Anna, Anna, Anna...
For the last several years, Condé Nast has been preparing for
when chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr., now 85, would wind down his duties at
the publishing group. For a company whose prestige and reputation are so
closely tied to one man, the question of who would follow in his
footsteps has all the gravity of a papal succession.
At a time when other companies are shrinking or being spun off,
the preservation of Condé’s image was all the more important. The
executives in place are all money guys — consumer marketers, really, and
even by their admission, unlikely to inspire the cult of personality
Newhouse stoked for decades. Condé was in need of its own version of the
Columbia Pictures’ logo, someone to symbolize the culture of the place
as much as the image it sought to convey.
In Condé’s view, there was no one better suited for that role than Anna Wintour, 63.
“She’s maybe the greatest marketer we have in this organization,”
said chief executive officer Charles H. Townsend. “What she stands for
is the epitome of what Condé stands for — her accomplishment, her
success, her unyielding commitment to excellence and content creation.”
Condé executives had been looking to elevate Wintour to a larger
corporate role. On Tuesday she was anointed artistic director, a newly
created position that encompasses duties once held by Newhouse and, much
earlier on, by Alexander Liberman, the group’s legendary editorial
director. In theory, the role grants her enormous influence over the
editorial direction of the company’s magazines, from The New Yorker to
Vanity Fair.
Wintour’s coronation was received by
some as a positive development for a company that some believe had lost
its shimmer as Newhouse became less involved. But there was also
confusion. Save for Vanity Fair editor in chief Graydon Carter and New
Yorker editor David Remnick, Condé’s not in the habit of consulting with
top editors about major institutional announcements like this. So when
the official statement went out, it raised more questions than answers.
Will Wintour attend print order previews? How would she divide her
loyalties between Vogue and the magazines she’s ostensibly been tasked
with advising?
“We’re not all friends here,” said an insider. “This is a
competitive building. We use the same photographers. We compete for the
same celebrities. This will be a gradual process as she finds areas
she’d like to investigate. Why else would she take the job if she wasn’t
going to do things with it?”
Wintour has been part of the Condé family since 1983, rising from
editor in chief of British Vogue to the company’s shiniest star. In
that time, she’s also broadly expanded the definition of editor in
chief. She is the ultimate brand manager — there are Vogue-branded
events, documentaries, online encyclopedias — and a power broker, one of
the most influential forces in fashion, with a say on everything from
the stewardship of the world’s oldest fashion houses to the industry’s
place in the American economy.
What was there to do after all that? Last year, the question came
up during a casual get-together with New York editor in chief Adam
Moss. They were both restless, eager to do something else. But Wintour
came down on the side of pragmatism, said sources familiar with their
conversation. The minute she leaves Vogue, she told Moss, she would just
go back to being another former editor.
One way to expand her circle of influence beyond fashion and
media was politics. She campaigned and raised substantial sums for
Barack Obama in 2008, and repeated her efforts in the last election cycle,
hosting lavish fund-raisers in his honor. As the campaign was drawing
to a close, she lobbied hard for one of the sought-after ambassadorships
that are usually passed down to influential donors, such as Paris or
London, several sources said.
Last summer, Wintour signed a three-year contract that came with
financial penalties if she left early. Though the possibility of a new
corporate title had been discussed, by December no firm agreement had
been reached.
Townsend confirmed he and Wintour had talked for over a year
about expanding her purview but hadn’t come up with the right offer.
There was talk of Wintour having oversight of some brands, but not all,
according to sources. She had already played that role once in the past,
overseeing editorial direction of several titles, not just Teen Vogue,
but also Men’s Vogue and Vogue Living, two titles that were subsequently
shuttered.
Townsend was aware of Wintour’s desire for a change, though they never discussed the possible diplomatic post.
“Twenty-five years is a long time,” he said. “I do think it’s
almost the ideal moment to expand her horizons and maintain her
enthusiasms for all the things this company stands for.”
sources: WWD
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