Projects
CT Pocket
MAN-MADE
Publishing
Film as a Subversive Art
Hijack Reality
Home Sweet Home
Monologues
New Math
Q&A
The Moon
What’s Next?
Talks & events
Dispense and Connect
Inside the Industry
Memories Last Longer
than Things
Print Matters
Victorious Hermit
Pedagogy
What does it mean to be
ANTI-FRAGILE for GEN Z?
The Antifragile Classroom
Pleasure Activism and What
Can a Body Do?
The Long Table
Collective Joy in the
Classroom
ICA x Softlaunch:
Radical Play
About
Contact
Q&A
Alexandra Shulman
Editor, British Vogue
Alexandra Shulman has been the editor of British Vogue since 1993.
This cover, May 2003, is one of Shulman’s top 20: “I love this because
I’m a life-long Bowie fan so it was my idea to do Kate Moss as Aladdin
Sane — and it’s become one of the most reproduced covers of all time.”
Who are you and what do you do for a living?
I am Alexandra Shulman and I edit British Vogue
What came first? The chicken or the egg?
The egg
What have you done since you woke up this morning?
I have fed the cat, written to my son’s housemaster,
drank coffee, read magazines, signed page layouts,
driven to work, written emails
Where do you go when no-one is looking?
A bath
What is your earliest memory?
My sister arriving at the front door after her birth
with a red tricycle heavily clouded sky
Please describe the place you are currently in,
or the view from your window?
I am at my desk in a pink office. Outside there are
high office blocks and a heavily clouded sky
Were you a popular child?
Yes
Do you scare easy?
I am scared most of the time
Who was the first cultural figure to influence you?
Patti Smith was one of my first influences
Where is love?
Love is often where you give it
Who did you spend last night with?
I spent last night with David, my boyfriend,
and our friends Dick and Edina
What do you do for fun?
I see friends for fun
What is your number one priority?
My son
Why do you do what you do?
I do what I do because it is what I do and
I enjoy it
If a tree falls down in a wood but no one is
there to hear it, does it make a noise?
It’s a good question. I don't know the answer
Who do you like to talk shop with?
I talk shop with my colleagues
What would you like to be better at?
I would like to be better at conversation
What is your favourite smell?
I love the scent of narcissi
What quality do you most like in man?
A sense of humour
What is the quality you most like in woman?
In a woman I like empathy
How do you know when something is finished?
How can you let go of it?
I have no problem letting go of things. They are
finished when I finish them. It seems clear to me
and although you could obviously start it all again
if you did you wont achieve anything
What do you regard as the lowest depth
of misery?
Somebody you love being mortally ill
Which work of art do you most covet for
your home?
I would love a painting by Peter Doig
Where do you find most pleasure?
I find most pleasure in family
What’s your favourite public place in London?
Kensington Garden is my favourite public place
What’s your favourite private place in London?
My garden
What is humanity’s biggest failing?
I think humanity’s greatest failing is the constant
urge to possess more but it is also one definition of
being human
Beauty, intelligence or humour?
If you had to choose.
Intelligence
What piece of music would you like played at
your funeral?
If It Be Your Will by Leonard Cohen
Is life serious?
Yes and you only get one run at it