LONDON — Margaret Zhang, Vogue China’s editorial director, has been publicly called out by Huasheng Media founder Chuxuan Feng on Weibo for being disrespectful to the Chinese market.
The feud between the two appears to have been caused by model Du Juan breaking a non-compete rule introduced by Zhang.
An employee at Condé Nast China, the publisher of Vogue and GQ in mainland China, told WWD on the condition of anonymity that after succeeding Angelica Cheung in February 2021, Zhang set up the rule that Vogue China‘s cover face cannot appear on any other fashion magazine covers three months before and one month after the release of Vogue China’s cover.
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Du, who holds the record for having the greatest number of Vogue China covers, was set to appear on the cover of the May issue of Vogue China, meaning that, in the magazine’s eyes, she cannot be currently seen on any other magazine covers.
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But she appeared on the cover of the April issue of T Magazine China, which is published under Huasheng Media, a fashion publisher backed by China’s leading media powerhouse China Media Capital. She was also featured on the cover of the spring issue of Numéro China, published by Meta Media, where Adrian Cheng is a co-chairman alongside Thomas Shao. Du’s Vogue China cover was pulled at the last minute.
Usually, fashion magazines in China release the upcoming month’s cover in the middle of the month. When Vogue China did not make any update last week, there was speculation online that something had gone wrong. Posts about how Vogue China was scrambling to swap the cover at the last minute began to appear on Weibo and Xiaohongshu.
It’s understood that model Fan Jinghan, who appeared on the cover of Zhang’s first September issue cover in 2021, will instead front the cover of Vogue China’s May issue.
Such non-compete agreements have existed in the local industry for years, but with the number of major stars shrinking due to China’s crackdown on the entertainment sector, and the rising demand for magazine covers from brands and fans, such rules are rarely implemented. It seems that Zhang’s insistence on the policy is what caused Feng’s uproar.
On Tuesday night, Feng — whose company also publishes the Chinese editions of The New York Times Travel Magazine, Kinfolk, WSJ Magazine, Wallpaper, Nylon, Drift and Fathers Magazine — launched a public attack on Zhang, calling her “a foreign influencer girl who doesn’t know about media,” and an Australian-Chinese who “pretended not to understand Chinese when we interviewed her a few years ago.”
“To fully understand and respect this country, and to respect the rules is the basis for everyone working in the industry. Wishful thinking that you can be at the top of the game in the vast land of China with a hollow global title without any actual experience,” Feng said in a post that has now been deleted.
In a series of repostings, Feng added that “If she makes a single contribution to the Chinese fashion industry and delivers convincing content, I’m willing to bow down to her and I’ll shut up. Yet she gives nothing and wants to be on top of this industry, sorry, not possible.”
Under his post, Wendy Yu, founder of the Yu Prize, a Chinese design talent scouting competition, and fashion investor commented that, “There is no need for a Chinese fashion magazine to have an opinion given by an overseas Chinese who doesn’t know China and doesn’t respect the Chinese market.”
It’s not the first time that local industry experts have expressed their dismay about Zhang, who was reportedly hand-picked by Anna Wintour, editor in chief of American Vogue and chief content officer and global editorial director of Condé Nast, to run the Chinese edition of the fashion magazine.
Leaf Greener, a former Elle China fashion editor-turned-creative consultant, told The New York Times last month that, “She [Zhang] has some good ideas and is supporting young local designers, but sometimes the execution is really not there. In order to succeed, she’s going to need to fix what I see as a major cover problem and aim for diverse as opposed to chaotic styling. I don’t think it is where it needs to be to be a world-class fashion magazine.”
Sophie Liao, former Condé Nast China president, who was unceremoniously removed in September 2020 after Roger Lynch, chief executive officer of Condé Nast, took office, also publicly expressed her concerns over Zhang’s capability in a series of articles after Liao won a labor arbitration suit against the publishing house.
Liao argued that Zhang was looking at China through a Western lens, rather than a Chinese one.
“It was really dangerous to have such a person be the editorial director of Vogue China. Why? Because she has been growing up and living in Australia and overseas, her understanding of China is too superficial and limited. It [would have been] difficult for her to communicate and work with China Pictorial [publishing permit holder of Vogue China] harmoniously,” Liao wrote in her article.
WWD has reached out to Condé Nast for comment.