Lucinda Chambers Bites The Hand That Fed Her For 36 Years — Fired ‘Vogue’ Editor Rips Entire Fashion Industry

Lucinda Chambers has a bone to pick with British Vogue. The former editor of the British version of the iconic fashion magazine says she did not voluntarily vacate her high-profile position as fashion director after 36 years with the magazine. Chambers says she was not only fired from Vogue, but she says the deed was done in an extremely unprofessional manner.

Lucinda’s account of what went down when she says she was fired by newcomer Edward Enninful was detailed in a candid interview posted on fashion blog Vestoj, but it was abruptly taken down due to some of Chambers’ controversial comments about her former employer. Since everything on the internet lives on forever, a cached version of the interview made the rounds on Twitter. The article later reappeared on the Vestoj site with an explanation that it had been temporarily removed due to the “sensitive nature” of the subject.

Earlier this year, British Vogue made the announcement that she was “stepping down” from her long-held position at the magazine. A flattering article detailed Lucinda’s education and work history, and quoted her as saying she adored the magazine and was “so very proud to have been a part of it for so long.”

But Chambers’ account of what went down is much less amicable.

“A month and a half ago I was fired from Vogue,” Chambers told Vestoj.

In her blistering retort, Chambers admitted that she hasn’t read Vogue “in years,” and she slammed today’s fashion magazines as no longer “useful.” Lucinda said the clothes featured in Vogue are “just irrelevant for most people” because they are “so ridiculously expensive.” Lucinda also slammed the industry in general for causing anxiety and for not allowing people to fail, and she exposed the gameplay that goes on behind the cover shoots.

“The June cover with Alexa Chung in a stupid Michael Kors T-shirt is crap,” Chambers said.

“He’s a big advertiser so I knew why I had to do it. I knew it was cheesy when I was doing it, and I did it anyway.”

Want to see the new #AlexaChung collection up close? Find it in the June issue: https://t.co/nvRzxk5TrK pic.twitter.com/GFEZ0dDr7W

— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) May 31, 2017

Lucinda Chambers went on to say that the fashion world is extremely demanding and “everyone wants more and more, faster and faster.”

“Big companies demand so much more from their designers – we’ve seen the casualties,” Lucinda said.

“It’s really hard. Those designers are going to have drink problems, they’re going to have drug problems. They’re going to have nervous breakdowns. It’s too much to ask a designer to do eight, or in some cases sixteen, collections a year. The designers do it, but they do it badly – and then they’re out. They fail in a very public way.”

Chambers admits that now that she is no longer part of the Vogue family, she wonders if she’ll even be able to get a ticket to next fall’s fashion shows. But then again, she probably won’t be buying what they’re selling, anyway.

“In fashion, we are always trying to make people buy something they don’t need,” Lucinda Chambers admitted.

“We don’t need any more bags, shirts or shoes. So we cajole, bully, or encourage people to continue buying.”

See the video below for more on Lucinda Chambers and her career in the fashion industry.

Editor’s note: this story has been amended from its original form to remove a quote that no longer appears in the source article at Vestoj.

[Featured Image by Thos Robinson/Getty Images]