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First off, let\u2019s stipulate that editors-in-chief do not run their own photos on the covers of their publications.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s further stipulate that Dame Anna Wintour stepped down as the editor-in-chief of Vogue<\/a> months ago, replaced by Chloe Malle<\/a>, daughter of Candice Bergen and director Louis Malle.<\/p>\n But Malle is not Vogue\u2019s editor-in-chief, either. She\u2019s got the mouthful title Head of Editorial Content. And Wintour\u2019s two titles trump Malle\u2019s one. The Dame didn\u2019t step down \u2014 she stepped up to Global Chief Content Officer and Global Editorial Director of Vogue. So, whether it was Malle or Wintour who decided to put the latter on the May issue cover<\/a> of fashion\u2019s flagship magazine, can we also agree who is clearly running the show?<\/p>\n Why this, why now? Some speculate it\u2019s Wintour\u2019s way of reminding the world she\u2019s still in charge. <\/p>\n But more likely, it\u2019s a reflection of the sorry state of magazines and fashion magazines in general \u2014 and of Vogue in particular. <\/p>\n The May cover is, really, a promotion piece. You\u2019d be forgiven for thinking it\u2019s touting AARP, as photographer Annie Leibovitz, 76, shot Wintour, 76, and Meryl Streep, 76, both of them styled in Prada by another aging fashion eminence, Grace Coddington, who turns a sprightly 85 later this month. HBD, Grace! All of them are still working, so bravo for that.<\/p>\n Rather, it\u2019s first a promotion for the Met Gala,\u00a0the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s annual fundraiser for what was once called its Costume Institute, to be held May 4. Now, it\u2019s called the Anna Wintour Costume Center, where she also holds the titles of chairman of the gala and a Trustee of the museum. Damn, Dame, you\u2019ve got a lot of titles.<\/p>\n Oops, add one more: Devil. Vogue\u2019s cover is also selling \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2,<\/a>\u201d as Streep stars as Miranda Priestly, the Wintour stand-in from the novel by Lauren Weisberger, the first film and, now, its sequel, which opens three days before the gala.<\/p>\n But the cover also promotes Wintour as a power broker even though, just this week, New York Magazine, where Wintour was fashion editor before moving to Vogue, described the fashion bible as \u201cwaning\u201d \u2014 doubling down by quoting a fashion PR saying, \u201cVogue matters less and less.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n It all calls to mind the late 1970s, when the celebrity magazine People was the most powerful new publication on newsstands, selling 3 million copies a week, with advertising revenue that inspired awe and envy. <\/p>\n It also inspired talk of a People Magazine Curse. Though an appearance on its cover could boost the fortunes of a book, movie, celebrity or politician, there were frequent weeks when those covers preceded a flop, a divorce, a rehab stint or even death. <\/p>\n Decades later, the Curse continues: consider the beloved comic actress Betty White, who died two days after a People cover celebrating her 100th birthday in 2021.<\/p>\n The Curse so appealed to the schadenfreude-inclined that it inspired versions for Sports Illustrated (for athletic injuries)<\/a>, Time (for reputational downfalls) and, yes, Vogue (for celebrity couples \u2014 Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere \u2014 who broke up after appearing in its pages). <\/p>\n It\u2019s the rare sequel that lives up to an original. So it\u2019s possible, with Wintour and Streep on the cover, that the Curse will hold and \u201cDevil 2\u201d will bomb. Or the Met Gala, with this year\u2019s \u201cCostume Art\u201d theme<\/a> and \u201cFashion Is Art\u201d dress code, will turn out to be another ludicrous celebrity costume party. Or Vogue will continue to wane, growing ever-thinner.<\/p>\n Dinosaurs \u2014 global fashion conglomerates, Hollywood movie studios, superstar editors, self-important celebs \u2014 still walk the earth, their momentum defying inevitable extinction. But one global phenomenon is sure to survive. Cross-platform product promotion is today\u2019s highest art form. And damn if that Dame isn\u2019t its Queen.<\/p>\n Michael\u00a0Gross\u00a0is the author of \u201cModel: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women<\/a>\u201d and\u00a0\u201cFocus: The Secret, Sexy, Sometimes Sordid World of Fashion Photographers<\/a>.\u201d His latest, \u201cTreasured Island: The Story of St. Barth . . . and Its Barbarians, Billionaires, and Beauties<\/a>,\u201d is out in June.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n