Are you cool enough to work for 90s Vogue?

About this episode

The episode discusses a cultural literacy test from the 90s Vogue and its modern update.

In his recent book, Empire of the Elite author Michael Grynbaum unearthed a a list of 178 artists, quotes and media properties that had been passed around the halls of Conde Nast in the 90s. It was William Norwich and Charles Gandee's list: As two editors of Vogue, they'd prepared it as an "unofficial test" of applicants to the austere magazine's halls of cultural power. Recently, cultural strategist Olivia Wedderburn took a stab at updating the list for 2026 - and in the processran up against some of the shift in taste, trendsetting and power that have manifested in the last 30 years. You can read the piece on her Substack, Sim City. https://simcity.substack.com/p/the-2026-cultural-literacy-test Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Guest: Olivia Wedderburn

Topics covered

• cultural literacy
• 90s fashion
• media properties
• trendsetting
• cultural power

Keywords

• Vogue
• cultural literacy
• Michael Grynbaum
• Olivia Wedderburn
• 90s
• trendsetting
• Conde Nast

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Vogue, Conde Nast, Substack

Books & works: Empire of the Elite, Sim City

More episodes of The Drum Podcast

• Why do we know so little about the creative industry's 'long tail'? · June 11, 2026 · 46 min
• As sports sponsorship scrutiny grows, is it still worth it? · June 4, 2026 · 38 min
• What's powering the 'experience economy'? · May 14, 2026 · 40 min
• Tradwives, branded TV, and the year's weirdest ad · May 7, 2026 · 47 min
• The Drum's DMA Awards: The view from the president's chair · April 30, 2026 · 27 min
• As social marketing tactics for music become headline news, is the band Geese a 'psy-op'? · April 24, 2026 · 53 min