New ‘Vogue’ Head of Editorial Content Is a 'Proud' Nepo Baby

Vogue.com editor and The Run-Through co-host Chloe Malle will take over as American Vogue's new leader, effective immediately. Puck first broke the news last week before it was confirmed by Vogue post-Labor Day. In a statement following the announcement, Malle said, of her appointment: "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.”

Wintour, for her part, told team members that “When it came to hiring someone to edit American Vogue, letting me turn my attention more intensely to Vogue’s multifaceted growth across its global audiences and publications and events like the Met Gala and Vogue World, I knew I had one chance to get it right." She continued: "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 started at the paper in 2011, when she was hired as a social editor, riding the wave of an emergent field for the industry. From there, she oversaw just about every facet of the magazines coverage, from weddings to politics. After assuming the role of Contributing Editor in 2016, she oversaw various special projects until her appointment as editor of Vogue.com in 2023. According to a press release, "Since Malle became the editor of Vogue.com in the fall of 2023, direct traffic to the site has doubled, and Vogue.com has seen double-digit growth across all key metrics—including unique views, time spent, and content output—around major events such as the Met Gala and Vogue World." She also grew the weddings division, launched newsletters, and more.

The appointment was not without its prerequisite controversy, owing to Malle's lineage as a "proud" nepotism baby, being the daughter of actress Candice Bergen and director Louis Malle. In an interview following Vogue's announcement, Malle gave an interview to The New York Times in which she said she was a "proud" nepo baby. "There is no question that I have 100% benefited from the privilege I grew up in. 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.”

Elsewhere online, various commenters claimed the position should have gone to someone like Law Roach or "even Zendaya," as a few tweets claimed. Others pointed out various designers, celebrities, and famous faces not known for running editorial content, let alone the world's most singular fashion entity. The fervor is understandable, if misguided, considering the prestige of the title and Wintour's legacy as fashion's most powerful person.

Fashion insiders know how closely she's worked with Wintour this past decade. The explosive growth of the Vogue online brand, even amid declining sales for the glossies, is likewise undeniable. The privilege of her birth and position is in serious need of interrogation as media industry jobs continue to disappear — especially for those of us born outside the golden gates of Hollywood or the luxurious interiors of Manhattan. But Wintour famously plans in centuries, not years, and she's likely groomed Malle for some time, no matter the changing winds of fashion and its many key players. The idea that this would ever go to anyone outside Wintour's direct grasp, or lineage, is laughable. Especially should that someone be Law Roach, who has both never ran a magazine and also have a very active career as an image architect and television personality.

The more interesting story here is how frequently Malle and Wintour make note of the former Editor-in-Chief's mentorship, and office down the hall. For a closer look at her designs for the magazine, read Wintour's full statement on Malle's promotion below:

Fashion is the art of embracing change, but some changes run closer to one’s heart than the rest. When it came to hiring someone to edit American Vogue, letting me turn my attention more intensely to Vogue’s multifaceted growth across its global audiences and publications and events like the Met Gala and Vogue World, I knew I had one chance to get it right. I’m thrilled to announce that Chloe Malle will be the next Head of Editorial Content for our US title, leading the American magazine and guiding its digital coverage.

Chloe, who came to Vogue fourteen years ago, is widely known as the co-host of our podcast, The Run-Through, and as the editor of Vogue.com. She has done extraordinary work to increase our digital readership, winning exclusive coverage of everything from Angel Reese’s WNBA draft to Lauren Bezos’s wedding, and her interests range as widely as our readers’.

In the recent past, Chloe has commissioned a moving series of essays on grief, interviewed novelists such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, reported cover stories, and launched Vogue.com’s popular and extremely serious canine feature, Dogue. She’s a voracious, engaged journalist with an intuition for women’s changing interests now—and her eye for the definitive image is exceptional.

Chloe has long been one of Vogue’s secret weapons when it comes to tracking fashion. But she is not so buried in the industry that she misses the world: Like the best designers, she understands fashion’s big picture, its role shaping not just what’s on the runway but the changing fabric of modern life. Although she is no stranger to the glamour of red carpets, her talent has been for original thinking and hard work.

Chloe has put in as many late nights as anybody at Condé Nast, all without losing her creative imagination or her sense of fun. Her colleagues admire her startling acumen but also her warmth. Her desk is a place of guidance and contagious joy.

I believe that warmth, joy, experience, and keen vision are what Vogue will thrive on through the years ahead. At a moment of change both within fashion and outside it, we must continue to be both the standard-bearer and the boundary-pushing leader. 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.

Image via Getty