After 37 years as editor-in-chief, Dame Anna Wintour has passed down the Vogue torch.
Chloe Malle brings a new vision for Vogue and a new title. Instead of editor-in-chief, Malle is head of editorial content, a shift that highlights the ever-evolving magazine business.
Speaking to the New York Times, Malle said there’s no replacing Wintour and trying to be a carbon copy of her predecessor would not allow her to succeed.
“Placing my own stamp on this is going to be the most important part of this success,” Malle said. “There has to be a noticeable shift that makes this mine.”
Wintour’s legacy remains, as does Wintour herself, as she keeps her position as global editorial director at Vogue and chief content officer of Condé Nast, Vogue’s publisher.
Although Malle has two famous parents, Candice Bergen and Louis Malle, and dubs herself a “proud nepo baby,” her extensive and successful history at Vogue speaks for itself.
Malle joined Vogue in 2011 as social editor, leading wedding and social coverage before serving as a contributing editor from 2016-2023. In 2023, Malle became editor of the Vogue website, which saw double its normal traffic under her leadership.
During her 37 years as editor-in-chief, Wintour led Vogue and the fashion industry as a whole through a major shift. From putting a model in jeans in 1988 to putting Madonna on the first pop star cover in 1989, Wintour changed the landscape of fashion through the magazine.
Malle is set to make her own changes to Vogue, which will undoubtedly shake up the fashion industry as a result. As head of editorial content, Malle is limiting the number of print issues Vogue releases, bidding goodbye to monthly issues and instead saving print editions for specific themes and cultural events, according to the New York Times.
The magazine landscape looks far different now than it did when Wintour first took over editorial duties. Vogue recently came under fire for featuring artificial intelligence-generated models in its August issue. How Malle approaches the rapid increase of AI in media is a key component of how Vogue is able to adapt to the changing industry.
In a statement made to Vogue, Wintour boasted her utmost faith in Malle to be at the forefront of Vogue’s future.
“I believe that warmth, joy, experience, and keen vision are what Vogue will thrive on through the years ahead …” Wintour said. “Chloe has proven often that she can find the balance between American Vogue’s long, singular history and its future on the frontlines of the new.”
