Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

After Graydon, Who?

Graydon Carter’s exit means the Vanity Fair editorship is up for grabs.

Image
Graydon Carter in his office at Vanity Fair at 1 World Trade Center.Credit...Sasha Maslov for The New York Times

So Graydon is gone. Now what?

The coming departure of Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair’s editor for 25 years, has set off a race to inherit his throne. Rarely does such a coveted editorship come up for grabs, even in an industry undergoing an unusual amount of churn. As executives at Condé Nast consider their options, editors and people in the magazine world say the winning candidate has to check off a few boxes:

1. Be comfortable in Vanity Fair’s swirling spheres of celebrity, politics, journalism and finance. Mr. Carter hosted parties and owned trendy restaurants. Mingling, and finessing a seating chart, are key.

2. Be willing to navigate the tumult at Condé Nast, which in the past year has shaken up top leadership and reorganized its production structure as it weathers an industry-wide financial downturn.

3. Embracing the digital future is a must. So is the ability to generate new revenue streams to offset continued declines in print advertising and circulation.

4. Impress Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor who now does double duty as Condé Nast’s artistic director. Ms. Wintour will likely want an ally at Vanity Fair, one of the company’s biggest titles, as she expands her power and influence.

5. Star quality counts. With the departure of Glamour’s Cindi Leive, Condé Nast has lost two major editors in the span of a week. An unknown quantity at Vanity Fair could fuel a perception that the company is losing its luster.

Here is a look at several top contenders, based on their experience, interviews with people in the industry and chatter in the Manhattan publishing world.

Image
Credit...Monica Almeida/The New York Times

She turned US Weekly into a behemoth, then revived The Hollywood Reporter from a dusty trade into a glossy weekly with influence on both coasts and big online traffic. She is a woman of color with an enviable track record in a lily-white field of candidates. Vanity Fair has long been seen as a next step for her — and she was spotted in the hallways of Condé Nast’s headquarters this week. But some at Condé Nast question her journalism chops. Ms. Min would also have to uproot her family from Los Angeles, where she has a real shot at leading a television network, a business with a much brighter future than magazines.

Image
Credit...Andrew White for The New York Times

Mr. Fielden, the editor of Esquire (part of Hearst, a Condé Nast rival), told The Times in 2016, “I’m a person who likes clothes, but I’m also a guy who worked at The New Yorker for 10 years. I don’t think you have to be one guy or the other.” That high/low sensibility matches the Vanity Fair vibe. Of arguably more importance are Mr. Fielden’s ties to Ms. Wintour, who chose him as the founding editor of Men’s Vogue in 2005; when that title folded, he took over Town & Country, whose high-society coverage has echoes at V.F. Natty and comfortable around celebrities, Mr. Fielden can lean on his Wintour connection as a possible trump card.

Image
Credit...Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

The maverick genius of the 1980s, now the gray eminence of the 2010s, Mr. Moss is perhaps the most successful editor of his generation. After founding the groundbreaking weekly 7 Days, he oversaw The New York Times Styles section and ran the Sunday Magazine before taking his current perch at New York, where he picks up national magazine awards like pennies on the sidewalk. At 60, he is closer to retirement age than Condé Nast executives may prefer. And Mr. Moss is a social caterpillar who avoids the gala circuit, a drawback for Vanity Fair’s extroverted culture. But it would be hard to count out his visual creativity and stable of talented (and devoted) journalists. Whether he wants to leave his well-compensated role at New York is another question.

Image
Credit...Michelle Siu for The New York Times

GQ, a Condé Nast property, has thrived thanks to its longtime editor, Jim Nelson, who has run the magazine since 2003. Known for throwing lavish retreats catered by hip mixologists, Mr. Nelson has the loyalty of his staff. But in an industry stocked with celebrity editors, he remains curiously obscure, keeping a lower profile than peers like Mr. Carter, Ms. Wintour, and David Remnick of The New Yorker. Condé Nast leadership trusts him, but can Mr. Nelson hold court poolside in Cannes and air-kiss Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars? It’s harder than it looks.


Image
Credit...Joshua Bright for The New York Times

A protégée of Ms. Wintour, she has experience leading a big publication, editing T Magazine at The New York Times for two years before returning to Vogue as creative digital director. Installing Ms. Singer at Vanity Fair would give Ms. Wintour a loyalist at one of Condé Nast’s biggest titles.

Image
Credit...Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times

The former editor of Cosmopolitan, Ms. Coles has consolidated power at Hearst Magazines, where she is now chief content officer. Her board seat on Snapchat makes for a neat digital bona fide. But she may be more interested in building an empire, Anna Wintour-style, at Hearst, rather than leave to run a single title.

Image
Credit...Bryan Thomas for The New York Times

A former digital guru at Time Inc., Mr. Tyrangiel turned Bloomberg Businessweek into an award-winning must-read. Now he runs Vice’s millennial-focused news series on HBO. But the show has struggled to gain traction, and Mr. Tyrangiel may seek greener pastures elsewhere. He has relationships in Hollywood and on Wall Street; advertisers like him, too. But Condé Nast is a close-knit company, and he would need to forge relationships fast.

Image
Credit...Rich Polk/Getty Images

The editor of Marie Claire, owned by Hearst, Ms. Fulenwider spent 10 years at Vanity Fair under Mr. Carter’s tutelage before a stint as top editor at another Condé Nast title, Brides. She has also worked alongside Ms. Coles at Hearst. Her leadership experience and familiarity with the Condé universe are assets.

Michael M. Grynbaum is a media correspondent covering the intersection of business, culture and politics.

  More about Michael M. Grynbaum

Sydney Ember is a business reporter, covering print and digital media. She joined The Times in 2014, writing DealBook's morning newsletter. On the media desk, she covered advertising before switching to her current beat.

  More about Sydney Ember

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: Who Will Inherit the Throne at Vanity Fair?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT