New Vogue Editor Chloe Malle has opened up about her decision to make the bride of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s bride, Lauren Sanchez, the magazine’s cover star earlier this year.
Bezos and Sanchez were wed in a star-studded Italian affair at the end of June. Vogue was first to publish exclusive photos and details of Sanchez’s Dolce & Gabbana dress shortly after the couple exchanged vows.
In a new interview with The New York Times published after she was announced as Anna Wintour’s successor, Malle revealed she received death threats over the cover.
“I do think there is an element of endorsement with a Vogue cover, and I do think that it is worth taking a calculated risk,” Malle, 39, said.
Bezos and Sanchez’s wedding was highly anticipated, attracting celebrities and politicians from around the world and creating dozens of headlines. But the decision to put Sanchez on the storied magazine’s cover drew criticism, given the circumstances surrounding the lavish nuptials.
Venice locals staged protests against the wedding as dozens of millionaires and high-profile personas flocked to their small city, monopolizing resources like water taxis and hotels. The display of wealth was also scrutinized as Bezos and Sanchez held their multi-day affair, renting out local businesses and shutting down parts of the islands to host events.
Still, Malle maintains it was the right decision to put Sanchez on the magazine’s cover, despite some questioning whether the bride had earned the prestige.
“You want something to be a moment, and that was a huge moment for us,” she continued. “That was what everyone was talking about. And we had that, and we owned it.”
The Times went on to ask whether Malle would consider putting First Lady Melania Trump on the cover. However, she declined to answer.
Malle, the daughter of actor Candice Bergen and filmmaker Louis Malle, was tapped Tuesday by outgoing editor Anna Wintour to lead Vogue into its next era. Wintour announced she was stepping down in June after leading the publication for 37 years.
“Fashion and media are both evolving at breakneck speed, and I am so thrilled, and awed, to be part of that,” said Malle in a statement. “I also feel incredibly fortunate to still have Anna just down the hall as my mentor.”
“At a moment of change, both within fashion and outside it, Vogue must continue to be both the standard-bearer and the boundary-pushing leader,” said Wintour. “Chloe has proven often that she can find the balance between American Vogue’s long, singular history and its future on the front lines of the new. I am so excited to continue working with her, as her mentor but also as her student, while she leads us and our audiences where we’ve never been before.”
