Anna Wintour Steps Down as Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue After 37 Years

Wintour will however, continue in her positions as Vogue‘s global chief content officer and Condé Nast’s chief content officer, overseeing all the brand’s international editions and content strategy, except for The New Yorker. “Anybody in a creative field knows how essential it is never to stop growing in one’s work. 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,” Wintour told her staff. Reportedly, she now wishes to support a new generation of editors in executing a fresh view of what the US Vogue can be, and looks forward to working alongside a young new editor-in-chief. She further clarified that she would continue with several of her responsibilities including that of the coveted Met Ball.

The fashion mogul, helmed as the life force behind American Vogue’s success as the leading magazine in fashion media, began as its creative director in 1983, later serving as the editor-in- chief for British Vogue from 1985 to 1987, before returning to the U.S. edition as the successor of former editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella in 1988. Following this, Wintour managed to completely break the conventions and reshape the magazine with her bold creative choices, with her first issue of November 1988, featuring model Michaela Bercu in a relaxed pose and donning a pair of $50 Guess jeans styled with a $10,000 Christian Lacroix sweater. This was a far subversion from the usual covers which featured close ups of models covered in makeup and expensive jewelry. Wintour was also the first to feature celebrities on the covers of her magazine, setting a precedent for all others to follow.

Apart from her illustrious career, she has also become somewhat of a pop culture icon in the past decades. With her classic bob, blunt bangs and sunglasses, Wintour’s signature image can be instantly noticeable even in the subtlest references, the most notable of which being the character of Miranda Priestly played by Meryl Streep in the popular 2006 rom-com, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. She has also been the subject of multiple documentaries, including the “September Issue”, which followed Wintour and her team as they compiled Vogue’s largest September Issue to date. Wintour’s successor, who will now claim the title of “head of editorial content” for US Vogue, is yet to be announced, with many finding it hard to imagine anyone else filling in her designer heels.