The Queen of Condé Nast - crowned.

VOGUE editors in the front row: Creative Director Grace Coddington, Editor in Chief Anna Wintour, Fashion Market/Accessories Director Virginia Smith. Click to read the article in The Guardian.

Anna Wintour gets promoted. Does this mean VOGUE gets a new editor?

Tomorrow there will be a meeting at 4 Time Square, Manhattan, New York City. The most powerful editors and executives of Condé Nast publications will gather to discuss the appointment of their first-ever artistic director: Anna Wintour.

            Dubbed the single most important figure in the multi-billion dollar fashion industry, Anna Wintour has been the Editor in Chief of VOGUE for a quarter of a century. The 63 year old icon behind the bob and the sunglasses is moving beyond the world of fashion magazines. Although the specifics of her new role at the company is still a little sketchy (no doubt details will be given at tomorrow’s meeting) it would appear she is set to become a creative soundboard for the Condé Nast editors.

Click to read The New York Times report on  Anna's new position. 

            “She’s a great editor. Period.” Says David Remnick, Editor in Chief of The New Yorker. And he’s right: when Anna started at VOGUE, she replenished sales by putting more accessible models on the cover. She was also the first person to make the transition to putting celebrities on the cover, a trend which has spread internationally and is still hugely beneficial to VOGUE. (Last year’s Lady Gaga cover sold just over six hundred thousand copies.)

            Anna is not leaving VOGUE. (When that happens I will wear black for a month.) She is simply taking on more responsibility at Condé Nast. How does a power house like Anna Wintour get the time to have lunch, let alone take on more responsibility, you ask? That’s a mystery. What we do know is that she has spare time. Recently she’s been spending that time raising funds for Obama – and that’s what started the rumours that she may leave VOGUE and become an ambassador for the USA in Britain.

            Perhaps it was the Obama rumours (the truth of which was denied by Wintour) which spurred Condé Nast to give her the job. A more likely reason is 85 year old S. I. Newhouse Jr (chairman of Condé Nast for over thirty years) down-scaling his daily responsibilities in the company, and someone being needed to fill the gap.

            Reports say Anna sees the job as an extension of what she already does: offering her valuable advice to editors to help them grow and expand their brands. There is no doubt that this job will cement her position at Condé Nast for good, making her one of the most powerful and influential people not only in fashion, but in editorial history.

            Tomorrow’s meeting will no doubt be one to remember to those who have the privilege of attending. And for all the talented young editors who believe they too can make a mark in publishing, Wintour’s new position is definitely something to be excited about. Anna is looking for new talent that will enrich Condé Nast. In this age of technological futurism and emphasis on the power of the machine, Wintour knows the secret to real success. “It’s not about a machine or an iPhone or an iPad. It’s about people.”    

Anna's picture in VOGUEPEDIA. Click to read an in-depth report on her new position from WWD. 

Read Anna's entry in VOGUEPEDIA HERE.