Fashion Icon Anna Wintour Reportedly Leaving Top US Vogue Role
After 37 years as the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, one of the most influential figures in the fashion industry, is reportedly leaving her position.
Paris Fashion Week Autumn-Winter 2019: Anna Wintour, worldwide editorial director of Vogue.
Anna Wintour, editorial director of Vogue worldwide, in October 2024.
On Thursday, June 26, Wintour announced to Vogue employees that she was starting the process of finding a new “head of editorial content” for American Vogue, according to CNN. According to Business of Fashion, the new role would supervise day-to-day operations and align the US edition with other international Vogue editions.
The 75-year-old Wintour will continue to serve as the chief content officer of Cond Nast, where she is in charge of all businesses save The New Yorker, and as the worldwide editorial director of Vogue. Popular publications like Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Bon App tit have featured her work.
For a woman whose name has come to represent Vogue since she was appointed editor-in-chief in 1988, the move represents a significant change. Her tenure at Vogue launched the careers of designers like Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, and Zac Posen and turned the magazine into a world authority on fashion.
Wintour also reshaped the role of fashion in popular culture. The Daily Front Row said that in her November 1988 debut issue, model Michaela Bercu defied the stuffy stereotype of fashion by wearing a Lacroix sweater and $50 Guess jeans.
Under Wintour, some of Vogue’s covers—which included well-known people like Michelle Obama, Oprah, Rihanna, and Zendaya—became their own stars. Record newsstand sales were fueled by a 2014 cover featuring Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, which was the first time Vogue featured an interracial couple and a reality TV star.
Beyond the magazine, Wintour co-chaired the Met Gala since 1995, making it one of the world’s most viewed red carpets. In order to help up-and-coming designers, she also started the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which she continues to oversee.
With her characteristic bob haircut and dark eyeglasses, Wintour became a pop culture icon while attending Fashion Week in the front row. She has had her fashion career documented in books, mocked on “Saturday Night Live,” and mentioned in films such as “The Devil Wears Prada.”
According to The Telegraph, Wintour was named a dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 for her achievements to journalism and fashion. She was born in London in 1949.
