{"id":521901,"date":"2026-04-09T18:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/521901\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T18:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:26:08","slug":"anna-wintours-vogue-cover-is-more-than-a-cameo-its-a-power-play-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/521901\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Wintour\u2019s Vogue cover is more than a cameo \u2013 it\u2019s a power play | Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the world of magazines, when someone announces they\u2019re leaving a job, their colleagues will traditionally present them with their own personalised mock-up of the magazine\u2019s front cover. Perhaps their face is superimposed on the body of a previous celebrity cover star. There are probably some witty cover lines referencing memorable office moments or their favourite snacks. It\u2019s a rite of passage \u2013 and this week, Anna Wintour was bestowed with her very own cover. But instead of a jokey imitation bidding her adieu<\/a>, it was the real, glossy deal, coming to a newsstand near you on 28 April.<\/p>\n

In a somewhat surprising effort to promote the forthcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2, Vogue\u2019s May issue sees Wintour share the cover with Meryl Streep, whose steely Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of the fictional title Runway, is said to have been inspired by Wintour. \u201cSeeing Double. When Miranda met Anna\u201d reads the cover line. While Wintour has fronted various industry titles, including Interview in 1993<\/a> and Ad Week in 2017<\/a>, it\u2019s the first time an editor has placed themselves as the subject. In another fun twist, both Wintour and Streep are wearing Prada.<\/p>\n

First teased via Vogue\u2019s Instagram<\/a> on Tuesday, within seconds the image had gone viral, amassing, at the time of writing, more than 1.2m likes. \u201cMaaj\u201d commented the model Gigi Hadid. \u201cJust so good\u201d added the actor Mindy Kaling, while the 10k-plus other comments from the general public span everything from \u201cActually groundbreaking\u201d, in reference to Priestly\u2019s immortal florals line from the original film, to \u201cGetting this framed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rather than just plugging the highly anticipated sequel, though, Wintour\u2019s newsstand appearance serves as something more significant (of course it does, this is Wintour we\u2019re talking about): it\u2019s her own personal power move, and a klaxon for the next phase of Anna Wintour<\/a>. The cover comes just 10 months after she announced she was \u201cstepping back\u201d as editor-in-chief of Vogue and six months after she promoted Chloe Malle to head of editorial content. What better way to affirm that she is still very much in control of the magazine she has helmed for close to four decades than by appearing on its cover?<\/p>\n

When Wintour first revealed she was relinquishing her editor-in-chief title, many misconstrued it as a step down. Her cover appearance now hammers home that it was no such thing. Her current role as chief content officer for Cond\u00e9 Nast and global editorial director for the magazine allows her to retain the ultimate authority while leaving the day-to-day running to Malle.<\/p>\n

Mark Borkowski, a press consultant and author, describes Wintour\u2019s appearance on the cover as \u201ca hell of a smart move\u201d. \u201cThis is very much about Wintour not letting go of her power,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of people in these types of jobs recognise they are sitting in a chair that has power. Wintour doesn\u2019t believe that. She believes she is the power. She\u2019s not a personality that\u2019s going to fade away into the background.\u201d<\/p>\n

The whole picture \u2026 editor meets alter ego as Wintour joins Streep for Vogue\u2019s May issue. Photograph: Annie Leibovitz\/Vogue<\/p>\n

Even the ideation of the cover hints at the authority Wintour still wields. Writing in her editor\u2019s letter, Malle outlines how it came about. She was in the backseat of Wintour\u2019s personal town car (a nice power play by Wintour, and reminiscent of the first film) running ideas for the next batch of covers past her (a tacit hint that all the big decisions still need to be approved by Wintour) when Malle first suggested the idea. Wintour initially shot it down, saying<\/a>: \u201cThat\u2019s very flattering, Chloe, but it\u2019s not really my style.\u201d It then, so the story goes, fell to Streep to persuade her. Wintour called the Hollywood star directly (another not-so-subtle power move).<\/p>\n

Wintour was dismissive of the first film when it came out in 2006. Although she did attend the premiere \u2013 wearing Prada, no less \u2013 she was cagey about her reaction. In 2024, at the opening of the musical version in London, she told the BBC<\/a> that it was \u201cfor the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, more recently she has seemed happier to engage, suggesting that Priestly<\/a> is very much \u201ca caricature\u201d and a highly enjoyable and very fun one at that. The various social media videos that accompany the shoot drive this idea home. Streep stays in character, while Wintour plays herself. We see her fumble her lines<\/a> and get the giggles. She is warm and witty, a sharp contrast to the icy Priestly.<\/p>\n

We first saw her toy with the idea at the Oscars in March<\/a>, where she jokingly referred to Anne Hathaway as \u201cEmily\u201d, a nod to Emily Blunt\u2019s character in the film. Meanwhile, the next read in the Vogue Book Club<\/a> is the novel by Lauren Weisberger that inspired the film. Borkowski suggests these stunts hint that Wintour is beginning to separate herself from brand Vogue. \u201cHer life has been defined by Vogue,\u201d he says. \u201cBack in the day she was recognisable by a very distinctive haircut and a pair of dark glasses. She was a cypher. But now it\u2019s all about the narrative of the personal brand.\u201d She is, he says, \u201cgetting involved in the film because she sees it as something that can establish Anna Wintour, the brand\u201d.<\/p>\n

Amy Odell, the author of Anna: The Biography<\/a>, also suggests it allows Wintour to alter her legacy. In her Back Row newsletter<\/a>, Odell writes: \u201cAnna is a visual editor above all else \u2013 a brilliant one \u2013 who understands that these images and viral moments have the effect of washing the other stuff away.\u201d She compares it to \u201cthe way Hillary Clinton\u2019s 1998 Vogue cover served as a corrective around the time of her husband\u2019s scandal. Or the way Kim Kardashian and Kanye West\u2019s cover in 2014 made audiences forget about Kim\u2019s tackiness, anointing her \u2013 to great personal profit \u2013 as a fashion person.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Wintour is keen to separate church and state, there are still some overlaps between the film and her reality. \u201cTruth is, there is no one who can do what I do,\u201d quips Priestly in the first film. Twenty years later, with everyone talking about her Vogue<\/a> cover rather than the final trailer that came out the same day, perhaps the same could still be said of Wintour.<\/p>\n

To read the complete version of this newsletter \u2013 complete with this week\u2019s trending topics in The Measure and your wardrobe dilemmas solved \u2013 subscribe to receive Fashion Statement<\/a> in your inbox every Thursday.<\/p>\n