The Search for American Vogue’s Head of Editorial Content Starts

LONDON — Let the “Game of Thrones” begin at Condé Nast as Anna Wintour searches for a head of editorial content at American Vogue, after stepping down from her responsibilities at the publication.

Whispers of names have already started circulating with W Magazine’s editor in chief Sara Moonves being a top contender, as well as Instagram‘s Eva Chen and a few others. Wintour is said to be casting the net far and wide, and and is open to interviewing internal and external candidates, one in-the-know source said. Moonves started her career at Vogue and was mentored by Sally Singer, whose name has also been added to the mix. 

Singer left Vogue to head up T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and Moonves joined her in 2010. Singer is now president of Art + Commerce.

Moonves has been editing W Magazine since 2019 and lined up investors to acquire the publication in 2020, which Karlie Kloss is involved in.

Moonves and Singer could not be reached for comment at press time on Friday.

“Sara has great freedom at W, but stepping into Anna’s role is a no-brainer, especially in the creative industry, where she’s so front-facing,” said a close industry source.

As for Instagram’s director of fashion partnerships Chen, the source said, “Eva knows and understands digital better than anyone else and it would benefit Condé Nast so much in a world of changing algorithms.”

Chen, who declined to comment Friday, could be a contender for multiple reasons well beyond her 3 million-plus Instagram followers. She knows the inner workings of Condé Nast International well and her career trajectory aligns with the seismic shifts in media. Before joining Instagram in 2015, she spent more than 10 years at Condé Nast, where she gleaned the importance of a global reach. Between 2013 and 2015, Chen was Lucky magazine’s editor in chief and also worked as a Vogue China columnist. The digital adept also had a nearly eight-year stretch at Teen Vogue. Chen has another connection to Wintour through The Met Gala, which Instagram has sponsored. A first-generation Chinese American, Chen has also written children’s books.

One of Vogue’s favorite photographers, Mario Testino, said Friday that Wintour has “a unique talent for sensing the pulse of the moment, staying open to change, and identifying the right people to build iconic teams. With Vogue behind her, she perfectly evolved with the times, embracing each shift as it came. Many editors can become stuck and sometimes obsolete due to their inability to adapt and be open.”

Looking ahead, Testino said, “For a new editor, the challenge may be even greater. The landscape has changed: print has largely been replaced by digital platforms, and today, anyone with a phone and a following can be a trendsetter. Now more than ever, adaptability is essential to staying relevant in an ever-changing world.”

Three other Condé Nast staffers, whom Wintour is known to appreciate, Vogue’s fashion news director Mark Holgate, Vogue Runway’s director Nicole Phelps and British Vogue’s head of editorial content Chioma Nnadi, are also being talked about as potential candidates. Constance R. White praised Nnadi on LinkedIn Friday. Holgate, Phelps and Nnadi could not be reached Friday for comment.

Another Vogue staffer, Chloe Malle, editor of Vogue.com and cohost of “The Run-through With Vogue,” could offer a multimedia edge. Meanwhile, last week British Vogue posted a job opening for a fashion and style editor, whose responsibilities would include collaborating with Vogue editorial teams globally to ensure consistency. How that new hire will play into all of this is anyone’s guess.

Another candidate for the job is fashion stylist Ib Kamara, who stepped down as editor in chief of Dazed after a four-year tenure earlier this year. It is understood that Wintour held an hourlong meeting with him at her office at One World Trade Center.

Kamara could not be reached for comment at press time on Friday.

The list of Condé-certified candidates includes Karla Martinez, head of content for Vogue Mexico and Latin America. She too could not be reached immediately for comment.

The names of Jo Ellison, editor of The Financial Times’ weekly magazine How To Spend It, and Sothebys’ head of media Kristina O’Neill, have also surfaced. Neither could be reached for comment Friday.

Some industry insiders have speculated about the possibilities of Harper’s Bazaar’s editor in chief Samira Nasr returning to Condé Nast, after leaving five years ago. Nasr could not be reached immediately for comment Friday, nor could Stella Bugbee, editor of The New York Times Styles section. A former Vogue staffer floated the prospect of Lindsay Peoples, editor in chief of The Cut at New York Magazine. Peoples could not be reached for comment Friday.

There was chatter about New York Magazine’s recently installed editor at large Erik Maza too. He said Friday, “I am happily settling in at New York Mag, where I get to work on blockbuster projects like our special Hamptons issue, which is out now.”

In a tough media landscape, Vogue will need a salesperson to sell its pages that have now been slashed in half.

The news of Wintour stepping down comes two weeks after Condé Nast announced Mark Guiducci as the first global editorial director of Vanity Fair.

“She planted Mark into the Vanity Fair job so she can pass on giving him her job. She has orchestrated the whole thing,” said the same industry source, reiterating that Guiducci was Wintour’s right-hand man at American Vogue.

The job of helming Vogue has changed — it’s no longer chauffeured city cars and caviar lunches on the company card, but instead shifting and sharing copy and photoshoots that’s overseen by Wintour, who continues to rule with an iron fist as global editorial director of Vogue.

The magazine is following in the footsteps of the other international Vogue magazines by eschewing the editor in chief title for a head of editorial content. British Vogue announced Nnadi as its head of editorial content in September 2023 following the departure of editor in chief Edward Enninful.

The magazines have lost their local touch to their respective markets with syndicated content.

“Anna has long since transcended the role of editor of a single magazine, so this announcement seems like the next logical step — not a step back, but a step up, above the day-to-day and page-by-page,” said Susan Scafidi, founder and director of Fordham Law’s Fashion Law Institute. “There may be a seismic shift at Vogue, but not yet for an industry that has in so many ways been shaped and will continue to be influenced by its leading mononym.”

In all the changes taking place at Condé Nast, one thing is clear: Wintour, 75, will remain chief content officer for the publisher and global editorial director, Vogue.

In her role, she oversees every brand globally, including Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ, AD, Condé Nast Traveler, Glamour, Bon Appetit, Tatler, World of Interiors, Allure and others, with the exception of The New Yorker, which is overseen by David Remnick.

— With contributions from Evan Clark