Suzy Menkes leaves Condé Nast after six years of editorship
By John Legaspi
'It is time for a new adventure, which I look forward to with excitement.'
“I have often said that change is the essence of fashion. How true that is,” Suzy Menkes posted on her Instagram as she will be leaving her position as editor of Vogue International after six years. “I have enjoyed every moment of my time as editor of Vogue International, and I am proud of everything I have achieved at the company.”
Known as “Samurai Suzy,” Menkes is among the industry's most noted fashion journalists and critics thanks to her frank commentaries and maximalist take on fashion.
Prior to working at Condé Nast, the 76-year-old British editor first worked at London Evening Standard, where she met her mentor Charles Wintour, father of Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
In 1988, she started her 25-year-long stay as fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune before landing her role at Vogue's international editions. Apart from writing criticism, Menkes' job includes organizing the publication's Luxury Conference, to which she brought in industry giants such as designers Maria Grazia Chiuri, Oliver Rousteing, and the late Karl Lagerfeld.
Her critical remarks are legendary. One that made a stir in the 1990s was her declaration that the Chanel's classic quilted handbag is over. In 2013, she wrote an article for The New York Times entitled “The Circus of Fashion,” where she commented on the issue of fashion bloggers. She wrote that these influencers go against what she was taught in her early days as a journalist, that fashion “isn't good because you like it; you like it because it is good.”
Though she is set to leave Condé Nast in October, she promised that her voice and signature pompadour hairstyle will not be missed.
“The current global situation has given me—and all of us—pause for reflection. And so it is time for a new adventure, which I look forward to with excitement,” she said. “I will continue to write, post, record, and bring together the industry for the next stage of my career.”