Madeline Hess
Staff Writer
On Nov. 3, mass media company Conde Nast and Vogue Business both released statements announcing the merging of Teen Vogue into Vogue.com. In doing so, Teen Vogue has laid off 70% of their staff, including their Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma.
Teen Vogue launched in 2003 as a spinoff of Vogue targeted towards teens, covering topics such as fashion, celebrities, and beauty. While print editions were discontinued in 2017, the magazine remained an online publication. In recent years, they have also written about subjects relating to political activism and culture.
Vogue Business stated that the merge is “part of a broader push to expand the Vogue ecosystem”, and that “The title will remain a distinct editorial property, with its own identity and mission; sitting under the Vogue umbrella will provide a more unified reader experience across titles.”
Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma will be replaced with Chloe Malle, head of editorial content for Vogue U.S. Malle obtained this role on Sept. 1 after previously holding titles such as social editor, contributing editor, and Editor of Vogue.com.
In addition to Sharma, employees of various titles have been laid off from Teen Vogue, including the politics editor. According to a statement from Conde United, a labor union for employees working for Conde Nast publications, there are no writers or editors at the magazine solely dedicated to politics. In addition to this, the majority of employees of color and trans employees were laid off as well. “At our summit this past September, I was asked how it felt to be 1 of 2 Black women left at Teen Vogue and what that meant for representation during this current climate,” said former Teen Vogue Editor Aiyana Ishmael in a LinkedIn post. “Now, there are no Black women at Teen Vogue and that feels incredibly painful to think about.”
New York City based think tank Roosevelt Institute issued a statement the same day as Conde Nast’s, detailing their disagreement towards the decision made for the magazine.
“The decision by Condé Nast today to collapse this publication into Vogue and eliminate the politics reporting staff at Teen Vogue is evidence that corporate concentration eliminates innovative ideas and silences voices with less power.”
Fans have reacted poorly to this news, expressing that the loss of Teen Vogue is another loss towards safe spaces created for teens.
As of right now, neither Conde Nast or Vogue have listed when the merge will take place in terms of content. Teen Vogue’s website, containing all of their online content, is still accessible to the public.
