GoKawiilVogue World is coming to San Francisco next year — perhaps another indication that tech billionaires have become leaders in the fashion zeitgeist.
Of course, the announcement of the enormous fashion/art/music event doesn’t say that. Instead, Anna Wintour wrote that Vogue believes in celebrating cities and “San Francisco is a city like none other.”
“It’s a place of diverse communities living side by side, a place that loves the arts, loves creativity, and isn’t afraid of change.” She also noted the city’s history of rebelliousness and innovation.
“I love that San Francisco has always stood up for values and the things it believes in,” Wintour wrote. “Vogue World will support San Francisco’s creative minds and strengthen the entire ecosystem — and it will offer another opportunity to show San Francisco is on the rise.”
There were rumors that Vogue World would head to San Francisco after Winter was seen having meetings with the city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie.
Plus, in the past year, Wintour has cozied up to the most powerful names in tech, culminating in this year’s Met Gala, which saw Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, serve as lead sponsors for the event. Google’s Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg were also spotted at the event (the latter’s first, that is). In fact, OpenAI bought a table, as did Meta and Snap (for $350,000 a pop). It’s true that TikTok, Apple, and Instagram previously sponsored the event, but the presence of the tech crowd was so considerable that the Met Gala this year was dubbed the “tech gala” in some places.
Last year, Vogue put Lauren Sanchez on the cover of the magazine after her wedding to the Amazon founder. To the fashion world, this was Wintour’s stamp of approval — not just for Sanchez’s ascent into the fashion world, but that tech and its leaders were worthy of cultural recognition.
Though Bezos and Sanchez reportedly live in Florida (and Amazon is, of course, headquartered in the Seattle area), there is no city more associated with tech than San Francisco. By locating Vogue World there, this is another indication of Wintour’s approval.
Vogue, as a media publication, is always following the money, and as a cultural bible, is always looking for ways to stay relevant. Turning toward the worldwide headquarters of AI, good or bad, is brilliant for business (and Wintour is nothing if not brilliant).
But Vogue World was previously held in New York, London, Paris, and this year, Milan. Maybe because I live in an East Coast bubble, but I’ve not heard anyone in recent years refer to San Francisco as a beacon of style to rank alongside these other cities.
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