Chloe Malle was named American Vogue’s head of editorial content on Tuesday, a high-profile editorial appointment overseen by Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour. Malle, 39, will take on the role as part of the title’s editorial leadership team.
The appointment drew attention in part because Malle is the daughter of actress Candice Bergen, who portrayed a fictional Vogue editor modeled on real-life magazine leadership in the HBO series Sex and the City. The association prompted comments on the overlap between fashion media and its depiction in popular culture.
Bergen played Enid Frick, a Vogue editor introduced in Sex and the City’s fourth season in 2002. In the series, Enid is a demanding editor who harshly criticizes Carrie Bradshaw’s writing and pushes the magazine’s exacting standards; the character has been widely noted for bearing similarities to a real-world Vogue editor.
Enid’s relationship with Carrie evolves over the series, with episodes showing the two women move from professional friction to a more personal rapport. Storylines involving Enid touched on themes of aging and romantic complications, including a plot in which the character confides she is involved with a married man.
The Sex and the City franchise also brought Bergen’s portrayal to film, where the character appeared in a 2008 movie adaptation. Bergen’s performance and the show’s newsroom scenes have been cited in discussions of how television and film dramatize the inner workings and personalities of fashion magazines.
Vogue did not provide further comment in the announcement distributed Tuesday beyond the appointment. The hire places Malle in a central editorial role at one of the most visible titles in American fashion media, a position that will shape coverage and editorial projects under Wintour’s leadership.