Who is the editor-in-chief of Vogue? Maureen Callahan calls the Met Gala a "woke adjacent event", claims the fashion world is "ugly and "mean"

Columnist Maureen Callahan recently shared her opinion on the Met Gala, which has grabbed a lot of attention on social media. The popular fundraising festival is organized by fashion and lifestyle magazine Vogue, where Anna Wintour serves as the editor-in-chief.

Maureen shared a video through the official handle of her show, The Nerve, on X (formerly Twitter) on May 8, 2025, where she began referring to black dandyism, the theme for this year’s Met Gala. She then started addressing the Met Gala and said:

“This is a woke adjacent event by a woman who is editor-in-chief of Vogue, took three years to put a black model on the cover of Vogue. You know who that was? Naomi Campbell. We’re going to get back to her.”

Maureen also began speaking about a letter written by Wintour, where she prioritized the hiring of people of color instead of the “nepo babies of celebrities and titans of industry.” Callahan claimed that nothing had changed after the letter and referred to the late journalist Andre Leon Tally, who had once worked for Vogue magazine as a fashion news director.

Maureen alleged that Andre was Wintour’s “sidekick” for a long time and seemingly criticized Anna for dumping Leon Tally, who reportedly struggled with poverty before his death while residing in upstate New York. Callahan referred to Andre by saying:

“You know there were very few fashion people who came through for him and that’s how, this is the point. The fashion world is ugly and it’s mean. It is mean. Okay? These are not happy people... and they get off on trying to make you and me feel like sh*t about ourselves so we can go buy stuff we don’t need.”

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Anna Wintour opens up on not attending the Met Gala afterparty: Career and more explained

As mentioned, the London, England born has been associated with Vogue magazine for a long time. According to The Independent, Anna was 15 years old when she started getting involved in the fashion world.

Among Anna Wintour’s family members, her father Charles was employed at the London Evening Standard as the editor-in-chief, and her brother Patrick has been the diplomatic editor for The Guardian.

The Independent stated that before joining Vogue, Anna was active at Harper’s Bazaar as an editorial assistant. She was initially a creative director for Vogue and has been closely involved with everything related to the Met Gala for many years, including the guest list.

During a recent conversation on Late Night with Seth Meyers on May 8, 2025, Wintour disclosed why she avoids attending the Met Gala afterparty and said:

“You feel as though your presence will affect behavior. I think they’re done with me. I’m certainly done with myself at that point. I go downstairs to the war room to thank the team that worked so hard all night.”

Apart from her contributions to Vogue magazine, Anna’s black sunglasses have also made her a popular face. As per The Independent, Wintour appeared on 60 Minutes in 2009, where she said that it can help her to hide her reactions, including in certain moments where she feels bored.

In addition, Anna is active on Instagram with almost 105,000 followers, where she frequently shares photos from different events.