Anna Wintour was vogue. Now, it is back, can the magazine remain relevant?

In May 1989, Lady Anna Wintour did something that would become a characteristic of her time as editor -in -chief of US Vogue – she put a pop star on the cover.

Just a year in her mandate as the head of the magazine’s masthead head, Dame Anna had already made a name for a editor who instinctively understood the Zeitgeist. She was the first to put a denim model on Vogue’s front, and now Madonna.

“If he was upset to make jeans for November 1988, I think he was even more nervous for her to do Madonna,” said Amy Odell, author of Anna: The Biography.

For Marian Kwei, stylist and contributor Vogue, this decision speaks to the ability of Lady Anna to make the Vogue “relevant for our time, make her contemporary, make her accessible”.

“Before, it was women who could buy sewing who was interested in what Vogue had to say,” she said. “But Dame Anna achieved the need to reach out to the children by listening to Madonna.”

Now, almost 40 years later, Dame Anna is preparing to hang up her Manolo Blahnik, in a way – although she will no longer be editor -in -chief, she will remain as a world editorial director. In the corridor, his heir will sit down, Chloe Malle, 39, who will intervene as head of editorial content.

Although some have attributed its continuous presence as a sign of reluctance to give in total control, we could also see it as recognition of its unrivaled place in the fashion industry, and the fear it should go completely, this printed magazine – already a relic to some – will lose its remaining influence.

Once, fashion magazines like Vogue have governed industry. They did not have to fight for the attention as much as the decree of what was and was not “chic”.

Whether you always see – or never to see – vogue like a good -taste referee, or reflecting our time, depends on who you are talking about.

“I think it’s more relevant than people don’t want to admit it honestly,” said Odell.

For Anja Aronowsky Cronberg, the founder and editor -in -chief of the publication of Academic Vestoj fashion, less. When she was a growing teenager in Sweden, “Vogue represented the world there, something glamorous and different and the wide horizons that I was looking for.”

But she stopped reading it 25 years ago.

Today, printed magazines are fighting for survival in an increasingly congested and rapid landscape – a monthly publication loses a lot of relevance in a digital world by the minute.

“There is no magazine which is relevant in the way Vogue could have been relevant in the 80s,” said Cronberg.

“There are so many other culture vehicles today,” she adds, like Tiktok and Instagram.

All this will be to take into account the thought of Malle while it takes the post of manager of the editorial content. She would have planned to issue less frequent problems, centered on themes or cultural events rather than months. She says she wants to rely on the idea of ​​vogue printed as something to collect and cherish.

One of the ways that Lady Anna has kept part of the conversation is to expand the people she invited to the cover.

Since the beginnings of Maddona, Dame Anna has placed royalty, politicians, pop stars, writers and gymnasts on the cover.

“She has definitely punctuated fashion and entertainment as editor -in -chief of Vogue,” explains Odell.

It was not always well received. When Dame Anna put Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on coverage in 2014, “it sparked so many debates,” said Kwei.

“No one really wanted to dress (she) because she was a star of reality.”

Looking at the almost mythological position that the Kardashians have continued, the cover spoke to the strange capacity of Lady Anna to anticipate culture – also, no doubt, to drive it.

But if Dame Anna remains the right person to be at the helm and if the magazine can withstand increasing financial pressures, it remains to be seen.

It is a much more business world than in the past.

Her decision to highlight Lauren Sanchez, the woman now Jeff Bezos, also sparked the charges that the magazine sold. He was read by some as more celebration of wealth and luxury than style. Interestingly, it was Malle who apparently organized the story on the marriage of the power torque and was sent to write it.

Vanessa Friedman, chief critic of the New York Times fashion, stressed in a recent article that “although elite weddings are a characteristic of Vogue, they almost never made her cover, and Mrs. Sánchez Bezos apparently had neither celebrity nor the modeling of references that generally deserved the treatment of coverage.” The presence of the couple at the inauguration of Donald Trump also aroused criticism of some – and contributed to the reaction of the coverage, in particular on social networks.

Dame Anna, who supported Democratic candidates in the past, has Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden and, more recently, Kamala Harris over the years. It is relevant that the question of whether or not she will invite Melania Trump to be on the coverage has been the subject of many discussions – and continues to be, even if Malle passes in the role.

But Vogue can undoubtedly resist more of this type of criticism than most because of its legendary history. Like Lauren Sherman, the fashion journalist who announced the news of the appointment of Malle, told the BBC: “The Vogue brand is distinguished and is one of the most important fashion brands in the world.”

A large part of the position of Vogue in the world is wrapped in the own of Dame Anna – the enigmatic editor of fashion, with her instantly recognizable bob and her unknowing.

It has maintained a certain relevance for the title almost by being relevance.

“Anna was able to remain relevant despite all the different eras that we have experienced simply by being as synonymous with culture, fashion and beauty as possible,” explains Kwei.

This, although he was criticized for having been late to make more diverse in relation to the other sections of the industry.

“It is a figure figure figure,” explains Odell. “What other publisher has had an emblematic book and film made about them? You know, it was played by Meryl Streep!”

For Cronberg, it is “a brand itself at this stage”.

So what then?

“I think we are about to see to what extent the relevance of Vogue comes from Lady Anna,” explains Odell.

Although Malle inherited the prestige of the magazine, “it will be in Chloé and his team to see if they can use it wisely to influence the way culture moves,” said Sherman.

Ellie Violet Bramley is an independent writer and former editor -in -chief of fashion and lifestyle.