The global editorial director of Vanity Fair kicked off his reign with a bang (barn-burning coverage of Trump’s White House) and plenty of buzz (an extra-exclusive Oscars party). Amidst tectonic shifts in the media guard, the rise of Mark Guiducci—a Vogue alum with a deep bench of celebrity friends and blue-chip journalists—forecasts print’s next chapter.
What’s one work of art that got you through an important moment in your life?
Barry Lyndon is my favorite movie by my favorite director. I throw it on whenever I need to see something beautiful. When that movie came out, it was original and controversial. In The New Yorker, Pauline Kael ripped it as “a coffee-table movie,” but it’s such an ambitious and complete vision (much of the film was filmed by candlelight with lenses from NASA). I can’t help but find it inspiring.
What question do you ask yourself most often while you’re making work?
Would I really read this? Attention spans are such these days that you need to demand and then keep your reader’s attention with every paragraph, sentence, image. In video, the average viewer decides what they want to watch in three seconds and A.I. promises to only exacerbate this trend. All of which makes the role of an editor even more important. We have to be publishing stories that readers are invested in. The second my mind starts to wander as I’m reading, I know it’s game over for the reader.
What do you want to see more of in your industry? Less of?
More risk-taking in magazines. Less advocacy in journalism. Reporting is not “platforming.”
What would you be doing if you weren’t working in your field?
As a kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist. I guess Vanity Fair digs up plenty of dirt.
Name an influence of yours that might surprise people.
I rate RuPaul’s Drag Race up there with The Sopranos and Sex and the City.
What keeps you up at night?
I have an excellent brand of melatonin.
What are you looking forward to this year?
The midterms!
Where do you feel most at home?
In the driver’s seat of my beat up Range Rover. I get around!
When’s the last time you laughed hysterically?
With Shawn McCreesh.
What would you wear to meet your greatest enemy?
Maybe Christian Bale’s costume from 2008’s The Dark Knight? Or a double breasted suit from Ralph Fitzgerald, Charvet shirt, and tie, and John Lobb shoes.
To read more from the 2026 CULT100 honorees, see the full list here.
in your life?
