The Glossy Years: Magazines, Museums and Selective Memoirs - Softcover

Within a week of my appointment as Managing Director, the
Editor of Vogue, Liz Tilberis, resigned to take a job in New York
as Editor of Harper’s Bazaar, working for Hearst. Whether it
was my confirmation as her new boss, or the lure of the bumper
American pay packet which decided her, was never spelt out,
but it was certainly helpful. We spent the days following her
departure ensuring that all the Vogue photographers remained
onside, and wouldn’t defect with Liz to Bazaar, and this largely
worked. Condé Nast’s not- so- secret USP was the ability to
have first dibs on photographers, models and stylists, and this
privilege was fiercely enforced.
You were either a Vogue photographer or you were not a
Vogue photographer, you couldn’t hawk your talent from title
to title. Similarly, if you wanted to be a Vogue cover model,
there was no point queering your pitch by fronting Elle, Bazaar
or Cosmopolitan. Photographer’s agents and model agencies had
always understood this nuance, which very nearly but didn’t
quite qualify as restraint of trade. Nowhere was it written
down, it was simply understood. An Editor murmured, ‘Obviously
it’s entirely your choice where you want to work. It’s a
free world and up to you. It would just be very sad for Vogue,
never being able to work with you again. Or any of the other
international Vogues. But don’t let me try and influence you. It’s
your call.’
Alexandra Shulman was doing a great job on GQ, and it was
tempting to switch her to Vogue. She still looked slightly too
hippy- chick to be a Central Casting shoo- in for Vogue Editor in-
Chief, but she was clever and understood the magazine. An
interesting phenomenon about Vogue is that you receive fewer
external applicants for Editor than for other titles. So revered is
it, it deters most chancers from throwing their hats into the
ring; they self- edit themselves from the running. This is the
exact opposite of, say, Tatler or House & Garden where you might
get ninety or more applicants for Editor. Anyone who has ever
been to a party or bought a cushion or made a pair of curtains,
sees themselves as a credible candidate.
Seeking an Editor for Tatler in the late nineties, I received an
application from the ex- wife of a world- famous banker. She
wrote, ‘I have attended many of Europe’s grandest parties and
balls, and am experienced at dealing with staff. We had more
than forty staff in our houses around the world.'