Does Vogue still matter?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At the height of its influence, American Vogue set the standard for taste and fashion. Now, after nearly 40 years at its helm, Editor in Chief Anna Wintour is stepping down.
This announcement coincides with a fast-changing media landscape in which glossy magazines and top editors may no longer be the go-to source for fashion trends and inspiration.
Today on “Post Reports” fashion critic Rachel Tashjian chats with Colby Itkowitz about Wintour’s influence and whether fashion tastemakers still work at traditional magazines.
Today’s show was produced by Thomas Lu. It was edited by Maggie Penman and mixed by Rennie Svirnovskiy, with help from Sean Carter.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So if we're around the same age, you might remember this iconic scene from the Devil |
| 0:06.9 | Wars Prada. |
| 0:07.5 | Stuff? |
| 0:08.5 | Oh, okay. |
| 0:09.6 | Oh, okay. |
| 0:12.6 | I see. |
| 0:13.6 | You think this has nothing to do with you. |
| 0:15.8 | Merrill Streep is playing Miranda Priestley, a character seemingly modeled after editor Anna Wintar, at a fashion magazine |
| 0:22.1 | much like Vogue. |
| 0:23.3 | What you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not |
| 0:28.5 | lapis, it's actually cerulean. |
| 0:31.3 | She is describing the importance of fashion to Anne Hathaway's character, Andy, a recent |
| 0:35.9 | college graduate who thinks it's frivolous |
| 0:37.8 | and beneath her. |
| 0:39.4 | But, as Miranda explains, it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that |
| 0:44.4 | exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing a sweater that was |
| 0:49.1 | selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff. |
| 0:59.0 | Music by the people in this room from a pile of stuff. In 2006, when this movie came out, Vogue was at the height of its influence. |
| 1:03.8 | But last month, Anna Wintour announced she was stepping aside as the American Vogue top editor |
| 1:08.4 | after nearly four decades in the role. |
| 1:11.0 | And our fashion critic, Rachel Tashin says |
| 1:13.3 | this move is coinciding with the end of an era. |
... |
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