The Imperial Editor Goes the Way of the Dodo

This is not the case for titles like Vogue Scandinavia, which will have its debut in August and is one of 14 Vogues that are licensed by Condé Nast to regional partners and therefore not under the company’s editorial control. (In the curious case of Vogue Netherlands, the license is held by the local arm of Hearst.) Titles like Vogue Paris, Vogue Spain and Vogue Germany will likely fall under the control of Edward Enninful, who became Vogue’s European editorial director in December. Some top spots, like the editorship of Vogue India, are unfilled.

The cost savings are obvious, but though the internal letter said the pandemic had shown how operations can be “more decentralized, more democratic, open to more voices than we’ve been in the past,” critics of the decision charge that the planned consolidation risks the opposite: that by centralizing power in the hands of a few, it devalues local voices, cultures and nuance, and turns the editors into figureheads, often with big followings on social platforms but little actual decision-making power.

“You can’t just be a symbol,” said Ms. Shulman, of British Vogue. “If you don’t really have independence and you don’t have authority, what are you?”

Mr. Picardi, who was briefly the head of Teen Vogue, noted the risks of the “glass cliff” effect, whereby executives may be more willing to extend opportunities to a more diverse pool of job candidates at moments when there is nothing left to lose.

“It felt like we were being invited to a party, but once we got there, it was actually a funeral,” said Mr. Picardi, who is headed to Harvard Divinity School in the fall. “And we were totally ill dressed for the occasion.”

There are those who mourn the end of the empires and the loss of associated power (that’s history for you), but it is also true that with creative destruction comes opportunity — and the chance to rethink what is relevant.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/fashion/magazine-changes-conde-nast-anna-wintour.html