Well, it happened. The era is over. Sort of. Anna Wintour is vacating her Editor in Chief role at Vogue after 37 years, a mammoth tenure at the top of the Condé Nast arguable crown jewel. But she is not leaving Condé: She will remain “Condé Nast’s global chief content officer and global editorial director at Vogue, overseeing every brand globally, including Vanity Fair, GQ, AD and more,” which means she will not even entirely have her hands off Vogue. (Apparently the only Condé mag that doesn’t fall under her purview is The New Yorker, interestingly.)
Even so, this has me feeling… not sad, not nostalgic, really, but perhaps simply pensive. Anna and Vogue held tightly to each other while other magazines fell apart around them and/or went digital. A-Dubs’s tenure has been uneven and staid, especially lately, with a certain level of looseness and innovation missing from what was once the apex of the industry. She represents a golden era of print media that is, at best, tarnishing; there is a bittersweetness to knowing that her stepping away in any capacity might eventually close the book on The Book, and drain the last of the personalities from your local mastheads. She is one of the last real celebrity EICs. Whether you love her, hate her, or are indifferent to her, you know her. You might know Glamour is Samantha Berry, but quick, who’s running Cosmo these days? Marie Claire? Harper’s Bazaar? Exactly. Anna basically made the Met Gala, the September issue, and even The September Issue. Who else has not only spawned a book and a movie about how awful she is, but survived it AND wore Prada to the premiere?!?
And the architect of the Fashion Bible, or at least its period of widest influence, has now engineered the cleverest exit. She has most likely outmaneuvered any of the people previously tagged as her rivals — Carine Roitfeld, then Edward Enninful — and anyone who accepts her old position will still work under her, meaning it’s a longshot either of those two would even want it at this point. What’s more, it isn’t even the job Anna held, strictly speaking; People reports that “Vogue will seek a new head of editorial content,” which seems to mean what it did for British Vogue: Chioma Nnadi took over from Enninful and her actual title is “head of editorial content,” not Editor in Chief. This matches the masthead of pretty much every other international edition of Vogue. So in addition to making the job potentially unappealing to any of her imagined rivals, Anna also may have made herself the LAST Vogue EIC ever, because whomever steps in would be at a slightly lower position. And, I can’t stress this enough, still reports to her.
So who do we think is polishing up their resume today? Will a name be willing to take the job? I can’t see Eva Chen leaving Instagram, which by all appearances pays her really well to do way, way, less than she’d have to at Vogue. Would Sally Holmes leave InStyle? Would Laura Brown come back to magazines? I have to think not making the job “Editor in Chief” is an excuse to offer a smaller paycheck, so perhaps it’ll be someone we don’t know. Or maybe Anna will split the difference and promote one of the New York Famous underlings who’s toiled for years in relative anonymity except twice a year during Fashion Week. Is this finally Stanley Tucci’s time?!?!?!
And what will become of Vogue? Will Anna ever allow it to go digital as long as she’s still at Conde? Will the new person take any chances? Will this spare us a Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos cover?!??
Finally, we’ve certainly had our share of negative opinions of covers from Anna’s tenure. What’s your favorite?
