Vogue China editor Angelica Cheung is no devil in disguise but she is one of the most powerful people in fashion
Approachable, chatty and cheerful, Cheung has steered the magazine from its launch issue to a readership of two million. Yet she nearly turned down the job for a legal career
Angelica Cheung – Beijing-born, former Hong Kong resident, honorary Yorkshire-woman and dedicated Arsenal fan – is one of the most powerful people in fashion. Whether you agree with that statement depends on your opinion of fashion media in general, and the might of publisher Condé Nast in particular.
Cheung has been editor-in-chief of Vogue China since its launch in 2005, and has ushered it through 15 years of spectacular growth. From an initial print run of 300,000 – the circulation of American Vogue, then the world’s biggest fashion magazine, was 1,275,359 – today, Vogue China’s print readership is said to be two million.
In China, economic figures have a mercurial quality and, unlike other titles in Condé Nast’s international stable, Vogue China’s sales aren’t officially audited.
Perhaps a better indicator of the shift in Chinese soft power has been the fashion week Front Row Index. In the late 20th century, Chinese fashion editors hovered at the back, tolerated but ignored. Their view was confined to Western people’s hair. That is no longer the case.
There’s still a sense of borders, however. “We all sit in different blocks so there’s very little scope for contact during the shows,” says one fashion editor. “And, to be honest, many press blocks keep to themselves, not least the Chinese. Angelica Cheung is the exception.”
“There’s definitely more wariness about China in a post-Covid world but I don’t think that will rebound on Angelica,” says Lisa Armstrong, head of fashion at The Telegraph newspaper in London. “She never threw her weight around at the shows. She’s very personable, a good conversationalist and true cosmopolitan. She’s an excellent unofficial ambassador for China, not just for promoting Chinese designers and crafts but because of her outward-reaching manner. They might seriously want to think of posting her to the UK or US at some point.”
