Several BIPOC women, editors, and writers who helped define Teen Vogue’s political and cultural voice were laid off this week, sparking backlash against the publication's parent company, Condé Nast.

On Monday (November 3), Condé Nast announced that Teen Vogue would be consolidated into Vogue's website. The company noted that Teen Vogue would continue as a "distinct editorial property" under Vogue.com, but the editor-in-chief of the 22-year-old brand, Versha Sharma, would exit the company.

The Condé United union and its parent organization, The NewsGuild of New York, strongly condemned the move, saying it was “clearly designed to blunt the award-winning magazine’s insightful journalism at a time when it is needed the most,” per the Hollywood Reporter. According to the union, at least six employees, most of whom were BIPOC women or trans staffers, were laid off due to the consolidation.

“As of today, only one woman of color remains on the editorial staff,” the union said in a statement.

Teen Vogue, launched in 2003 as a fashion and lifestyle offshoot of Vogue, reinvented itself during Elaine Welteroth’s tenure as editor-in-chief starting in 2016, earning acclaim for its intersectional coverage of race, identity, and activism. Its digital pivot in 2017 cemented its reputation as a publication unafraid to challenge political power, from critiques of Donald Trump’s presidency to coverage of labor and climate movements.

On Monday, Condé Nast announced that Vogue's head of editorial content, Chloe Malle, will now oversee the vertical, saying Teen Vogue will focus on “career development, cultural leadership, and other issues that matter most to young people.”

The union, however, argues that by merging operations, the company is “muting Teen Vogue’s progressive political bent” and sidelining the journalists who made it a leading voice for Gen Z readers.

"Gone is the political-cultural criticism of the fashion and culture industries by the Black women writers laid off today... gone, from the lauded politics section, is the work that made possible the blockbuster cover of Vivian Wilson, one of Condé Nast’s top-performing stories of the year," the union said in a statement.

“Condé leadership owes us answers — and Teen Vogue’s readership,” the union added in a statement. “We will get those answers. And we fight for our rights as workers with a collective bargaining agreement as we fight for the work we do, and the people we do it for.”

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