Anna Wintour Steps Down as Editor-In-Chief, Ushering in a New Chapter for Vogue
She wraps up an era of almost 40 years shaping the direction of the world’s top fashion magazine.
In a surprise move, Vogue Magazine’s long-time Editor-in-Chief and fashion monarch Anna Wintour has announced that she is stepping down from the helm of the magazine she catapulted to supreme status.
CNN News disclosed that the announcement was made during the magazine’s staff meeting on Thursday morning. Her post will not be replaced, with Vogue USA hiring for a new title called head of editorial content instead.
But Wintour, who is now 75 years old, will only be reducing her workload and is not retiring altogether. She will remain as the global chief content officer of Vogue’s publisher, Conde Nast, as well as Vogue’s global editorial director.
Wintour is known for transforming the magazine industry and ignoring the usual standards and norms it followed. She was unafraid to feature lesser-known figures, dressed up a model in stone-washed jeans for her first Vogue cover at a time when covers were more rigid and formal, and featured a man on the magazine cover for the first time in 1992, when actor Richard Gere joined his then wife Cindy Crawford in the shoot.
“As Vogue’s editor-in-chief, she reinvented the publication, transforming an increasingly unadventurous title into a powerhouse that could set and destroy both trends and designers,” CNN reports.
The British editor, who has sported her signature bob cut since age 15, began her career in UK publications Harper’s and Queen, and Oz, before moving to Harper’s Bazaar New York in 1975.
According to a report by Style.nine.com.au, Wintour didn’t stay long at Harper’s Bazaar, as she was fired “for her innovative and out-of-budget shoots.” She moved to several other titles before joining Vogue in 1983 as its first creative director, until she became editor-in-chief of Vogue UK in 1985.
