Vogue Magazine Editor Anna Wintour to be Replaced by Carine Roitfeld?

by Terri Potratz | December 2, 2008 at 11:46 am

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Rumours abound that Vogue Magazine Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour will be replaced by a European counterpart, French Vogue EiC Carine Roitfeld, by the end of the year.

The Waverly Inn was crawling with Condé Nast insiders earlier tonight, some of whom had been waiting as long as 20 years for the appetizer: The hot, delicious rumor that Si Newhouse was meeting in Paris with Carine Roitfeld to work out the final details of the French Vogue editor's move to New York, where she is expected to take over flagship Vogue from Anna Wintour immediately after New Year's. It did not go unnoticed when Condé Nast overlord Newhouse departed early for his annual three-week December vacation in Vienna; it turns out he needed time for his meeting with uptight Wintour's chic Parisian counterpart.

Sounds a bit like the plot line from The Devil Wears Prada, no?

Wintour has been behind the helm at Vogue for over 20 years, and reportedly earns a cool $2 million salary. With the recent failures of Teen Vogue and Men's Vogue, in addition to the cancellation of Fashion Rocks, Wintour may be edged out so that Roitfeld may breathe new life into the popular US magazine.

Last month, Wintour raised suspicion at the National Magazine Awards when she told a reporter who queried about her impending retirement to "just go away." Wintour rarely engages in any dialogue with the media, so the fact that she acknowledged the question with a response is very curious indeed.

UPDATE: December 3, 8:25am PST

By end of day on December 2nd, Conde Nast chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. had this to say regarding the Wintour rumours:

S.I. Newhouse Jr. would like to clarify one thing about the rumors swirling in the fashion world today that Anna Wintour is about to be replaced by French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld: “There’s no truth to it,” the Conde Nast chairman said through a spokeswoman late Tuesday. “This is the silliest rumor I ever heard.”

UPDATE: December 4, 9:35am PST

Carine Roitfeld has also denied the rumour that she will replace Anna Wintour:

After Si Newhouse denied the rumor that French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld would replace Anna Wintour, Carine herself has denied the rumor. “I’m very happy at Vogue France,” she said over the phone from London, where she's overseeing a shoot for the magazine.