The position of editor of Vogue is a sacred position, even if the youngest editor at British Vogue instead goes by the somewhat diluted moniker of "head of editorial content." So important, in fact, that trends and style eras are often defined by the sweeping statement of a new name at the helm on their first issue.
Chioma Nnadi's debut Vogue, released on Thursday, features singer FKA Twigs posing on top of a London taxi, wearing a Loewe dress that recently went viral after its square front panel was compared to a Post-it note. Nnadi's choice to place this image on the cover will only increase the design's meme status.
"As an editor you want every cover to be brilliant," says Justine Picardie, former editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar and former Vogue features director. "The cover really matters on the newsstand. You are in the spotlight at large monthly magazines, but now you are judged just as often on social media, and that is very difficult."
Picardie recalls how with her first issue of Harper's Bazaar, released in December 2012 and featuring Sienna Miller, she wanted to "do something fresh and new while subtly revisiting the great Bazaar images of the past" .
Nnadi has been appointed at a time when Anna Wintour has consolidated power at publisher Condé Nast, where the heads of non-US editions of the magazine now report to her. "This will be signed by Anna Wintour, who has been an advisor and mentor to Chioma," Picardie explains.
Here's how four 'first' Vogues from the past 36 years defined the era they were created for...
Anna Wintour - the high-low look appeared in Vogue in 1988
With her impeccable bob and strict uniform of fitted midi dresses and Manolo Blahnik heels, Anna Wintour may not immediately come across as a figure who probably brought jeans to Vogue, but her editorship at the US edition began with a cover that broke conventions and swept away conventions. ushered in a more playful version of the magazine.
The November 1988 issue featured Israeli model Michaela Bercu wearing a couture black silk Christian Lacroix jacket adorned with a multi-colored jeweled cross. Temptingly, the ultra-precious piece was styled with affordable Guess jeans and Bercu looked perfectly imperfect with a glowing belly, "I got up like this" wavy hair and laugh lines around her eyes.
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"Michaela had been on holiday home to Israel and had gained some weight. Not that it mattered. In fact, it only reinforced the idea of taking the haughty grandeur of couture and playfully throwing it into real life and seeing what happened," Wintour later wrote of the cover. "What none of us expected was for that photo to appear on the cover, least of all the magazine's printers, who called and asked with some dismay, 'Has there been an error?' I couldn't blame them. It was so different from the studied and elegant close-ups that were typical of Vogue covers at the time. This one broke all the rules."
Looking back, the cover heralds the beginning of the effortless, cool '90s chapter that was soon to come.
Alexandra Shulman - the real woman's wife in 1992
When Alexandra Shulman became editor of British Vogue in 1992, her appointment was met with some bemusement. A report in the Guardian asked "who is this woman anyway?", adding that she is "not what is known as a 'fashion person'". The same piece argues that before Shulman got the job, the clothes on the fashion pages were "too crazy or too expensive."
So it seemed like a clear statement of intent when Shulman's debut cover showed a woman in leggings, a shirt and low heels posing by a column in what could almost be mistaken for a very elevated holiday snapshot.
Years later, it was one of the cover lines that seemed to have remained the most resonant detail. In her book Inside Vogue: A Diary of my 100th Year, Shulman recalls how: "A young woman had noticed that the cover of my first issue, April 1992, read: 'Do we still need feminism?' and asked me if I considered myself a feminist."
Edward Enninful - the fashion purist in a time of Brexit, 2017
After 25 years at the helm of Vogue, Shulman resigned in 2017 and Edward Enninful, the London-born son of Ghanaian immigrants, became editor. His version of the magazine grappled with both the weight of fashion history and the realities of post-Brexit Britain.
Model of the moment Adwoa Aboah dazzled on a cover that could have come straight from the Vogue archives of the 70s or 80s, with her turban, dazzling jewelry and striking, shiny makeup. "Edward's first cover was very beautiful, with a very vintage feel of Vogue at its most classic," notes Picardie. "When you become an editor you have to take on the legacy of your publication and with Vogue that goes back to the end of the 19th century."
In addition to Adwoa's image, there was a roll call of various British stars, from Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to Zadie Smith and Salman Rushdie. "This is a country built on tradition, but - like fashion - a country that is forever changing," Enninful wrote in his editor's letter. "The time seemed right to redefine what Vogue can mean today. To open it. That is why I present to you the British Question: a tribute to our country and to a group of people who represent it brilliantly, both at home and on the world stage. Whatever your views on Brexit, there is certainly one thing we can all agree on: we are a talented group."
Chioma Nnadi - the Gen Z sweetener of 2024
British Vogue's new editor, Chioma Nnadi, has been praised for her cool, eclectic style and down-to-earth personality. She's also just returned to her hometown of London after living in New York for twenty years, so the cover line "Fashion's coming home" feels as much like a personal message as it does a wry nod to the football anthem.
"It's a real statement," says Picardie. "She does something different by going outside. I like covers that come out of the studio and it's London by taxi. Your coverage credit [the designer you chose for your subject to be wearing] is very important, so it is remarkable that she chose Loewe, designed by Northern Irish designer JW Anderson."
Of all the recent Vogue debuts, this is the only one with a well-known personality from outside the fashion world. "It is significant that Chioma chose a musician rather than a model," says Picardie. "FKA Twigs is someone with a real story." She also appeals to Gen Z readers who desperately need to attract titles like Vogue, whether they buy a physical copy of the magazine or view the shoot content on TikTok.
As for the cover lines, intended to entice readers to buy the magazine, what follows is a story about parenting when you have an open marriage; "It's interesting to have a nod to parenthood, which will appeal to older readers," says Picardie.
Nnadi describes FKA Twigs as an "artist who represents the ideal of the modern British eccentric: she is a shape-shifter who rejects conformity and finds real pleasure in clothing." In her editor's letter she also says; "While much has changed in the twenty years I have lived in the US, the beautiful, creative, messy energy of London - an energy that cannot be found or replicated anywhere else - remains undiminished."
Against a backdrop where fashion insider gossip is swirling about the globalization of Vogue, Nnadi's first cover couldn't be more rooted in London.
