After thirty-seven years as one of the most powerful women in the fashion industry, Anna Wintour has transitioned from her role as Vogue Magazine’s editor-in-chief to the global editorial director for all of Vogue’s 27 global editions. Since her first issue in November 1988 featuring model Michaela Bercu, she has shaped the magazine and the fashion world through her innovative editorial vision and powerful influence.
At the age of 38, Anna’s first cover broke the norms of formal magazines, highlighting $50 Guess jeans for the first time in history. The contrast to previous issues was so unexpected that the magazine's printers called to ask if they had been sent the wrong image.
Apart from fashion itself, Wintour has been used as inspirations for several fictional characters including the iconic Miranda Priestly portrayed by Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada.” The film is based on the 2003 bestselling novel by Lauren Weisberger, a former personal assistant to Anna herself, and it depicts a fictionalized account of her time working with the demanding and powerful fashion editor.
In June of this year, Anna Wintour and her team at Vogue promoted Chloe Malle, the former editor of Vogue.com, as the new head of editorial content for American Vogue. This new title replaces the longtime editor-in-chief role held by Wintour. Anna remains the Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast, the global media behemoth behind titles like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, GQ and Architectural Digest.
In September of this year, Malle began her new role as head of the magazine, just like her mother, actress Candice Bergen, who played the role of Enid Frick, a fictional Vogue editor in “Sex and the City.” Malle’s promotion has been seen by many as a notable coincidence, given that her mother's iconic TV character was based on the very person she is now succeeding. She has addressed this issue openly with The New York Times stating that she is a “proud ‘nepo baby,’” and she has “100 percent benefited from the privilege” that she has grown up in.
Still having Wintour as her mentor, Malle has been met with significant public and critical scrutiny. There has been a drastic decline in the quality of the company’s printed editions and live events, increasing the amount of advertising and focus on celebrities rather than the art of fashion itself. Because of this, the company has experienced a significant subscription decline in the past three months.
This all began with this past August 2025 issue featuring actress Anne Hathaway, showcasing her collaboration with Sarah Burton at Givenchy. Inside the highly polished pages, Guess’ advertisement features a flawless blonde and blue-eyed model showing off a striped maxi dress and floral playsuit from its summer collection. To the casual eye, the model looks visually perfect, but, to the trained eye, she looks too perfect to be true. In small print on one side of the ad, it is revealed that this image was produced with artificial intelligence alongside full designer credits. While Vogue says the AI model was not an editorial decision, it is the first time an AI generated person has been featured in the magazine. Many of Vogue’s avid readers have been disappointed with this decision, finding it cheap and lacking in creative expression.
As the topic created controversy on social media, people began cancelling their subscriptions. This shift toward “perfection” arrives at a time when consumers crave authenticity, rather than an addition to society’s unachievable beauty standards and a removal of jobs for people who work in the industry: models, makeup artists, photographers, etc.
Following this incident, a new controversy has arisen with this recent December issue featuring Timothée Chalamet and photographed by Annie Leibovitz. The cover, featuring the Academy award nominee and four-time Golden Globe winner, was inspired by “The Little Prince.” We see the actor styled in Celine over a celestial backdrop with the words “The world according to Timothée Chalamet.”
The cover has caused significant stir, with some fans and critics calling it one of Vogue’s worst covers and others suggesting it looks AI generated and lifeless. In an interview with the Business of Fashion, Leibovitz calls the shoot “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Fashion influencers like @databutmakeitfashion on Instagram say it reflects how the public has been feeling about US Vogue for quite some time now. Average sentiment, or how positively people talk about it, is already down around 30% this month, lower than any other international Vogue publication.
Regardless of its current controversy, Vogue has assisted the fashion industry for years, making the comprehension and digestion of art and fashion accessible around the world. It has raised over $4.5 million for the Entertainment Community Fund to support costume community professionals impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires through its event “Vogue World,” as well as $130 million for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute through its famous Met Gala.
Vogue has had some changes this past year, but there is still time for the new head of editorial content for American Vogue, Chloe Malle, to create her own legacy as the future of US Vogue.
