The following article is part of Dot Dot Dot’s bi-monthly ‘Pulse Check’ series that provides real-time industry analysis by connecting the dots between trends, brands, and wider cultural movements.
Anna Wintour is stepping back. Not completely out, just far enough to shift responsibility while keeping the titles: Chief Content Officer at Condé Nast and Global Editorial Director of Vogue.
After decades as the industry’s central command, she’s quietly offloading editorial control of the U.S. edition. The queen of fashion is still on the throne but someone else will be driving the car. She’ll still own the keys though…
The announcement was followed, almost poetically, by that cover: Lauren Sánchez, digitally unveiled in what may go down as the most tone-deaf glam shoot of the decade. Lit like a Pinterest vision board, styled like a PR pitch deck, and delivered with all the depth of a tax write-off.
The public’s reaction was swift, confused, and almost bored by the misfire. Not because of Sánchez, but because of what her appearance represented: a total lack of editorial instinct and ability to read the current climate. Vogue misread the moment and misunderstood its place in it.
Was the cover paid for? Maybe. But that’s beside the point. What mattered was that Vogue (once fashion’s sharpest filter) had become the noise.
It confirmed what most of the industry already knew: Vogue isn’t leading anymore. It hasn’t for years. (Though you’ll still see brands frame a single mention in the magazine like a golden calf on their social pages) The gatekeeper-in-chief is still in the room, but the gates have long been open. And the people shaping fashion now aren’t waiting for a seat.
Editors, buyers, and legacy publications (the holy trinity of old-school taste) no longer hold the monopoly on authority in our industry. In its place, something else is rising. Not quite a person or a title but a presence.
Fashion’s new authority is the Joker.
Who are the Jokers?
In card games, the Joker is a wildcard. Not part of the hierarchy, not predictable, often excluded from the deck. But in reality it’s capable of flipping the entire game. It can replace a missing card, break the rules, or bend them entirely. Sometimes it’s worthless. Sometimes it wins the whole hand.
The Joker is part critic, part creator, part fan. A term used in the most flattering, positive sense, Jokers don’t come from institutional power but subvert it. They’re uninvited, but unavoidable.
Ly.as is a Joker.