After a 37-year tenure as head of Editorial Content, Anna Wintour appointed journalist Chloe Malle as Vogue’s editor-in-chief, making a historic leadership transition and beginning a new era for the magazine.
In this new role as top editor, Malle will lead the creative and editorial direction of Vogue’s U.S. edition, joining the 10 existing heads of editorial content around the world.
“Fashion and media are both evolving at breakneck speed, and I am so thrilled, and awed, to be part of that,” Malle said in a statement.
The daughter of actress Candice Bergen and filmmaker Louis Malle was born and raised in New York City with an ever-growing appreciation for fashion and storytelling. She graduated from Brown University with a degree in comparative literature and writing, which she turned into a career in journalism contributing to outlets like The New York Times and The New York Observer.
As a seasoned writer, Malle joined Vogue in 2011 as a social editor where she covered weddings, fashion, politics, home, beauty, gardens and health, according to the company’s website. In 2023, she was appointed the editor of Vogue.com where website traffic doubled under her leadership.
“I’ve spent my career at Vogue working in roles across every platform — from print to digital, audio to video, events and social media,” Malle said. “I love the title, I love the content we create, and I love the editors who create it. Vogue has already shaped who I am, now I’m excited at the prospect of shaping Vogue.”
Malle stepped into this role just ahead of New York Fashion Week which will take place Sept. 11-16 and features major designers like Tory Birch, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Michael Kors. As one of the world’s most high-profile fashion events, this will be Malle’s first major test in her position, overseeing Vogue’s coverage of runway shows, designers and outstanding styles throughout the week.
With a new creative vision in mind for the magazine, Malle is eager to make changes.
She is looking to make Vogue issues more of a collector’s item by releasing them less frequently, focusing on specific themes and cultural moments, according to the New York Times.
With the new outlook on printed issues and wanting to take a less-is-more approach to Vogue’s website, Malle aims to develop “a more direct, smaller, healthier audience” rather than crafting Vogue to appeal to wide audiences.
For example, when singer Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce announced their engagement Aug. 26, Vogue chose not to chase the same generic headlines every news outlet was printing. Instead, the magazine angled its story to analyze Swift’s $500,000 ring, offering a new fashion-forward perspective. As a result, this story received more clicks than traditional coverage, finding its way to a niche audience with a knack for jewelry and style.
Her approach reflects a shift in the industry, straying away from mass appeal and, instead, finding those niche groups who genuinely appreciate Vogue’s depth of coverage.
As a student journalist who’s constantly monitoring news coverage of stories and looking into how unique an outlet’s angle is, I find it so inspiring that Malle is trying to steer Vogue toward intentional storytelling. The media landscape is always overflowing with articles that lack perspective and creativity, and it gets utterly boring when you’re reading the same information over and over again with no fresh analysis.
Malle has the potential to lead Vogue into a new era that focuses on so much more than chasing clicks — and I’m here for it.
For young writers like myself, Malle is one of those rare figures who prove thoughtful storytelling can still cut through the noise.
The world isn’t slowing down, everything is still happening at rapid speed, but originality and unique visions are the media’s most valuable asset.
Vogue’s future is in good hands — may the ideas stay fresh and the headlines unforgettable.
