Well, I wasn’t expecting this news at this moment. Anna Wintour is “stepping back” as editor-in-chief of American Vogue. Wintour wears so many hats within the Vogue world and Conde Nast world though, and she’s apparently stressing that this is not a complete resignation from all things Conde Nast. She will retain her position as Conde Nast’s global chief content officer and global editorial director at Vogue. Meaning, she’ll oversee the international editions of Vogue and have a hand in the larger decisions of all of Conde Nast’s publications. She just won’t be “running” American Vogue on a daily basis as she has done for the past 37 years.

After 37 years at the helm of American Vogue, editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is stepping back.

The Daily Front Row, WWD and Business of Fashion confirm that the longtime editor of the “fashion bible” is leaving her position leading the monthly magazine. Per the outlets, Wintour, 75, announced the news in a staff meeting on the morning of Thursday, June 26. Vogue will seek a new head of editorial content (who will report to Wintour), while Wintour will stay on as Condé Nast’s global chief content officer and global editorial director at Vogue, overseeing every brand globally, including Vanity Fair, GQ, AD and more.

“Anybody in a creative field knows how essential it is never to stop growing in one’s work. When I became the editor of Vogue, I was eager to prove to all who might listen that there was a new, exciting way to imagine an American fashion magazine,” Wintour told Vogue staff in a meeting on Thursday. “Now, I find that my greatest pleasure is helping the next generation of impassioned editors storm the field with their own ideas, supported by a new, exciting view of what a major media company can be. And that is exactly the kind of person we need to now look for to be HOEC for US Vogue.”

Wintour went on to explain that many of her responsibilities at Vogue would remain the same, “including paying very close attention to the fashion industry and to the creative cultural force that is our extraordinary Met Ball, and charting the course of future Vogue Worlds, and any other original fearless ideas we may come up with…and it goes without saying that I plan to remain Vogue’s tennis and theater editor in perpetuity.

“But how thrilling it will be,” she concluded, “to work alongside someone new who will challenge us, inspire us, and make us all think about Vogue in a myriad of original ways.”

[From People]

One of my first thoughts when I heard the news was… damn, Edward Enninful really played his hand poorly. Enninful was the EIC of British Vogue, and there were so many rumors that Enninful was really trying to oust Wintour and take over her job in NYC. But his attempted coup failed and Enninful was basically forced out of British Vogue and given a less powerful position within Conde Nast’s European operations. Wintour got her revenge, and now who is the heir apparent for American Vogue? Not Enninful.

Something else occurred to me as I was processing the news – Wintour probably announced this to Vogue staffers right before she flew out to Venice for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding. Lauren reportedly wants the wedding heavily featured in Vogue, if not given a full cover editorial and story. Wintour apparently advised Lauren about wedding gowns too. Could the Peak Tackiness of Sanchez-Bezos wedding be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.