At Vogue College of Fashion London, Shulman joined Lisa Armstrong, Fashion Director of The Telegraph and her former colleague from Vogue’s editorial team, for a conversation that traced three decades of fashion journalism—from the glossy prime of print to our digital present. 

From Docklands to Hanover Square

Shulman began her career in features journalism with early stints at Tatler and The Sunday Telegraph. She recalls the latter as “brilliant” but confesses that hard news wasn’t her natural habitat. “I loved glossy magazines,” she said, describing how she gravitated toward storytelling that mixed aspiration with intimacy. That instinct eventually led her to Vogue as features editor, before moving to GQ and finally being offered the editorship of British Vogue in the early ’90s. 

Her appointment came at a turning point. Vogue wanted change. It was no longer enough to simply be Vogue—the magazine had to evolve, to reflect a world where fashion wasn’t the only authority in culture. Shulman understood that. Her vision was less about exclusivity and more about expansion, she sought to bring a sense of journalism to a space often defined by surface. 

A New Kind of Editor

Shulman has often been described as a “words person,” someone for whom the text carried equal weight to the image. But that binary, she argued, is a myth. Great editors, she suggested, are both conductors and collaborators. They orchestrate art direction, photography and prose into a single harmonious voice. 

“Being an editor is like conducting an orchestra,” she said. “You have to balance the best of the best in fashion with something that still speaks to the public.” 

Her imagined reader was not the archetypal socialite or insider. It was “the woman at Waterloo Station, at the end of the month, on a Friday night—she buys Vogue because she wants to see the incredible pictures—but also someone who sounds like her, looks like her and talks about how she dresses.” That balance between aspiration and accessibility became the hallmark of her 25-year tenure. 

When Vogue Was an Authority

Armstrong prompted Shulman to reflect on how much has changed since the 1990s—particularly the editorial rhythm. At that time, Vogue’s authority came from curation: “We had catwalk photographers who would shoot every season, and we’d sit down with PRs to distill the trends—to decide what mattered.” 

Now, she noted, everyone posts everything instantly. “The curation has been lost,” she said. “People don’t have the time to filter; everything’s just…there.” 

It’s a striking observation: in the process of democratizing access to fashion, we may have diluted its editorial voice. In the analog era, Vogue was not just a mirror of fashion but a frame that shaped how it was seen. Today, content is constant, but authority is diffuse. 

The Art (and Anxiety) of the Cover

If Vogue’s pages told the story, its covers were the headline. For Shulman, there was always one rule: “There’s never been an issue of Vogue without a cover. It might not be a good one, but there will be one.” 

Armstrong laughed at the memory, recalling the annual challenge of creating twelve sellable issues a year. The formula, Shulman said, was surprisingly pragmatic: pink and red covers sold better than yellow or green, dark covers rarely did well and celebrity names could both help and hurt sales. 

The early ’90s saw Vogue’s biggest turning point: the rise of the celebrity cover. “It was controversial at first,” she said. Until then, models reigned supreme; actresses were kept inside the pages. But as supermodels became near-impossible to book—an expensively small and increasingly famous circle—Hollywood stars stepped in. 

The shift wasn’t merely commercial; it redefined cultural aspiration. Figures like Kate Moss started blurring the line between model and celebrity—women whose lives the public wanted to know as much as their looks. “Pretty girls in pretty dresses sold,” Shulman admitted, “but sustaining editorial integrity amid commercial demands was always key.” 

The Editor as Storyteller

Despite her long career at the top of fashion publishing, Shulman insists she rarely found it stressful. What others saw as pressure, she saw as structure. Opposingly, she finds her current work as a columnist more stressful. “Now I have to find the idea. Sometimes I don’t even know what it is,” she said. 

Her advice to aspiring editors was deceptively simple: “Read the greats. Everything you write must be a story, even if it’s a caption. Don’t waste your words.” For her, decisiveness and curiosity were non-negotiable traits: “Any decision is better than none. You must listen to your team but also trust your conviction.” 

Armstrong added that good writing often comes from reading beyond journalism. Novels and essays provide long-form storytelling that teach rhythm and patience. “Don’t make your writing too earthbound,” she said. “It needs to be poetic. Let it tell a story, not just describe a runway look.” 

The Future of Fashion Media

When asked whether fashion journalism is still a viable career, Shulman paused. The answer, inevitably, is complicated. The traditional route, which would be something along the lines of joining a magazine and climbing the ranks, has fractured. Yet, she said, “It’s also a time when you can do your own thing. Write, post, publish, create on Substack or Instagram. There are endless ways to find your voice.” 

Armstrong shared her optimism, suggesting that print and digital shouldn’t be seen as opposites in the industry. In the coming years, she predicted, print magazines will become collectible objects of desire, while digital will remain the space for immediacy and dialogue. 

Looking Back and Forward

Asked to name the most important decision of her career, Shulman smiled: “Applying for the job at Vogue. That was life-changing.” 

Alexandra Shulman’s legacy isn’t measured in trends or headlines but in how she taught us to look at fashion, culture and stories. For all the changes in platforms and pace, her belief endures that behind every great image lies a great idea, and behind every idea a story worth telling. 

Image by James Mason Photography

Words by Manuel Tasso Moreno, MA Fashion Communication