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Home , Anna Wintour, British Vogue, The New Yorker

Letter to the People Dear Delegates,

Welcome to the Vogue Board of Directors. I’m excited to be your chair for the Vogue Crisis Committee at VAMUN XL!

My name is Neha Pattanik and I’m a second year at UVA, hoping to study

Statistics with a concentration in Econometrics. This is my second VAMUN, but my first staffing, I’m orginally from Centreville, Virginia and aside from VAMUN, I’m also a part of UVAs Model UN Travel Team, and in my free time you can always find me dreaming of good eats or acting as my dog’s social media manager (@goldenncharlie on instagram).

During the weekend of November 15-17, 2019, you will be working to discuss numerous issues facing Vogue as a brand and the decisions you make as a board could potentially alter the entire course and direction of the magazine. I hope to see you all engaging a lot in powerful and intense discourse as well as making every effort to secure your own personal interests based on your position.

If you have any questions regarding position papers, the conference, or this background guide, please feel free to email me. I’m looking forward to a week- end of wonderful debate and I’m excited to meet all of you!

Neha Pattanik

Letter to the People 1 Topic 1: Selecting a New Editor in Chief Background

It is now present day, and after decades as Editor in Chief of Vogue, Anna

Wintour has decided to step down. She has widely been considered the face of the brand, known for her signature blunt bob and sunglasses, and her reputation in the workplace grew so strong as to inspire a movie after her, the Devil Wears

Prada, in which Academy Award Winner played the magazine editor based after Wintour. Wintour is seen often among the fashion elite, attending fashion shows across the world, and helping to design the in each year. As delegates, you have been gathered as a board to help choose her replacement, which will influence where the magazine goes next.

Anna Wintour came under fire in mid 2020 for the ways in which Vogue has upheld racism, discirimination, and classism. Experience, knowledge of the fashion industry, and creating a more equitable workplace must all be considered when choosing her successor, along with profit, as the landscape of the fashion industry is changing and Vogue has seen a drop of sales in recent years.

While normally Conde Nast would be responsible for choosing the successor for the Editor in Chief Position, today’s committee has been assembled because we believe that a new system must be necessary to lead Vogue into a new era.

The Editor in Chief must be meet the following criteria:

-Must be approved by a 2/3 vote

Selecting a New Editor in Chief 2 - Have a clear vision for the future of Vogue Magazine including but not limited to:

1) A way to improve and expand digital content creation for the publication

2) The Met Gala planning and development

When deciding on such an impactful matter there are obviously numerous factors that need to be taken into consideration so as to ensure the continual success of the as a whole. A CEO must not only function as a strong

figurehead to the public so as to appeal to the mass audiences that fuel the success of the magazine, but also encompass qualities that could potentially serve to fuel the growth of the company. The appointment of a new CEO

(depending on the decision) could potentially function to help Vogue reach new audiences, form new connections with designer and public figures, incorporate new artistry, or on the flip side serve for the appointment of an individual with a business-centric mindset as opposed to an artistic one.

The appointment of a new CEO could also potentially serve to as means to affect the distribution of ownership of vogue as a company. Depending on the committees decision, a new CEO could go as far as leading to the move of Vogue into the public sphere, in terms of trading. Regardless, this decision could alter the entire direction of Vogue as a whole so it is not to be taken lightly.

Selecting a New Editor in Chief 3 Questions to Consider 1. What degree of magazine knowledge is necessary to be Editor in Chief and who here has the established necessary level of qualifications?

2. How will we proceed with the Met Gala and who will lead it?

3. Who should replace as Editor in Chief of Vogue and why?

4. How will public perception play a role in the descision? How will such an announcement be made to the public?

Questions to Consider 4 Topic 2: Adapting to the New Digital Age Background

Vogue was founded on December 17, 1892 by Arther Baldwin Turnure in

New York City as a weekly newspaper for the city’s elite. It’s growth was initially slow, as Turnure focused on selling primarily to the upper class of the city, especially male readership, and covered fashion, sports, and social affairs.

Its early cover features a sketch of two women reading while loading in fine gowns in front of a floral wallpaper, with the newspaper’s name etched on an unfolding scroll, a design which emanated its desire to represent the upper echelon of society. The magazine began with a small printing amongst the city.1

In 1905 the magazine was bought by Cond´eMontrose Nast, who shifted the focus of the magazine to women and turned it into a bi-weekly magazine. Nast increased the price of the magazine, publishing more copies and seeing a vast increase in profit. However, Nast continued to focus mostly on the upper class when considering his audience, reflected in the magazine’s covering of wealthy weddings. The Conde Nast company still owns Vogue today, as well as several other prominent magazines, such as , GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, and .

Vogue had been delivered internationally, but the first World War blocked

New York City’s Vogue from delivering copies back to Europe. Because of this, launched in 1916 and after four successful years, French

Vogue was also launched.2 Overall, there are 28 branches of Vogue published

1“Vogue - History.” Vogue - History — Condenast.ru. Accessed July 15, 2020. https://www.condenast.ru/en/portfolio/magazines/vogue/history/. 2“Vogue - History.” Vogue - History — Condenast.ru. Accessed July 15, 2020.

Adapting to the New Digital Age 5 worldwide. Vogue continued to revolutionize publication, putting a colored photograph on the magazine in 1932, which at the time had rarely been done before.

Vogue’s powerful years are considered to be the 1950s, when Jessica Daves was at the helm of magazine leadership. She is credited with boosting the written content of the American Vogue publication, taking the magazine from fashion content and adding in more robust and literature pieces. Diana

Vreeland became the Editor in Chief of the Magazine in the early 1960s. Vree- land was known for taking the magazine’s focus more to the youth of the city, focusing on contemporary fashion and including editorial features that openly discussed sexuality. Vogue also began to be known as a place where models could become famous, making household names out of Suzy Parker, Lauren

Hutton, , and others.

Vogue switched to become a monthly publication in 1973, when the new

Editor in Chief came to lead. Mirabella’s goal was to make the magazine appeal to free, “liberated” women, and wanted to create content that would reflect the ability of clothes that could change lives. Under her, the magazine included more features, coverage, and serious health pieces.

Ultimately, Mirabella was fired in the 1980s when her stylistic ideas became less popular nationwide.

Vogue faced a crisis in the early 1980s, as it began to lose sales in Amer- ica to the new magazine Elle. In 1988, Anna Wintour became Chief Editor of

Vogue, tasked with again increasing the magazine’s relevance on the market. https://www.condenast.ru/en/portfolio/magazines/vogue/history/.

Adapting to the New Digital Age 6 Ultimately, she succeeded. Under her leadership, Vogue became a Nr1 Fash- ion Magazine, not only reflecting fashion trends but shaping them worldwide.3

Wintour got involved with fashion by working retail, but today is considered to be one of the leading Americans in the industry, with a networth of over 35 million.

In 1995, Vogue became one of the first magazine on the frontier of the digital era of fashion when they launched as an online presence under the domain ‘www.vogue.co.uk/’.4 This change would be a beneficial one, as print magazines came under economic pressure in the early 2000s. Looking to the future Jonathan Newhouse, Chairman of the Board of Directors has said that “Augmented reality will play a bigger role, [and] artificial intelligence will play a bigger role.”5 While in the past, Vogue has led the way in embracing new technologies in , from having the first color photograph cover, to launching its own website, the internet brings forth a new set of challenges which you must consider as a committee.

Although posing a threat to traditional media consumption of physical tra- ditional magazine structure, digital platforms also pose as possibility for new development and pushing the boundaries of fashion and journalism. This is encompassed in the incorporation of moving digital images, audio interviews, etc. Vogue has definitely taken advantage of these abilities, possibly best show- cased by its popularity as a YouTube channel launching viral trends such as the posting of celebrity makeup and beauty routines as well as the infamous ”73

3“Vogue - History.” Vogue - History — Condenast.ru. Accessed July 15, 2020. https://www.condenast.ru/en/portfolio/magazines/vogue/history/. 4“History of Cond´eNast.” of Cond´eNast — Condenast.ru, 2020. https://www.condenast.ru/en/about/history/. 5“History And Heritage.” Cond´eNast, 2020. https://www.condenast.com/history-and-heritage.

Adapting to the New Digital Age 7 Questions with: ” which have surmounted hundreds of millions of views. This has allowed Vogue to continue to keep pace with competitors who have moved in a similar direction such as GQ.

Adapting to the New Digital Age 8 Questions to Consider 1. What changes have resulted from the move towards a more digital platform?

How should physical practices change as a result?

2. What new segments, trends, videos, etc. should vogue incorporate into its digital platform?

3. How can we ensure virality to maintain with our competitors?

4. What is the proper ratio to balance physical and digital platforms?

5. What platforms should vogue move into? Are there platforms we should steer clear of to maintain an image of luxury?

Questions to Consider 9 Bibliography

Elisabetta Merlo, Mario Perugini. (2020) Making Italian fashion global:

Brand building and management at Gruppo Finanziario Tessile

(1950s–1990s). Business History 62:1, pages 42-69.

“History And Heritage.” Cond´eNast, 2020.

https://www.condenast.com/history-and-heritage

“History of Cond´eNast.” of Cond´eNast — Condenast.ru, 2020.

https://www.condenast.ru/en/about/history/.

Ilaria Coser. (2019) Alison Settle, Editor of British Vogue (1926–1935):

Habitus and the Acquisition of Cultural, Social, and Symbolic

Capital in the Private Diaries of Alison Settle. Fashion Theory 23:1,

pages 85-108.

“Vogue - History.” Vogue - History — Condenast.ru. Accessed July 15, 2020.

https://www.condenast.ru/en/portfolio/magazines/vogue/history/.

Bibliography 10