Rest in peace “Teen Vogue,” at least the “Teen Vogue” we know and love.
Vogue announced on November 3 that it would merge the 22-year-old spin-off into its flagship brand website and lay off 70% of its staff, including editor-in-chief Varsha Sharma.
The magazine was launched in 2003 as a sister publication to Vogue and initially focused on fashion and celebrity gossip. In the mid-2010s, Teen Vogue rebranded as a politically conscious and socially engaged platform that empowers young activists and their perspectives on social justice.
The loss of Teen Vogue as an independent publication reflects a larger trend. It’s a decrease in dedicated space between teens and teens. While older Gen Z and Millennials had stores like Limited Too and lots of media for them, today’s teenagers have nothing but influencers and algorithms.
Online influencers fill the gap, but they’re not monitored
When I texted the group chat to share the news, one friend replied, “What do teenagers read?”
As kids, we turned to J14 magazine, Tiger Beat, Teen Vogue, and teen-centric storefronts to see what was trending. We had a lot of brands that weren’t kids yet but recognized that they weren’t ready for adult style and media. And while today’s teens have unlimited access to online influencers, digital journalism, TikTok, and Roblox, they lack curated spaces to safely and thoughtfully engage with culture.
Youth culture has become algorithm-driven and shaped by platforms that value virality over authenticity. Without a dedicated space for tweens and teens, young people are prematurely pushed into the world of adult media.
“Teen Vogue took young people seriously.”
Like many young journalists, Teen Vogue was my first “big” byline. As an undergraduate studying global public health and applied psychology very explicitly. do not have Journalism — It was my first time working with an editor at a major publication. I was so nervous that I had three friends read my first draft before I submitted it. This learning experience was invaluable, and seeing my article on the site’s home page felt like the beginning of a “real” journalism career.
I’ve always felt that the “teen” label keeps people from realizing how impactful their journalism is (partly because society quickly deems anything a teenage girl is passionate about as immature and unserious), but in reality I’ve always admired the publication. In real time, I noticed an expansion from entertaining articles to carefully reported smart features. Closing down the magazine as an independent brand sends the wrong message that journalism for (and by) young people isn’t that important, and it feels like we’re giving in to that.
Sharma released a statement on Instagram on November 5th. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to speak with young people and for any opportunity I can take advantage of and start real, meaningful conversations,” she wrote.
At X, journalists flocked to post mourning the brand’s independence.
“Teen Vogue was one of the first places I asked to write,” journalist Amber X. Chen posted on X, adding, “Even though I was still in high school at the time, they took my ideas seriously. A huge loss.”
“Teen Vogue took young people seriously,” wrote reporter Rainsford Stauffer. “I cannot overstate how important it is, how rare it is, how deeply it is needed.”
