Alexandra Shulman (born 13 November 1957) is a British journalist. She is a former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, and became the longest serving editor in the history of the publication. After assuming the role in 1992, she presided over a circulation increase to 200,000. Shulman is reputedly one of the country's most quoted people on fashion trends. Shulman has written columns for The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, as well as a novel.
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Early life
Alexandra Shulman was born in 1957, the daughter of the critic Milton Shulman and the writer Drusilla Beyfus, who herself was a contributor to Vogue, among other publications. Her parents had two additional children, Nicola and Jason. Her sister Nicola married Constantine Phipps (later, the 5th Marquess of Normanby) in 1990 and has written a biography of Tudor poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. Her brother Jason was formerly an art director for glossy magazines but is now a sculptor and photographer.
While Alexandra was growing up, the Shulman family lived in Belgravia and she attended St Paul's Girls' School. The thought of following her parents' career paths did not appeal to Shulman. Instead, she expressed an interest in becoming a hairdresser, or working in the music industry, saying: "Nobody believes me when I say it's not what I thought I was going to do. But my heroines were singers like Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith or Carly Simon. I didn't think about whether they wore Chanel or not".
Shulman studied social anthropology at the University of Sussex. In 1980, she graduated, receiving a 2:2, later recalling herself being "in tears". In the following months, she became an assistant at an independent record label, enabling her to move out of her parents' flat. However, she was sacked after a short time. She then took on a role in the artists and repertoire department of Arista Records which also did not last very long. After this foray into the music business, she became a secretary at the now-closed Over 21 magazine.
Career
Shulman began working at Condé Nast – Vogue's publisher – upon joining Tatler in 1982, under the editorship first of Tina Brown and later Mark Boxer. Shulman began working in fashion journalism at Tatler, working subsequently for The Sunday Telegraph, Vogue and the British edition of GQ, where she became editor in 1990.
As Shulman took on the role as editor-in-chief of Vogue in 1992, some speculated that she was not experienced enough for the role. Furthermore, others commented that her personal appearance did not conform to previous Vogue editors; as The New York Times observed: "The British press has made much of the fact that when it comes to personal wardrobe, Ms. Schulman [sic] could learn a thing or two from Ms. Tilberis's trademark Chanel, and that she could also become better acquainted with a hairbrush". It has been observed that it is still remarked upon that she doesn't "look" like an editor of Vogue.
Her tenure at Vogue included iconic issues of the magazine. Her December 1999 "Millennium Issue", possessing a simplistic page layout and a reflective, mirror-like cover – giving the illusion that its reader was on the front cover – became the highest selling issue of Vogue, with circulation of 241,001, including a newsstand sale of 142,399. A 1997 cover in memoriam of Diana, Princess of Wales was included in a poll deciding the UK's best ever magazine cover. As The Guardian observed, "Vogue stood out with a simple bare cover using a Patrick Demarchelier photograph of Diana in a red dress". The "Gold Issue," a December 2000 edition featured Kate Moss on the cover in silhouette.
As the editor of Vogue, Shulman made decisions on the magazine's stance. She stated: "we never publish diets. We've never published things on cosmetic surgery", adding that she does not want to prescribe as specific way a woman should look to the reader. She also refuses to put celebrities on the cover if they demand copy approval and picture approval, saying "I just find that so offensive".
The magazine drew criticism in the early 1990s for photos of a waifish Kate Moss that were dubbed "heroin chic", part of a larger ongoing debate over whether fashion magazines present an unhealthy image for girls and contribute to the anorexia problem. In 1997, the watchmaker Omega pulled an ad campaign from Vogue over this issue. Shulman dismissed these concerns in a 1998 interview with the PBS public affairs television programme Frontline, stating: "Not many people have actually said to me that they have looked at my magazine and decided to become anorexic."
Personal life
She has a son, Samuel (born 6 April 1995), with the writer Paul Spike, whom she married on 26 May 1994. The couple divorced in 2005.
Shulman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2005 New Year Honours for services to the magazine industry. She was later promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to fashion journalism. She was twice named "Editors' Editor of the Year" by the British Society of Magazine Editors, in 2004 and 2017, and was formerly a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.