The real 'Devil Wears Prada' bows out? Anna Wintour steps down after 37 iconic years

After nearly four decades of defining fashion’s front row, Anna Wintour is officially stepping down as editor-in-chief of American Vogue. Yes, that Anna Wintour, the woman behind the bob, the shades, and a whole era of fashion that spanned denim on the cover to Beyoncé in couture.

Her exit, confirmed by multiple fashion insiders, marks the end of a chapter that shaped not just a magazine, but the global fashion narrative as we know it.

She’s not leaving Condé Nast entirely, far from it. Wintour, now 75, will continue to serve as the company’s global chief content officer and editorial director of Vogue worldwide. But her daily grip on American Vogue, a role she held since 1988, is coming to a close.

And that’s a big deal.Think about it: her first cover broke every unwritten rule of fashion publishing. In place of pearls and polish, she put a model in jeans. Yes, jeans, on Vogue! Michaela Bercu wore a $50 denim pair with a $10,000 Christian Lacroix top, and just like that, fashion shifted. The image wasn’t about status or trend forecasting; it was instinct. It was intuition meeting influence. That’s what made Wintour Wintour.

She didn’t just dress the cover, she redefined it. Before her, supermodels graced the glossies. After her, it was Madonna, Gwyneth, and Michelle Obama. She turned the Vogue cover into a cultural billboard and everyone else followed suit.But her legacy isn’t just stitched in silk and sequins. Wintour was notoriously intimidating. So much so that The Devil Wears Prada’s ice-cold Miranda Priestly felt more like a documentary than fiction.

(Wintour showed up to the film’s premiere in Prada, naturally.)

And then came The September Issue, the 2009 documentary that cracked open the glossy fortress of Vogue, revealing the intensity, vision, and exhaustion behind fashion’s most important issue. Suddenly, she wasn't just the myth, she was a very real woman calling the shots with sharp precision and an even sharper eye.Her career has been a masterclass in reinvention: from Vogue's editor-in-chief to Condé Nast’s artistic director, then global content advisor, and now a global overseer of Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, and beyond.

What happens next for Vogue? We don’t know yet. No replacement has been announced. But filling those iconic Manolos won’t be easy.Still, Wintour isn’t just leaving a seat at the table, she’s left the whole damn blueprint. And whoever follows will have to do more than just edit a magazine. They'll have to shift culture, spark conversation, and see the winds of change before they blow.And that, more than any headline or handbag, is her truest legacy.