She will still, however, retain control as chief content officer for Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue.
Anna Wintour is stepping back as editor-in-chief of American Vogue after 37 years.
The news has been confirmed by most major news outlets such as CNN, the Associated Press, and The New York Times. Per reports, Wintour announced the news in a staff meeting on the morning of Thursday, June 26. This doesn’t mean, however, that the fashion powerhouse is relinquishing control—she’s only scaling back her duties. She will remain as Vogue’s global editorial director as well as Condé Nast’s global chief content officer, according to Vogue.
The London-born media executive joined Vogue in 1988, succeeding former editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella. Upon her appointment at the helm of what many consider to be the “fashion bible,” Wintour immediately started reshaping the magazine, with one of her first major moves making history not just for the brand but for the entire fashion industry.
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Her first issue, published in November 1988, featured Israeli model Michaela Bercu wearing a $10,000 Christian Lacroix sweater paired with stonewashed Guess jeans — the first time a pair of humble jeans had ever appeared on Vogue’s cover. In an interview with the publication in 2012, Wintour shared that the magazine’s printers, accustomed to glam closeups, called them up to ask if there had been a mistake. “This one broke all the rules,” she said.
Wintour didn’t stop with that trailblazing cover. She would go on to make editorial decisions that would have made her predecessors raise an eyebrow. She is, for instance, credited for putting celebrities on Vogue’s cover, and for mixing high fashion with more affordable street style. In another history-making move in 1992, she featured a man on the cover—Richard Gere, who appeared with then-wife Cindy Crawford. The 75-year-old is also known for championing emerging designers, including Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.
Wintour is also thought to have inspired Miranda Priestly’s character in The Devil Wears Prada, a novel written by Lauren Weisberger, her former assistant. The surprise bestseller was later adapted into a movie starring Meryl Streep as Priestly and Anne Hathaway as her assistant. Despite Weisberger saying she drew inspiration from friends’ stories about their bosses in the industry, many still associated the intimidating boss archetype to Wintour. During the film’s premiere in 2006, People magazine reported that Wintour was in attendance wearing Prada.
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With Wintour relinquishing her title as editor in chief, that role will no longer exist. Instead, Vogue will seek a new “head of editorial content,” who will still report to Wintour. As Condé Nast’s global chief content officer and global editorial director at Vogue, Wintour will continue to oversee the company’s brands globally including Vanity Fair, GQ, Glamour, Allure, Architectural Digest (AD), The New Yorker, and more.
“Anybody in a creative field knows how essential it is never to stop growing in one’s work,” Wintour told Vogue staff in that fateful meeting on Thursday. “When I 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.”
“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 continued. “But 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.”
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