opera Digest/Soap Opera Weekly. Carroll has previously worked at Health magazine and advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

Cardone is not hiding her hiring favoritism, saying in a statement: “I’ve worked closely with Diane and Anne at both Gourmet and Allure, and I am thrilled to bring them on as part of the Marie Claire team. Their industry experience and energy will be essential to the continued success of the brand.”

Previously: Gourmet Publisher Finds A Home At Marie Claire

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Nancy Berger Cardone, formerly the publisher of the much-missed Gourmet, has been named vice president and publisher of Hearst‘s Marie Claire. She replaces Susan Plagemann, who left the women’s magazine last month to take on the role of publisher at Vogue, which is owned by Cardone’s former employer, Condé Nast.

The move marks a return to women’s magazine for Cardone, who served as publisher at Condé-owned Allure for eight years before making the move to Gourmet in 2008. During her short time at the epicurean mag, Cardone helped launch the social networking site GourmetGuestList.com and exec produced the magazine’s PBS series, “Gourmet’s Adventures With Ruth.” She will no doubt be looked to at Marie Claire to further brand expansion across many platforms, like the magazine’s current partnership with “Project Runway.”

Full release after the jump

Previously: Plagemann Jumps To Vogue, One Last Gourmet Party

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Yesterday, the axe fell hard at Vanity Fair, which had already cut a handful of business-side staff last week as part of the Condé Nast bloodletting. Hey, if Anna Wintour has to do it, so does Graydon Carter.

Except, according to Keith Kelly, Graydon didn’t even stick around for the bloodbath, instead enjoying a meal at his restaurant Monkey Bar while staffers in “the double-digits…as high as senior editors and as low as fact-checkers” (hey! fact-checkers are people, too!) were informed of their new unemployment status. And it’s all Graydon’s fault, too, for not making the necessary 5 percent cut that all Condé titles were ordered to make last year. The New York Post article ominously warns that some contributing editors will be cut as well, and soon.

Stephanie Smith at Condé Nast-owned WWD reports that GQ, which had been spared from layoffs so far, let about six staffers go from both the business and edit sides yesterday.

Smith also added that senior editor Heather Halberstadt was among those trimmed from the Vanity Fair staff while executive editor Susan Kittenplan was one of the five staffers to be cut from Allure‘s masthead yesterday. Meanwhile, Smith’s own pub is one of the few who hasn’t eliminated staff over the past few weeks.

For more information about the Condé Nast layoffs so far, check out our extensive round-up of reported cuts.