Bienvenue aux Claires! Vogue and GQ Celebrate New Appointments in Paris
Under the Art Deco-style glass canopy of the Ritz Paris’ Verrière Marie-Louise room, Vogue and GQ hosted a cocktail party to honor two of their most exciting recent appointments: Claire Thomson-Jonville as Head of Editorial Content at Vogue France and Claire Hazan as Head of Editorial Content at GQ France. The timing couldn’t have been more fitting, as the event took place during the buzzing interval between Paris Men’s Fashion Week and the kickoff of Couture Week on Monday.
The evening was hosted by Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer and Global Editorial Director of Vogue, alongside Will Welch, Global Editorial Director of GQ. Fashion’s brightest stars—designers fresh off their men’s runway shows, including Willy Chavarria, Fear of God’s Jerry Lorenzo and Desiree Manuel, and Courrèges’s Nicolas Di Felice—gathered alongside top models Alex Consani, Paloma Elsesser, and Lucky Blue Smith to toast the new editorial leads.
Wintour opened the evening: "Will and I absolutely did not mandate that our new heads of editorial content should share the same first name," she announced to the room. “But what we do know is that they share a thrillingly original approach to fashion journalism and to culture. Now, more than ever, we need editors who are fearless in their risk-taking and embrace being as creative as possible.”
Wintour went on to praise Thomson-Jonville for her meteoric start at Vogue France. “In the space of only a couple of months, Claire has been just that. She also is the absolute embodiment of French chic—even if she was born in Scotland!” The audience chuckled again. “This past fall, during her interview process in New York, I heard many of her meetings were conducted at the gym,” she added with a knowing smile. “So many congratulations, Claire, and welcome to Vogue. It’s a great pleasure to have you on our team.”
Welch then took the stage to welcome Hazan to GQ France with equal enthusiasm and humor. “I keep telling Claire that actually fashion is very warm and welcoming… as long as you are really cool, and smart, and poised, and sophisticated, and stylish, and socially adept… and as long as you have really great taste, and you are nice—but not too nice, in a needy way, ya know?”
He continued, “Claire comes to us from Spotify, where she was head of podcasts, so she’s also going to be teaching me a few things about making hugely successful digital content series. And I’m happy to say that yesterday she was pinging back and forth all day between fashion shows and her first cover shoot—I hear it went well, so stay tuned.”
As glasses were raised and cheers rang out, it was clear that the two Claires have already made a lasting impression on the fashion and media worlds. Thomson-Jonville, a law graduate turned creative force, has seamlessly brought her editorial expertise and holistic vision to Vogue France, debuting her first issue, La Renaissance du Chic, to acclaim. Meanwhile, Hazan, with her forward-thinking approach to media, is poised to usher in a new era for GQ France.
The cocktail party, suffused with the energy of Paris and the promise of couture to come, marked an auspicious beginning for both women—and a thrilling new chapter for Vogue and GQ in France.
Photo: Krista Schlueter1/51Simon Porte Jacquemus, Willy Chavarria, Mike Amiri
Photo: Krista Schlueter2/51Paloma Elsesser
Photo: Krista Schlueter3/51Priya Ahluwalia, Adrian Corsin
Photo: Krista Schlueter4/51Alex Consani
Photo: Krista Schlueter5/51Zac Posen and Harrison Ball
