Carine Roitfeld is leaving Vogue

The news has just been announced, leaving many fashionistas speechless. She who turned Vogue Paris into one of the most influential fashion magazines in the world has decided to leave Condé Nast in order to pursue personal projects.

Only Karl Lagerfeld's departure from Chanel would cause such a reaction. Vogue without Roitfeld is a bit like Lanvin without Elbaz or Colette without Sarah Lerfel. Shaped over 10 years by an all-powerful editor-in-chief, the magazine has become her signature.

Vogue Paris quickly imposed itself as subversive and unconventional, in the image of the woman to whom Jonathan Newhouse gave the keys to the Saint Honoré offices in 2001; over time, it became the reflection of Roitfeld's infatuations (which led to overexposing those she appreciated the most, e.g., Riccardo Tisci, Christophe Decarnin or Lara Stone, some of whom owe their career's to Tom Ford's former partner).

Actually, her eye and flair had such an influence on the fashions of the last decade that we can now call the 2000s the Roitfeld Years.

This being said, all reigns come to an end, and that of Mario Testino's accomplice has been showing signs of fatigue for some time now. It was as if Roitfeld was having difficulty moving beyond that which she herself helped create, to the point of sometimes caricaturing the image of Vogue Paris. Then there were her many connections with certain labels (that literally brought down the magazine's credibility), the overly sexy fashion editorials that were no longer really innovative, and her indiscreet links to the advertisers...

After having brought a breath of freedom to Condé Nast, Carine Roitfeld let herself become a victim of her networking, which limited the artistic expression and compromised the neutrality of the magazine's content. It was time that she took her final bow, or run the risk of watching her image continue to crumble. Hopefully, once liberated of the constraints linked to her status as editor-in-chief, she will once again challenge and inspire the fashion world through her future projects.

It remains to be known who will replace the woman who sometimes presented herself as Anna Wintour's successor at the head of Vogue U.S... All bets are open.