When Chloe Malle nabbed perhaps the most coveted role in fashion media as the Head of Editorial Content, Vogue US, last year, the industry had a collective sigh of relief that the Condé title would be in the capable hands of one of our own. Over the past year, she’s put her own stamp on the title while maintaining the brand’s legacy—and she’s been killing it. (The Anna and Meryl cover alone was pure genius!) THE DAILY sat down with the charismatic editrix to discuss her first year on the job, how she tackles everyone’s very strong opinions, and what makes a good issue.
I sound like Pollyanna saying this, but it really is true for me, the people that I work with are the thing I love most about Vogue. I’ve been here for a long time, so some people that I work with now I’ve worked with for 15 years and are some of the people closest to me. I’m so excited to be in meetings during the day and problem-solving with our team and thinking about how we’re going to cover the Chanel barefoot sandals and how we’re going to make this year’s Fashion Month coverage feel different and exciting and something people want to engage with. Laughing and problemsolving have always, and continue to be, what I love most about what I’m doing.
Something that remains important to me and maybe is surprising to other people is I think of Vogue as a news organization; Vogue should be making and breaking news. That tends to take the form of fashion scoops from Vogue Runway and Vogue Business. Our weddings have been some of our biggest “news moments” because we are providing the first images of certain celebrities and people of note’s weddings and dresses. Those stories perform so well. It’s exciting to see how much traction that vertical has. It’s what Vogue should be doing best—an authority in the space that’s not purely fashion news, but about how people live fashionably and with style. That should be across all different areas.
It was difficult. Anna [Wintour] was very strict about the secrecy involved. My family was up in Connecticut at the time, and I was going back and forth to the city. My dog, Lloyd, was my first confidant! I purposely didn’t tell my mother [Candice Bergen] because I was afraid she would forget and tell one of her friends because she was excited about it. There was a lot of speculation. It was difficult with colleagues and friends who I was working with, but it wasn’t that long. It was about a week.
It was exciting to start this role at the exact moment that 15 creative directors were starting at fashion houses. Watching them was quite instructive and it was inspiring to see the way that young new creative directors were reinterpreting these historic maisons. Seeing someone like Matthieu Blazy, who approaches Chanel with such joy and gratitude and whimsy. Every time you meet with him about one of his collections, you feel like he’s a kid in a candy store. He is so reverent and informed by Coco Chanel and also Karl Lagerfeld and also so his own person. His collections feel so distinct and yet so Chanel. For me, I have always loved and read Vogue. I’ve worked here for most of my career. It wasn’t about ripping up the publication and starting new. It was very much an evolution and not a revolution. Certainly there was a list of stylists and photographers and writers who I wanted to be working with and bring into the fold, but I also love a lot of the people we have as contributors and have worked with for a long time. Our September cover paire…