Chloe Malle is stepping into the most-watched job in fashion media, becoming the top editor of American Vogue with the title head of editorial content. The move ends months of speculation about Anna Wintour’s U.S. successor and signals a strategic shift toward a digital-first, platform-spanning Vogue. ReutersThe Washington Post

The Significance of the Appointment — Chloe Malle

At 39, Chloe Malle brings more than a decade of inside-Vogue experience, a reputation for collaborative leadership, and a résumé that straddles print, digital, and audio. Her elevation consolidates the U.S. magazine’s daily editorial voice under a single, accountable leader while keeping Vogue’s global brand architecture in place. American Vogue gets an empowered steward for its domestic coverage; the global strategy remains anchored by Wintour’s corporate role at Condé Nast. The Washington Post

Critically, the industry has phased out the old “editor-in-chief” title in favor of “head of editorial content,” a label that better matches how modern mastheads work: cross-platform teams, audience development, commerce, events, and partnerships. In practice, readers will still treat Chloe Malle as the magazine’s top editor, but the change acknowledges that the job is bigger than monthly print cycles. Business Insider

A quick snapshot of what’s changed

• Title: head of editorial content (American Vogue), replacing the legacy editor-in-chief role. ReutersBusiness Insider

• Leadership context: Anna Wintour steps back from the U.S. top-editor duties while continuing as Condé Nast’s chief content officer and Vogue’s global editorial director. The Washington Post

• Mandate: unify print, web, social, video, audio, and live events under a coherent editorial vision for the U.S. audience. Vogue

Chloe Malle’s Path — Chloe Malle

Chloe Malle has been a Vogue insider for years, most recently as editor of Vogue.com and co-host of the podcast The Run-Through with Vogue, roles that demanded sharp news instincts and fluency in digital storytelling. Her public profile also comes with a familiar byline: she is the daughter of actress Candice Bergen and the late director Louis Malle, a biographical note widely cited in coverage but ultimately secondary to her track record building Vogue’s everyday voice online. The Washington PostReutersABC News

What her experience suggests

• Live, always-on editorial judgment. Vogue.com’s cadence—runway recaps, insider Q&As, red-carpet explainers—trains editors to make precise calls at speed. Expect faster, clearer guidance for breaking fashion and culture stories. The Washington Post

• Platform range. From homepage programming to podcasting, Chloe Malle has operated where audience growth and loyalty are won today: on phones and feeds. That skill set will shape how features, service journalism, and profiles are packaged. Vogue

• Bridge-builder temperament. Reporting around the appointment highlights Malle’s collaborative style—useful for aligning stylists, writers, photographers, video, and social into one plan per story. The Guardian

What Changes at American Vogue Could Look Like — Chloe Malle

The fashion media market is more crowded than ever, and Vogue’s advantage is brand gravity: access, archives, and the authority to set a tone. Chloe Malle inherits that equity—and the headwinds of a shrinking print marketplace and a fragmented attention economy.

Print, reimagined

Rather than chasing page counts of a bygone era, the smarter path is to make print collectible: fewer issues, higher production value, deeper reporting, and themed packages that feel essential. Expect Chloe Malle to treat each print issue as a franchise moment with deliberate tie-ins across video, audio, and live coverage—an approach aligned with how Vogue’s leadership now defines success. The Washington Post

A digital-first core

Digital is no longer the “extension”; it is the core product. Under Chloe Malle, look for tighter home-page curation; more service journalism (how to buy, how to style, how to care); stronger culture and beauty verticals; and evergreen explainers that climb search rankings while serving readers. Vogue flagged this integrated, digital-forward mandate in its own announcement of Malle’s role. Vogue

Audio, video, and live

The Run-Through built a habit with listeners by demystifying fashion’s calendar—previews, post-mortems, and designer conversations. Translating that cadence to YouTube, Reels, and live events (Vogue World, museum talks, campus tours) is how Chloe Malle can deepen audience loyalty and create sponsor-ready moments without diluting editorial standards. Vogue

Editorial Priorities to Watch — Chloe Malle

1) Big-tent fashion with sharper curation

“Big tent” doesn’t mean everything in; it means the right mix. Expect runway coverage that explains why a collection matters; designer profiles that trace influence across seasons; and shopping stories that are clear about affiliate links and value to the reader. Chloe Malle’s Vogue.com background suggests a bias toward clarity and usefulness.

2) Culture, celebrity, and accountability

The most read Vogue stories often sit at culture’s center—film, music, sports, politics adjacent—and require balancing access with distance. Under Chloe Malle, accountability can live alongside access: clear sourcing, explicit labeling of sponsored content, and guardrails to keep celebrity coverage journalistically grounded.

3) Diversity, equity, and global breadth

Vogue’s U.S. edition can’t ignore that talent pools are global: Lagos to Mumbai to Seoul. Chloe Malle has an opportunity to make the masthead’s coverage map look like the real fashion economy, not just its Euro-American capitals. That means more consistent commissioning beyond the usual runway circuit and scouting new photographers, stylists, and writers who bring fresh points of view.

4) Sustainability with specificity

Readers want fewer generic “eco-lines” and more reporting on supply chains, innovations in materials, rentals and resale, and the policy levers shaping fashion’s footprint. Expect Chloe Malle to back pieces that name the trade-offs and the progress rather than offering platitudes.

The Wintour Factor — Chloe Malle

Every conversation about Vogue leadership inevitably circles back to Anna Wintour. The new structure keeps Wintour as Condé Nast chief content officer and global editorial director, meaning strategic oversight and brand stewardship remain centralized even as day-to-day U.S. editorial decisions roll up to Chloe Malle. Practically, that should speed approvals while keeping the global lens intact—a necessary balance as Vogue juggles U.S. relevance with worldwide consistency. The Washington Post

Risks and Realities — Chloe Malle

Change carries risk. The U.S. audience is saturated with fashion and culture content from influencers, niche newsletters, and nimble upstarts. Advertisers prize brand safety and scale but increasingly demand measurable performance. The task for Chloe Malle is to assert Vogue’s authority without sounding aloof, to convert prestige into habit, and to publish stories that are as scannable on mobile as they are evergreen in search.

Equally real: the newsroom economics. Budgets are tight industry-wide; experimentation must live within constraints. That’s where coordination—print shoots that double as online packages and video features, interviews that feed both the site and the podcast—will matter. With Chloe Malle, the bet is on orchestration more than reinvention.

What Success Looks Like in Year One — Chloe Malle

• A coherent editorial calendar that ties print themes to monthly digital tent-poles.

• Speedy, thoughtful coverage of the fashion calendar (from New York to Paris) that reads with authority on first pass and ages well in search.

• A clearer service layer: how to build a wardrobe, smart beauty routines, care and repair, and sustainability choices that meet readers where they are.

• A visible pipeline of new contributors—photographers, stylists, and writers—appearing across platforms.

• Transparent standards pages explaining sourcing, affiliate links, corrections, and diversity commitments.

If Chloe Malle hits those marks, the title head of editorial content will read—accurately—as editor-in-chief in everything but name. Business Insider

Bottom Line

Vogue has chosen a digital native with deep institutional knowledge at precisely the moment the brand needs synthesis more than spectacle. Chloe Malle inherits a gleaming nameplate and a complex brief: protect the Vogue aura, modernize the daily product, and widen the tent without losing the plot. Few roles in media come with this much scrutiny—and this much upside.

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Further Reading

• Reuters — American Vogue names Chloe Malle as its new head of editorial content. Reuters

• Washington Post — Anna Wintour’s successor named at Vogue; Malle to lead U.S. editorial content. The Washington Post

• Vogue (official) — “Chloe Malle announced as Vogue U.S.’s new head of editorial content.” Vogue

• ABC News — Background on Malle and confirmation of the appointment. ABC News

• The Guardian — “Vogue names Chloe Malle as new head of U.S. edition.” The Guardian

• Business Insider — How the new title replaces the legacy editor-in-chief role. Business Insider

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