After an esteemed tenure spanning nearly four decades, Ms. Anna Wintour will be relinquishing her position as Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue, Condé Nast has confirmed.
The announcement was formally communicated to internal staff on Thursday, June 26, 2025. While Ms. Wintour will step down from her leadership role at the U.S. edition of Vogue, she is not severing ties with Condé Nast. Rather, she will retain her responsibilities as Global Chief Content Officer of the publishing house and Global Editorial Director of the Vogue brand.
The company has commenced the process of identifying a successor to assume editorial oversight of Vogue’s American edition, while Ms. Wintour transitions into a more strategic, global-facing role.
The position vacated by Ms. Anna Wintour at the helm of Vogue’s U.S. edition will henceforth be titled Head of Editorial Content, reflecting a broader organizational restructuring within Condé Nast’s global editorial operations.
During her distinguished tenure as Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue, a role she assumed in 1988, Ms. Wintour fundamentally redefined the scope and influence of the publication. She repositioned Vogue from a conventionally conservative fashion outlet into a formidable cultural and commercial tastemaker—capable not only of forecasting trends but of elevating or rendering obsolete entire designers and movements.
Her editorial vision was unmistakably signaled in her inaugural issue (November 1988), which featured Israeli model Michaela Bercu clad in stonewashed jeans—a historic departure as denim had never before appeared on the cover of Vogue. This set a precedent for subsequent issues that embraced unorthodox imagery and unconventional styling. Ms. Wintour rejected rigid studio headshots in favor of more dynamic, naturalistic visuals—often photographed outdoors or in candid, upper-body formats.
In 1992, she disrupted a century-long editorial norm by featuring a man on Vogue’s cover—actor Richard Gere—who appeared alongside his then-wife, supermodel Cindy Crawford.
Though most strongly associated with Vogue, Ms. Wintour assumed broader responsibilities in 2020 when she was appointed Chief Content Officer of Condé Nast. In this capacity, she has exercised strategic oversight over the company’s full suite of global titles, including Vanity Fair, Wired, GQ, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, and Condé Nast Traveler.
This transition does not constitute a retirement but rather forms part of a wider structural realignment within Condé Nast. Nonetheless, the change represents a significant moment in the history of American Vogue, opening an influential leadership role that may usher in a new editorial era for the magazine.
Notably, in a parallel development reflective of evolving industry leadership, Ms. Chioma Nnadi became the first Black woman to head British Vogue in 2023, succeeding Mr. Edward Enninful, who himself made history as the first Black editor-in-chief of the title.#newsafro_
