Anna Wintour was Vogue. Now she’s stepped back,
can the magazine stay relevant?
By Ellie Violet Bramley
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04q91q3zvpo
In May 1989, Dame Anna Wintour did something that would become a hallmark of her time as editor-in-chief of US Vogue – she put a pop star on the cover.
Just a year into her tenure as the top of the magazine’s masthead, Dame Anna had already made a name for herself as an editor who instinctively understood the zeitgeist. She was the first to put a model in jeans on Vogue’s front, and now, Madonna.
“If it was edgy to do jeans for November 1988, I think it was even edgier for her to do Madonna,” says Amy Odell, author of Anna: The Biography.
For Marian Kwei, a stylist and Vogue contributor, this move speaks to Dame Anna’s ability to make Vogue “relevant to our times, make it contemporary, make it accessible”.
“Before, it was women who could buy couture who were interested in what Vogue had to say,” she says. “But Dame Anna realised the need to reach out to the kids listening to Madonna.”
Now almost 40 years later, Dame Anna is preparing to hang up her Manolo Blahnik’s, sort of – while she will no longer be editor-in-chief, she will remain on as global editorial director. Down the hall will sit her heir, the 39-year-old Chloe Malle, who is stepping in as head of editorial content.
While some have attributed her continued presence as a sign of unwillingness to cede total control, one could also see it as a recognition of her unmatched place in the fashion industry, and the fear that should she go entirely, this print magazine – already a relic to some – will lose its remaining clout.
Once, fashion magazines like Vogue ruled the industry. They didn’t have to fight for attention so much as just decree from on high what was and wasn’t “chic”.
Whether you still see –or ever saw– Vogue as an arbiter of good taste, or reflection of our times, depends on who you talk to.
“I think it’s more relevant than people want to admit honestly,” Odell says.
For Anja Aronowsky Cronberg, the founder and editor-in-chief of academic fashion publication Vestoj, less so. When she was a teenager growing up in Sweden, “Vogue represented the world out there, something glamorous and different and the wide horizons that I was striving for.”
But she stopped reading it 25 years ago.
Today, print magazines are fighting for survival in an increasingly crowded, fast-paced landscape – a monthly publication loses a lot of relevance in a by-the-minute digital world.
“There’s no one magazine that is relevant in the way Vogue might have been relevant in the 80s,” says Cronberg.
“There are so many other vehicles for culture today,” she adds, like TikTok and Instagram.
All this will be factoring into Malle’s thinking as she takes on the job of head of editorial content. She reportedly plans to put out issues less frequently, centred around themes or cultural events rather than months. She says she wants to lean into the idea of Vogue in print as something to collect and cherish.
One of the ways that Dame Anna has kept Vogue a part of the conversation is by expanding the people she invited onto the cover.
Since Madonna’s debut, Dame Anna has placed royalty, politicians, pop stars, writers and gymnasts on the cover.
“She definitely bridged fashion and entertainment as editor-in-chief of Vogue,” says Odell.
It wasn’t always well received. When Dame Anna put Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on the cover in 2014, “it sparked so much debate”, says Kwei.
“Nobody really wanted to dress [her] because she was a reality star.”
Looking at the almost mythological position the Kardashians have gone on to occupy, the cover spoke to Dame Anna’s uncanny ability to anticipate culture – as well, arguably, as drive it.
But whether Dame Anna remains the right person to be at the helm, and whether the magazine can withstand increasing financial pressures, remains to be seen.
It is a far more corporate world than it once was.
Her decision to spotlight Lauren Sanchez, the now-wife of Jeff Bezos, also sparked accusations that the magazine was selling out. It was read by some as more about celebrating wealth and luxury than style. Interestingly, it was Malle who apparently organised the story on the power couple’s wedding and was dispatched to write it.
Vanessa Friedman, chief fashion critic of The New York Times pointed out in a recent article that “while elite weddings are a hallmark of Vogue, they almost never made its cover, and Ms Sánchez Bezos seemingly had neither the celebrity nor modelling credentials that usually merited cover treatment.” The couple’s presence at Donald Trump’s inauguration also drew criticism from some – and contributed to the cover’s backlash, especially on social media.
Dame Anna, who has supported Democratic candidates in the past, has over the years featured Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden and, most recently, Kamala Harris. It feels pertinent that whether or not she will invite Melania Trump to be on the cover has been the subject of much discussion – and continues to be, even as Malle steps into the role.
But Vogue can arguably withstand more of this kind of criticism than most because of its fabled history. As Lauren Sherman, the fashion journalist who broke the news of Malle’s appointment, tells the BBC: “The Vogue brand stands apart, and is one of the most important fashion brands in the world.”
A large part of Vogue’s standing in the world is wrapped up in Dame Anna’s own – the enigmatic editor-in-chief of fashion, with her instantly recognisable bob and her unknowability.
She has maintained a certain relevancy for the title almost by being the relevancy.
“Anna has been able to stay relevant despite all the various eras we’ve lived through simply by being as synonymous with culture, fashion and beauty as possible,” says Kwei.
This, despite being criticised for being late to make Vogue more diverse compared to other sections of the industry.
“She’s a mainstream celebrity figure,” says Odell. “What other editor has had a book and an iconic movie made about them? You know, she’s been played by Meryl Streep!”
For Cronberg, she is “a brand in and of herself at this point”.
So what next?
“I think we’re about to see how much of the relevance of Vogue comes from Dame Anna,” says Odell.
While Malle may have inherited the magazine’s prestige, “it’ll be up to Chloe and her team to see if they can use it wisely to influence the way the culture moves,” says Sherman.
Ellie Violet Bramley is a freelance writer and former Guardian fashion and lifestyle editor.
When Vogue announced the appointment of a new director of editorial content this week, the first part of the story pretty much wrote itself. Anna Wintour, legendary in her own right and the inspiration for the novel and movie, “The Devil Wears Prada,” is taking a step back into a corporate role. Her successor is Chloe Malle, a live-wire 39-year-old, with a show business pedigree.
What caught my eye was that Malle told The New York Times that among her plans are to publish a print Vogue issue when a moment warrants it rather than at its historical monthly cadence. Magazines face their own version of a challenging pivot to digital; Malle has run Vogue’s for the last two years. Additionally, commentaries on Vogue argue that it faces the challenge of influencers who are trying to hijack the publication’s longtime role as style setter. Still, what could be more of a match to glossy print than Vogue, with its heavy reliance on elegant still photography? Its September fall fashion issue regularly ran to 800 or more pages in the glory days. It even clocked in at over 900 in 2012, and this year’s checked in at a still hefty 376.
If Vogue no longer works as a print monthly, what magazine does?
As paraphrased by the Times reporter, “Ms. Malle believes issues should be released…around specific themes or cultural moments…These issues should be viewed more as collectible editions, printed on thick, high-quality paper. Her first print issue will most likely be published next year.”
That looks to be a sound editorial and business strategy. A themed occasion can excite audience interest compared to the same old, same old monthly format. Advertisers, too, love special editions on the theory that readers may keep them indefinitely rather than tossing them.
To be determined, I suppose, which topics and cultural moments clear the hurdle to be memorialized in print. I also wonder whether subscribers will still be asked to pay $72 a year for print + digital without knowing how many print issues they’ll get.
Though young, Malle is a 15-year Vogue veteran who upgraded the magazine’s wedding coverage. I’m no fashionista – what exactly is the garment Emma Stone is wearing on the September cover? But I do recognize that the digital presentation is elegant – and timely, with a full obituary Wednesday for Giorgio Armani.
As to her family ties, Malle is the daughter of actress Candace Bergen and film director Lewis Malle. She described herself to the Times as “a proud nepo baby.”
