A Wintour protegee in the frame for Vogue boss
TIME for the staff at British Vogue to watch a re-run of The Devil Wears Prada? For Dame Anna Wintour, who inspired Meryl Streep’s terrifying magazine boss in the hit Hollywood film, is said to be playing a key role in the appointment of British Vogue’s new editor.
According to insiders at Vogue House in Mayfair, one of Wintour’s protegees could become their new boss.
One name in the frame is Sally Singer, who would be the first American to edit the British fashion bible. She’s the creative digital director of American Vogue, of which Wintour is editor-in-chief.
Singer is a combative figure, not afraid of making fur fly in the catty fashion world.
Last year, she attacked style bloggers as desperate hangers- on ‘who change head-to-toe paid-towear outfits every hour’ during Fashion Week.
She wrote: ‘ Please stop. Find another business. You are heralding the death of style.’
A source tells me: ‘Sally would certainly shake things up. She would also be Anna’s woman in London.’
Wintour’s influence was vividly illustrated this week when Samantha Cameron revealed that she had given Dame Anna a sneak preview of her fashion label’s debut collection.
Dame Anna’s hand was detected in the departure of Alexandra Shulman as editor of British Vogue after 25 years — a quarter of the magazine’s history. The pair were rumoured to have had a long-running rivalry, which was brought to public attention in a BBC2 documentary shown last autumn.
In Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue, they clashed over Wintour’s plans to feature pop star Rihanna on the cover of the U.S. edition.
But just half an hour before her own magazine was printed, Shulman decided to pull her planned cover ( featuring Kate Moss) and put Rihanna on the front instead — thus robbing Wintour of her exclusive. Documentary- maker Richard Macer, who spent nine months filming in the Vogue offices, says he definitely witnessed professional rivalry between the two, claiming: ‘I think Alexandra quite liked the idea of getting one over on Anna.’
If Sally Singer is appointed, it could be a blow to Samantha Cameron’s sister Emily Sheffield, who is deputy editor.
A Vogue spokesman says: ‘We don’t comment on speculation.’