Vogue Employees Believe Anna Wintour Should Quit After Creating Racist Work Environment

For years, landing a job at Vogue has been considered a golden opportunity for anyone hoping to have a career in fashion. However, for Black employees who worked under Anna Wintour, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, their jobs have been anything but a dream come true.

On Saturday, The New York Times published the accounts of several employees who stated that their experiences at Condé Nast, which has been nicknamed “Condé Nasty,” has made them believe Wintour should no longer be in charge of Vogue and give up her role as the company’s editorial leader.

One Black employee told the publication that the fashion industry has a reputation of being cutthroat and Vogue has enforced the theme while creating a racist environment.

“It’s hard. This is the way it’s supposed to be. But at Vogue, when we’d evaluate a shoot or a look, we’d say ‘That’s Vogue,’ or, ‘That’s not Vogue,’ and what that really meant was ‘thin, rich and white,’” an employee revealed.

“How do you work in that environment?”

Under Wintour, who became Vogue’s editor-in-chief in 1988, the company has typically hired employees that are white and thin, educated at elite school, and come from wealthy families.

Employees at Vogue criticized Wintour for creating a work environment that sought to sideline and tokenize women of color, particularly Black women.

The article noted that Vogue often used the corporate practice known as fronting in which junior employees would be called on to sit in on discussions with advertisers and participate in forums.

In response to the NYT article, the folks on Twitter criticized Wintour’s failure to diversify Vogue and suggested she was never qualified for the position.

"And this is how things stay bad, it's rarely big things, it's little things. So many little things. Hiring a black editor doesn't change the damage that's caused by assistant positions paying so little. Not that Anna Wintour cares," one reader wrote.

Another person added, “Idk why we seem surprised any time a racist comment from Anna Wintour shows its face. We already knew this.”

Meanwhile, one person admitted they have been waiting for the day that Wintour would be called out on her racist behavior. "At least twice a month I am texting someone a vogue shoot with the caption 'Anna Wintour will pay for her crimes' — the time is now,” the individual wrote.

Over the summer, Wintour sent out an email taking responsibility for failing to help Black employees evolve and promote them into positions of power.

“I strongly believe that the most important thing any of us can do in our work is to provide opportunities for those who may not have had access to them,” Wintour stated in the email.

“Undoubtedly, I have made mistakes along the way, and if any mistakes were made at Vogue under my watch, they are mine to own and remedy, and I am committed to doing the work.”

However, Vogue employees of color believe it is a little too late for Wintour to rectify the damage that she has created.