Biography
The former editor-in-chief of British Vogue led the magazine for over 25 years until stepping down in 2017. In May 2020, Shulman was appointed strategic advisor of the online fashion marketplace Atterley.
Shulman’s editorship has seen monthly readership of the magazine rise above a million. Notably, she has introduced of collector’s issues, including the December 1999 ‘millennium issue’, which cast readers as cover models with a reflective cover, and the ‘gold issue,’ depicting Kate Moss in silhouette.
Shulman’s astute appreciation of commercial matters and understanding of what readers want to buy is matched by her awareness of what it is that brings readers back to the magazine time and again. Shulman self-describes her role as that of a journalist as opposed to a fashion editor, an attitude that has led to her nurturing Vogue’s features, as much as its fashion pages, to great acclaim.
Shulman has used the platform her title affords her to raise important issues within the fashion industry. She has spoken publicly on fashion’s size debate, stating that “anorexia is a huge problem”, and writing an open letter to fashion houses in 2009, she criticised sample sizes so “miniscule” that the models who fit in them had “jutting bones.” Shulman’s British Vogue has never published a feature on dieting.
Shulman began her career at Tatler in 1982, before becoming Vogue’s features editor, editing men’s title GQ, before returning to Vogue as its editor. She has written a column for The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday. Her first novel, Can We Still Be Friends? was published in April 2012. She released her memoir Clothes and Other Things That Matter in April 2020. Shulman was awarded an OBE for her services to the industry in 2005, the Draper’s award for her outstanding contribution to Fashion and the CBE in the New Year’s honours list for her service to the British fashion sector, both in 2017. She was also appointed the vice president of the London Library, alongside journalist Jeremy Paxman and Lady Antonia Fraser, among others.