After nearly four decades at the helm, Anna Wintour is transitioning from overseeing day-to-day operations at American Vogue. The influential editor will appoint a new regional head of editorial content to manage the magazine’s daily editorial direction. Wintour will retain her role as Vogue’s global editorial director and chief content officer at Condé Nast, overseeing most of the publisher’s portfolio, excluding The New Yorker. This change is part of an ongoing global reorganisation at Vogue, where editors-in-chief have gradually been replaced by regional content heads reporting directly to Wintour. The shift was formally shared with staff recently, acknowledging how Wintour’s responsibilities have expanded across titles in recent years and this change will help her divide enough time among all her titles.
While speculation about her eventual exit has persisted for decades, this transition is the clearest indication yet that Condé Nast is preparing for a post-Wintour era. Signs of this shift were visible when designer Marc Jacobs guest-edited an issue last year, an unprecedented move for the magazine. Wintour’s influence on the fashion world is unparalleled. She led Vogue’s transition from model-centric to celebrity-led covers, shaping a global trend. She also transformed the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute fundraiser, which was once a quiet society event, into a blockbuster red carpet spectacle watched around the world.
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Her reach extends beyond fashion. As biographer Amy Odell detailed in Anna: The Biography, public figures from Serena Williams to Bradley Cooper have sought her advice during critical junctures in their careers. In 2020, Wintour acknowledged the magazine’s shortcomings in promoting Black creatives and took steps toward greater inclusivity.
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Though far from retirement, her departure from daily leadership opens the top job at American Vogue for the first time in 37 years, and speculation around her successor is already mounting. Competition is expected to be fierce. This marks the second high-profile editorial exit at Condé Nast in 2024, where Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones stepped down in April, with Vogue’s creative editorial director Mark Guiducci named as her replacement.
