By Devyn Briones
Staff Writer
After almost four decades, a new editor has been selected for Vogue.
Anna Wintour has worked as Vogue’s editor-in-chief for 37 years, but stepped down from the position this past June. However, she isn’t retiring as a whole. Wintour’s focus is now primarily on her work as chief content officer for Condé Nast and overseeing editorial for brands, according to Vogue.
Wintour tapped Chloe Malle, a 39-year-old journalist, as Vogue’s new head of editorial content for U.S. Vogue, which took place effectively immediately as of Sept. 1. Although Wintour no longer holds the position, Malle will still report to her.
“Fashion and media are both evolving at breakneck speed, and I am so thrilled—and awed—to be part of that,” Malle told Vogue. “I also feel incredibly fortunate to still have Anna just down the hall as my mentor.”
Wintour broke the fashion industry during her time as editor at Vogue. In her works, she focused on highlighting celebrities and undiscovered models, and was even the first editor to mix affordable fashion with designer pieces in photoshoots, according to Biography.
“At a moment of change both within fashion and outside it, Vogue must continue to be both the standard-bearer and the boundary-pushing leader. Chloe has proven often that she can find the balance between American Vogue’s long, singular history and its future on the front lines of the new,” said Wintour. Malle has some pretty big shoes to fill.
Born to actress Candice Bergen, who ironically played Vogue’s editor in the television series “Sex and the City,” and French filmmaker Louis Malle, who passed away from lymphoma when Chloe was 10, it’s safe to say that she is a nepo baby.
Malle now lives in New York with her husband, two children, and their dog, Lloyd.
Despite the nepotism, Malle is fully transparent about her situation and believes that it makes her work harder. She grew up in Los Angeles and New York, and then continued her studies at Brown University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in literary arts and comparative literature.
“There is no question that I have 100 percent benefited from the privilege I grew up in,” Malle said in a New York Times interview. “It’s delusional to say otherwise. I will say, though, that it has always made me work much harder. It has been a goal for a lot of my life to prove that I’m more than Candice Bergen’s daughter, or someone who grew up in Beverly Hills.”
Malle’s career in Vogue first began in 2011 as the Social Editor. This included a wide variety of topics, as she covered weddings, social coverage, politics, lifestyle, fashion, beauty and many more. Her works and writings have also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest and other publications.
With a new editor comes new changes, and Malle hopes to use new, different approaches, making her work her own. “Placing my own stamp on this is going to be the most important part of this being a success,” Malle said. “There has to be a noticeable shift that makes this mine.”
She believes that issues should not be released as often, or they should be known to the public during specific themes or cultural moments, according to The New York Times. Malle also believes that less is more on the Vogue website, something she has been working on since Oct. 2023.
“I look forward to embedding myself even more fully across print, video, and events — fostering the true cross-platform plurality that our audience craves and demands,” said Malle.
