Ms. Wintour, seen as the face of fashion media, spent almost four decades at the helm.Charles Sykes/The Associated Press
After almost four decades at the helm of fashion bible American Vogue, Anna Wintour is stepping down as editor-in-chief, sparking widespread speculation about who could possibly fill her signature Manolo Blahnik shoes.
Ms. Wintour, widely seen as the face of fashion media, and impossible to miss with her signature bob, bangs and sunglasses, broke the news to staff Thursday.
Although the 75-year-old is scaling back her duties at Vogue, she will continue to hold her dual positions as the magazine’s global chief content officer and publisher Conde Nast’s chief content officer, where she oversees all of Conde’s international titles (Vanity Fair, GQ, AD and more) excluding The New Yorker.
Ms. Wintour told her employees that when she “became the editor of Vogue, I was eager to prove to all who might listen that there was a new, exciting way to imagine an American fashion magazine,” People magazine reported Thursday.
“Now, I find that my greatest pleasure is helping the next generation of impassioned editors storm the field with their own ideas, supported by a new, exciting view of what a major media company can be.”
She added: “How thrilling it will be to work alongside someone new who will challenge us, inspire us, and make us all think about Vogue in a myriad of original ways.”
Thinking about global fashion in new, exciting and original ways is exactly what Ms. Wintour did 37 years ago when she joined American Vogue.
Her first issue on newsstands in November, 1988 featured the Israeli model/actress Michaela Bercu wearing a $10,000 Christian Lacroix sweater and $50 Guess Jeans (the first-time denim was on the cover of Vogue), shaking up conventional thinking about what “high fashion” should, or could, be.
She introduced a fresh editorial style, combining high fashion with celebrity allure and streetwear, while championing the careers of now-famous designers such as Marc Jacobs and John Galliano.
And she was visionary behind countless, conversation-starting covers that featured models (Kate Moss), actors (Renee Zellweger), political figures (former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama), athletes (LeBron James), musicians (Beyoncé) and people who were famous for being famous, such as Kim Kardashian.
Ms. Wintour was never afraid to push boundaries, said Liz Guber, editor-in-chief of Toronto’s Fashion magazine.
“When she put Kim Kardashian on the cover, in a white dress in 2014, she legitimized her, like she has legitimized countless others, including models, designers and editors who worked under her. She was never afraid to step into the ‘new’ and onto the ‘next,’” Ms. Guber said in an interview Thursday.
“She is a larger-than-life presence that will be hard to replicate. Wintour’s name has become singularly synonymous with the luxury fashion magazine – in much the same way Graydon Carter’s name was with Vanity Fair.”
Ms. Wintour “represented an old Hollywood era of magazines, and she was glam with a capital ‘G,’” Ms. Guber added. The fashion industry icon “is cut from a very different mold from the new cohort of editors coming in who are social media first, digital first, and very much Gen-Z.”
Her longstanding reputation for being intimidating was thought to have inspired the character of Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, a 2003 book written by her former assistant, Lauren Weisberger, and later made into a movie starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep.
Alison Eastwood, editor-in-chief of Hello! Canada, said Thursday that while the queen of fashion is scaling back, she is “not entirely abdicating the throne.” (The successful candidate for head of editorial content at US Vogue will report to Ms. Wintour.)
“Yes, she’s handing over the reins as Vogue’s editor-in-chief, but she’s still reigning over the kingdom of Conde Nast, guiding the editorial vision across multiple titles including Vogue,” Ms. Eastwood said in an interview Thursday.
“Her role is huge, and she has said she gets the biggest kick out of bringing in new editors with fresh voices, which makes sense. She’s 75, and though she could easily keep going until she’s 95, every monarch must have a succession plan.”
This is, presumably, Ms. Wintour’s first step.
