Who will succeed Alexandra Shulman? The runners and riders for the role of British Vogue's Editor-in-chief
Hayley Spencer Bethan Holt, digital fashion editor
26 JANUARY 2017 • 3:24PM
So Alexandra Shulman is resigning from her role as Editor-in-chief of British Vogue and while tributes have been paid to her agenda-setting editorship, thoughts are inevitably turning to the top job which she now leaves vacant and who might move into her pristine white office at Vogue House.
Shulman's departure will certainly cause seismic change. Her resignation is a turning point for the publication as it faces a chance to carve out a new direction in an ever-changing fashion magazine environment so it's understandable that there was little chance of any other topic being the subject of insider water cooler chatter today.
Just a few of the questions in the new editor's in-tray: How do you continue to attract younger readers to buy the magazine when they've grown up more inclined to head online? How does the website relate to the magazine- and what should its identity be? Who are the people and what is the look which will define a new generation of Vogue? Is Kate Moss still your go-to cover woman?
It's a job which countless girls might dream of- as the Devil Wears Prada myth goes- but there's really only a small group of editors and insiders with the credentials to take on the task.
WWD, one of the fashion industry's most-trusted news sources, is already tipping Katie Grand as a favourite to take over from Shulman. Grand founded LOVE - a magazine which expertly blends the mainstream with the avant-garde- in 2009 and has seen it grow into the kind of publication which regularly creates headlines with its covers, whether that's by showing Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner locked in an embrace or Kate Moss in the bath.
Grand's knack for capturing (and, arguably, creating) the zeitgeist has proven digital impact too. Her LOVE Advent calendar initiative attracted 84 millions page views to the magazine's website last December, with the likes of Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski and Kim Kardashian starring in videos which were catnip to their vast social media audiences.
Alongside her work at LOVE, Grand styles shows for designers including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada. While those close relationships with major brands could prove fruitful in an ever-more competitive commercial environment, WWD's Samantha Conti points out that this could be a stumbling block to Grand's appointment.
"Condé famously frowns on outside, commercial freelance work, and especially by the editor of such a high-profile title," Conti says. "The question remains whether Grand would even want to relinquish her lucrative fashion gigs for the Vogue one."
Another fashion pioneer who could breathe new ideas into Vogue is Dame Natalie Massenet, the outgoing chairman of the British Fashion Council and founder of online designer shopping mecca Net-a-Porter. She began her career in glossy magazines, but a sixth sense that we'd soon all be clamouring to buy our Jimmy Choos from the convenience of our sofas or offices led her to found the shopping destination which she eventually sold, netting a $111 million fortune in the process.
Massenet would undoubtedly have plenty of ideas for diversifying Vogue- as Shulman did with her Vogue Festival- and last year's launch of Style.com is proof that Conde Nast wants to compete in the online commerce market of which Massenet is the fairy Godmother. She has long been mooted as a successor to US Vogue's Anna Wintour but might she keep the British Vogue seat warm for a few years first?
There's also a coterie of Vogue insiders who could take on the challenge, having witnessed Shulman doing it first hand. Chief among them is deputy editor Emily Sheffield will have been working at the publication for over 11 years when the Editor-in-chief position opens in June.
Sheffield has also proven herself to be unafraid of speaking out so could happily pick up the mantle of calling the fashion industry to account over issues like diversity and sizing, as Shulman has done. Last July, she wrote an impassioned defence of her brother-in-law, David Cameron after his post-Brexit resignation, while her Twitter feed shows that she's just as keen to offer up opinions on politics as kitten heels.
Another similarity with Shulman is Sheffield's very British network of connections (her sister is Samantha Cameron) which would give her the nous to continue the magazine's distinct identity within the global portfolio of Vogue publications. The recent Vogue documentary did, however, suggest that Shulman and Sheffield are by no means peas in a pod; some scenes showed the two disagreeing about which cover options they preferred.
Meanwhile, Lucy Yeomans (ultra glossy editor of Porter magazine), Nicola Jeal ( the powerhouse editor whose CV includes Elle, The Observer and The Times), Justine Picardie (editor of rival publication Harper's Bazaar) and Lisa Armstrong (The Telegraph's very own fashion director) have also been mentioned among the names which might be on Conde Nast's list.
Who might present a more controversial choice? There's Eva Chen, the Head of Fashion at Instagram who was a rising editor star before that at Lucky and Teen Vogue and has done wonders to make fashion more accessible thanks to her social media prowess. She's married to an Englishman so a move to London wouldn't be such a ridiculous thought. But rumours that Anna Wintour might make a return to the UK are about as fanciful as fleeces making a fashion comeback.
