In the hours after Anna Wintour anointed her successor at American Vogue, staffers are weighing in on her decision – and noting that the new incumbent had a notable advantage.
Wintour, 75, selected Chloe Malle, just 39, to take the helm as head of editorial content at the iconic fashion magazine.
Malle, daughter of actress Candice Bergen and the late film director Louis Malle, has been working as the head of Vogue.com.
The decision, though expected, still has tongues wagging in the editorial offices.
‘There’s nothing wrong with Chloe,’ said one staffer. ‘She is competent and will do a good job but there’s a bit of discontent anyway.
‘She’s a nepo baby, which is not meant as a slam. She can’t help who her parents are. But it gives everyone else the feeling like, why bother? No matter how good you are, you’ll never be part of a famous family. The job will always go to someone who is more influential.
‘I’m not saying she’s not good; she is. But she was born on third base, so let’s not pretend she hit a triple.’
A second staffer told the Daily Mail that the general mood among employees is one of optimism.
‘There’s some prestige to working here, and I think Chloe will keep that going. She’s a nice person, very smart, very businesslike, but also kind. It’ll be interesting to see how things change,’ the second staffer said.
A graduate of Brown University, Chloe Malle has steadily risen through the ranks since joining Vogue in 2011
Malle, pictured with mom Candice Bergen, acknowledges that having famous parents gave her advantages that most people don’t have
Anna Wintour, above at the 2019 Met Gala, has been credited with transforming the fashion magazine into a cultural powerhouse
A graduate of Brown University, Malle joined Vogue in 2011 and has steadily risen through the ranks.
In 2023, she was named an editor at the magazine, and she also co-hosts ‘The Run–Through with Vogue’ podcast. Her editorial portfolio includes high-profile interviews with a range of public figures.
She wasn’t the only choice for the top job.
Other potential candidates included W Magazine editor Sara Moonves, Stella Bugbee, editor of the Styles section at The New York Times, and Nicole Phelps, who runs Vogue Business and Vogue Runway.
‘That’s just the thing, they’d all have been good,’ said the first staffer, ‘but maybe their moms didn’t win a bunch of Emmy awards.’
Coincidentally, Bergen once played an Anna Wintour-esque character in Sex and the City as well as, more recently, And Just Like That. Now, her daughter will follow in her footsteps in real life.
The choice of Malle comes just a few months after Wintour announced in June that she would step down as Vogue’s editorial chief, a position she has held since 1988.
Vogue put Malle’s friend Lauren Sanchez Bezos on the cover in June ahead of her star-studded wedding extravaganza in Italy
At 39, Malle is the same age as Wintour was when she took the job as head of editorial content at American Vogue in 1988
She has been credited with transforming the fashion magazine into a cultural powerhouse. In the process, her cool and aloof persona has become the stuff of legend, inspiring the 2003 novel and subsequent movie starring Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada.
Wintour will continue to hold her position as Condé Nast’s global chief content officer and global editorial director at Vogue, with Malle reporting directly to her.
Wintour also oversees every Condé Nast brand worldwide, including Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ, AD, Condé Nast Traveler, Glamour, Bon Appetit, Tatler, World of Interiors and Allure, among others.
‘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,’ Wintour wrote in a statement.
‘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. I am so excited to continue working with her, as her mentor but also as her student, while she leads us and our audiences where we’ve never been before.’
Malle said in a statement: ‘Fashion and media are both evolving at breakneck speed, and I am so thrilled – and awed – to be part of that.
‘I also feel incredibly fortunate to still have Anna just down the hall as my mentor.’
But even Malle acknowledges the advantage of her famous family, calling herself a ‘proud nepo baby’ in an interview on Tuesday with the New York Times.
‘There is no question that I have 100 percent benefited from the privilege I grew up in,’ she told the newspaper. ‘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.’
Staffers told the Daily Mail that they’re interested to see how things will go. As one summed it up: ‘She’s going to either be great or the whole thing will be a sh** show. Either way, she’s got some massive shoes to fill.’
