Edward Enninful Departing British Vogue as EIC, Promoted to New Global Role within Condé Nast

[LadyJunon]

London has already been pushed to the side in recent years, but Milan and Paris are way too institutional, both in terms of brands and governing bodies, to allow that to happen. The big five (LVMH, Kering, Puig, Richemont, OTB) are Europe based. They obviously love their money, but I have a feeling that they love power and control even more. Not to mention, those two cities have a wider international reach than NYFW ever will.

Also, I don't really get the appeal of showing at NYFW beyond the locality. Especially when it seems that every designer past the "emerging stage" is moving away from that scene.

Tom Ford is finally moving on to Milan, Zimmerman went to Paris after the pandemic. Rodarte's gone off schedule and Diane Von Furstenberg and Oscar de la Renta stopped doing shows altogether.

Even Thom Browne regularly switches to Paris, despite being the head of the CFDA.

 

[fenty]

Well tell Ms Wintour that NYFW needs to get it together, in recent years NY has been the weakest when it comes to designers/events showcasing their collections compared to the others cities.

 

[Deleted member 141523]

It's so terrible that the biggest cities for fashion like Milano or Paris has now a terrible representation, the weakest Vogues of the bunch, when ten years ago was the opposite.

 

[Benn98]

It's so terrible that the biggest cities for fashion like Milano or Paris has now a terrible representation, the weakest Vogues of the bunch, when ten years ago was the opposite.

Quickest way to dismantle a system - take away its media. Let's be frank, fashion weeks need the legitimacy of Vogue (and by extension the celebrities they endorse) to be a success however much the Internet would like us to believe otherwise. It's the reason why nobody takes Berlin Fashion Week seriously.
I'm not saying PFW and MFW will turn into Berlin, just yet, but I do foresee more organisational demands suggestions coming from New York. And this time around it will be hard to say no, what with puppet editors in place with no real power.

 

[Kerg]

It's so terrible that the biggest cities for fashion like Milano or Paris has now a terrible representation, the weakest Vogues of the bunch, when ten years ago was the opposite.

the overall Vogue level has dropped terribly, no matter the countries (the us / uk are so bad, the french / italian so soulless)...
It's impossible to fight against Chanel / Lvmh / Kering : there are stronger than any medias...
Just see what happens now with the feud between Hedi Slimane and CondéNast... The Celine sales never been so high, wich means that fashion houses don't need Vogue anymore, but the opposite is not true...

 

[KoV]

Hedi does love to hold a grudge. His whole “I’m protesting the globalization of culture” is nonsense, though. Is that why he hires K-pop stars to walk the runway and sell his wares? Print media is obviously losing influence, has been for decades. But it’s just been replaced with alternate forms of media.

 

[LadyJunon]

the overall Vogue level has dropped terribly, no matter the countries (the us / uk are so bad, the french / italian so soulless)...
It's impossible to fight against Chanel / Lvmh / Kering : there are stronger than any medias...
Just see what happens now with the feud between Hedi Slimane and CondéNast... The Celine sales never been so high, wich means that fashion houses don't need Vogue anymore, but the opposite is not true...

I was about to retort that when I remembered that magazines are funded through advertising budgets. Even the independent magazines/critics seem to bow down to the brands/designers who support them (remember Bliss Foster).

Hedi does love to hold a grudge. His whole “I’m protesting the globalization of culture” is nonsense, though. Is that why he hires K-pop stars to walk the runway and sell his wares? Print media is obviously losing influence, has been for decades. But it’s just been replaced with alternate forms of media.

He's just pissed that his "Hedi Formula" didn't strike gold perfectly the third time round.

 

[Lola701]

Hedi does love to hold a grudge. His whole “I’m protesting the globalization of culture” is nonsense, though. Is that why he hires K-pop stars to walk the runway and sell his wares? Print media is obviously losing influence, has been for decades. But it’s just been replaced with alternate forms of media.

He didn’t want to say « I’m mad my friend Emmanuelle lost her job ». The irony is that he is not even collaborating with her…

At least, Nicolas had a point when he banned Vogue Paris after MAS was let go.

 

[ozztara]

Quickest way to dismantle a system - take away its media. Let's be frank, fashion weeks need the legitimacy of Vogue (and by extension the celebrities they endorse) to be a success however much the Internet would like us to believe otherwise. It's the reason why nobody takes Berlin Fashion Week seriously.
I'm not saying PFW and MFW will turn into Berlin, just yet, but I do foresee more organisational demands suggestions coming from New York. And this time around it will be hard to say no, what with puppet editors in place with no real power.

I agree. I think Vogue coverage is validation for brands.

I don’t think the internet will ever serve as a substitute for that, but I do think as Vogue continues to embarrass itself and younger people dismiss it and acknowledge it as archaic (and a little pointless) people are going to find new ways to validate what they see. At least I hope so.

 

[NYLA22]

I agree. I think Vogue coverage is validation for brands.

I don’t think the internet will ever serve as a substitute for that, but I do think as Vogue continues to embarrass itself and younger people dismiss it and acknowledge it as archaic (and a little pointless) people are going to find new ways to validate what they see. At least I hope so.

What I've been finding satisfying lately are independent fashion critics (like Eugene Rabkin, who has a newsletter and podcast via Style Zeitgeist). I also really like Amy O'Dell, who has her own Substack and wrote the (very objective and well-researched) biography of Anna Wintour. But...I'm only talking about journalism here, and not visuals, which unfortunately remains a huge weakness in fashion media right now. Nothing has taken the place of circa-2000s W magazine (my personal gold standard).

Eventually, I wonder if Vogue will just be bought by LVMH and turned into a quarterly catalog for their brands. The cost would be a drop in the bucket for them.

 

[helmutnotdead]

lol I can’t believe there are 12 pages of discussion for this

 

[Benn98]

What I've been finding satisfying lately are independent fashion critics (like Eugene Rabkin, who has a newsletter and podcast via Style Zeitgeist).

Is his podcast doing well? The forum certainly isn't - it's practically a wasteland. It was always too emo and self-absorbed. And they never moved with the times. What makes tfs different is that we're not sitting and running threads all day about the merits and demerits of a pair of black Rick Owens boots.

Back to Edward, I'm keen to see which brands he'll work for and in which capacity. Freelance styling/consulting work is fleeting and one day you're the former editor of Vogue and get bookings by default, the next you're competing against a design student who does what you do for a hobby and charges a pittance. One only has to look at Alt's trajectory post-vogue to see how easily he slipped off the radar.

 

[NYLA22]

Is his podcast doing well? The forum certainly isn't - it's practically a wasteland. It was always too emo and self-absorbed. And they never moved with the times. What makes tfs different is that we're not sitting and running threads all day about the merits and demerits of a pair of black Rick Owens boots.

Back to Edward, I'm keen to see which brands he'll work for and in which capacity. Freelance styling/consulting work is fleeting and one day you're the former editor of Vogue and get bookings by default, the next you're competing against a design student who does what you do for a hobby and charges a pittance. One only has to look at Alt's trajectory post-vogue to see how easily he slipped off the radar.

I've never looked at the forum, this is the only message board I come to. I really enjoy his podcast and essays, though (he is quite negative, but I actually find that refreshing in a sea of PR-controlled magazine stories). I also like Lauren Sherman's fashion industry newsletter for Puck.

I'm assuming when you refer to "Alt" you mean Andre Leon-Talley and not Emmanuelle Alt?

 

[matheus_s]

Any new news? Rs

 

[vogue28]

Any new news? Rs

The Daily Mail suggested yesterday that Anna Wintour may select Chioma Nnadi as Edward's replacement at British Vogue. You can read the article here.

 

[LadyJunon]

The Daily Mail suggested yesterday that Anna Wintour may select Chioma Nnadi as Edward's replacement at British Vogue. You can read the article here.

Cool, I've always liked her articles.

 

[Rigida]

Wow, not surprised if Chioma is going to replace Edward. Almost all Vogues that is still operated directly under Condé is headed by Anna's minions now.

 

[LadyJunon]

Wow, not surprised if Chioma is going to replace Edward. Almost all Vogues that is still operated directly under Condé is headed by Anna's minions now.

To be brutally honest, as long as it's not Nicole Phelps, I'm happy.

 

[Xone]

The Daily Mail suggested yesterday that Anna Wintour may select Chioma Nnadi as Edward's replacement at British Vogue. You can read the article here.

As long she can elevate the level of this magazine...ok...honesty didn't know much about her,saw her IG...meh....but deep inside i just think she will be same like Eugenie or Francesca meaning a big disappointment...

 

[Thefrenchy]

I don't think there's any hope for any Vogue to feel elevated anymore, no matter the edition or who is at the head.

They have made it disposable by not offering anything that only they could provide and people don't (and haven't for a while now) rely on fashion magazines to know about trends or discover designers. If anything, they keep PR departments busy and able to show some activity to brand execs.

Fewer and fewer budget is allocated to print simply because the ROI isn't there. In my opinion, what maintains it afloat is the cronyism that is so strong in this industry. CMOs know it's useless, designers too, but they've had a relationship with Vogue crews for so long that they just keep feeding them for the sake of it. I wouldn't be surprised if Vogue (and most formerly big titles) ended up going online only once the Wintour et al. generation is out of the door. It's a bit like what happened with the British monarchy and the Common Wealth. Once EII died, some countries were like "okay, peace out now!". I can see that with Anna / Conde Nast. Then the rest will fall like dominos and some independent titles will remain because their founders value print as an object, but that's pretty much it.

Vogue can then turn into one massive streamlined global online platform, with local translations and localised lifestyle articles, and brands can still leverage that type of media by pushing exclusive video content etc (eeeeeeeeveryone in luxury top management is OBSESSED with video, it's wild).

So whoever is next as EIC of any of these titles should count their blessings and enjoy the ride while there's still fuel in the tank because I'm not sure that will last for long.