The move up into Condé Nast’s executive ranks, while ending speculation that Ms. Wintour, 63, was leaving the company or retiring from Vogue, also establishes her as one of the most powerful women in magazine publishing. Martha Nelson, who was promoted to editor in chief of Time Inc. recently, is in that group.
In her new role, Ms. Wintour is assuming some of the responsibilities once held by S. I. Newhouse Jr., who has controlled the editorial management of Condé Nast as chairman for more than three decades.
Beginning last fall, Mr. Newhouse, 85, quietly yielded his day-to-day involvement in the magazines and transitioned from the executive suite on the 11th floor of Condé Nast’s headquarters in Times Square to an office on the sixth floor, where members of the Newhouse family manage the parent company, Advance Publications.
“Si Newhouse leaves a void, inevitably,” Charles H. Townsend, the chief executive of Condé Nast, said in a joint interview with Ms. Wintour on Tuesday. “Anna, without even having to think twice about it, is the most qualified person to pick up that torch and carry it into the future.”
While Condé Nast has had several editorial directors in its history, including Alexander Liberman beginning in the 1960s, and James Truman in the 1990s, the role of artistic director is new. It was created in part to keep Ms. Wintour at the company, Mr. Townsend said. Thomas J. Wallace, who became editorial director in 2005, will retain that position, focusing on operations and developing new platforms for content.
“I would go to great distances to avoid losing Anna, particularly in the prime of her career,” Mr. Townsend said.
Ms. Wintour said that she viewed the role as “almost like being a one-person consulting firm,” advising other editors on ideas or directions they might take with their brands, much as she has expanded the purview of Vogue.
She will remain the editor of Vogue and the editorial director of Teen Vogue, in addition to assuming broader creative duties throughout the company, and having a say in its expanding portfolio of platforms, including the recent development of an entertainment division.
“It is something I do a lot anyway in my role at Vogue,” Ms. Wintour said.
“I advise all sorts of people in the outside world, and really, I see this as an extension of what I am doing, but on a broader scale.”
Ms. Wintour, like Mr. Newhouse, will be a sounding board for editors. But it was unclear whether she will take on a role he relished over the years, vetting the monthly covers of glossy magazines like Vanity Fair, GQ, Glamour and Architectural Digest.
Like all publishing businesses, Condé Nast has struggled with the continuing pressures of a plodding economic recovery and the loss of readership and advertising to the Web.
In 2009, the company closed Gourmet and three other publications. Fashion magazines in particular have cut lavish budgets for photo shoots, car services and editorial production, a hallmark of Condé Nast publications. Time Warner’s recently announced plan to spin off Time Inc. underscores what will probably be further cost-cutting and commodification of magazines in general.
“Without this statement,” Mr. Townsend said of Ms. Wintour’s new role, “I fear we could end up looking more like Time Inc. I don’t want to look like a gray-suited business.”
Last year, Ms. Wintour, who raised millions of dollars for President Obama’s re-election, was reported to be lobbying for the position of ambassador to Britain. Ms. Wintour said she was not disappointed that she was not selected, “since the talks were purely in the press.”
“It was an honor to work for President Obama,” she said. “I loved supporting him and getting to know the people working on the campaign, but there was never a long-term discussion about anything.”
Ms. Wintour said it was too soon to say what she would do as artistic director, and the company took pains to say it was a different job. It may be closest to that of Mr. Liberman, who brought Ms. Wintour to Condé Nast and who largely shaped the image and culture of the company.
Part of her job will be to look for new talent and to reinforce aesthetics.
“It isn’t about a machine or an iPhone or an iPad,” Ms. Wintour said. “It’s about people.”
Diane von Furstenberg, who has worked closely with Ms. Wintour as the president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said that her reputation as a chilly personality is at odds with her accomplishments. Ms. Wintour inspired the book and movie “The Devil Wears Prada.”
“She can be so intimidating and all of that, but she is just so incredibly positive,” Ms. von Furstenberg said. “And she makes things happen. She’s tough, but she’s not cruel.”
David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, which is published by Condé Nast, said that he would not hesitate to ask for Ms. Wintour’s opinion.
“I don’t expect Anna to be picking the cartoons or directing our war coverage,” he said. “But I have asked her advice numerous times and always been grateful for it. She’s a great editor. Period.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/media/conde-nast-creates-new-job-for-anna-wintour.html?partner=rss&emc=rss