Vanity Fair just unveiled Samira Nasr’s successor after she departed to take the helm as editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar.
Nicole Chapoteau has been promoted to fashion director at the Condé Nast publication. She joined Vanity Fair in 2019 as market director, styling the likes of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patricia Arquette and Jonathan Majors. She was also instrumental in producing the magazine’s recent Viola Davis cover and styling its yet-to-be-revealed September issue, according to editor in chief Radhika Jones, who made the announcement Thursday in a staff memo.
Previously, Chapoteau was fashion director at Allure and worked as a freelance stylist and brand consultant for Elle, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, The Cut, Out, Ebony and others. Before pursuing a career in fashion, Chapoteau worked in architecture at Rafael Vinoly Architects.
Jones also said Jessica Pressler is joining Vanity Fair as a special correspondent, covering the intersection of money and culture. She was previously a contributing editor at New York magazine for more than a decade, and her 2015 story “The Hustlers at Scores” served as the inspiration for the movie “Hustlers” starring Jennifer Lopez. Her 2018 story on grift queen Anna Sorokin is being developed for Netflix by Shonda Rhimes.
There have also been four other promotions. After leading VF.com for five years, Matt Lynch is now executive editor. In his new role, he will continue to oversee the Vanities vertical and coedit the new VF Weekly newsletter while expanding his editing duties in print. Elsewhere, Keziah Weir has been promoted to senior editor, Abigail Tracy is now national political reporter and Alyssa Karas is associate director of audience development.
Not done with the staff announcements, Jones further revealed that she has added several new contributing editors to the masthead, including award-winning author and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, film executive Franklin Leonard, investigative journalist Katherine Eban, political adviser Jen Palmieri and novelist Jesmyn Ward.
As for the upcoming September issue, Coates, who is guest editing, previously said: “I’m honored to be partnering with Radhika and the entire Vanity Fair staff on this project. Equally, I’m humbled that so many of this country’s best writers and artists have agreed to participate. The moment is too big for any one of us to address alone.”
For more, see:
Radhika Jones on Making Vanity Fair More Diverse
Radhika Jones Is the Editor of Vanity Fair
Hearst Taps Samira Nasr as Harper’s Bazaar Editor in Chief
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