It seems no one was more shocked to hear that Anna Wintour was stepping down from Vogue magazine after nearly 40 years than the people around her.
A source who had a front row seat to Wintour’s resignation announcement at Condé Nast’s headquarters in New York told the Daily Mail that it was “like finding out that God is stepping down from being God.”
Although Wintour was far from “warm and fuzzy,” the source said the dozens of staffers under her thumb figured out “how to please her.”
There is a level of familiarity with Wintour, the source said: “We know what she wants and how to give it to her. Now it’s an unknown.”
“She was a real taskmaster—but she was our taskmaster,” they added.
Wintour, 75, reigns over all of Condé Nast’s editorial brands as chief content officer, which includes GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, AD, Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appétit, and Tatler, among others. She pulled double duty at Vogue as its editor-in-chief and served as the centerpiece of its live events in addition to her duties as the mastermind behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Gala.
In a public statement, Wintour announced that she is now actively seeking her replacement, someone who is passionate about ushering in the next generation of editorial leaders.
“I find that my greatest pleasure is helping the next generation of impassioned editors storm the field with their own ideas, supported by a new, exciting view of what a major media company can be,” Wintour said, noticeably specifying that her predecessor will carry the modernized title “head of editorial content” (HOEC), not “editor-in-chief,” and will report to her.
As for the actual delivery of the announcement, the source told the Mail that Wintour kept things cool.
“It wasn’t an emotional announcement. A couple of them [staff members] got misty, but it wasn’t like there was weeping and gnashing of teeth,” the source said. “We’re all just trying to figure out what the new normal will look like.”
During her reign as editor-in-chief, Wintour has racked up a litany of achievements, including countless magazine awards, a Companion of Honour from the late Queen Elizabeth II, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in addition to championing numerous designers, such as John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, and many more.
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