>> Did Lauren Weisberger predict the future?  The Devil Wears Prada had Miranda Priestly, the Anna Wintour character, being replaced by Jacqueline Follet, the Carine Roitfeld character — until Miranda maneuvered her way out of it — and according to rumors, that might just be what is in the works in real life.

Talk of Anna Wintour's retirement has been running rampant, especially with Anna's deflated "leave me alone" response when asked about the retirement rumors, and her daughter Bee Shaffer's recent comment about how she would be "staying far away from Vogue."  Last night, Conde Nast insiders were overheard talking about how Si Newhouse left early for his three-week December vacation in Vienna — the one during which he usually makes big strategical changes in the company — purportedly to meet in Paris with Carine Roitfeld and finalize details about her moving to New York and taking over at Vogue at the beginning of next year.

Wintour may well be on the outs — she has been at the magazine twenty years, her domain at Conde Nast shrunk recently, Vogue's ad pages dropped this year, and her supposed $2 million per year salary could be seen as a hindrance in this economy — but is Carine the right fit?  She loves being subversive and has a substantially smaller circulation at Vogue Paris — two things that wouldn't fly with American Vogue, unless Si really is looking for the magazine to be entirely restructured.  But would Carine want to leave all the freedom she has now behind?  She'd definitely be scrutinized much more closely at Vogue.  And what about staff?  The editors at Vogue Paris and Vogue have entirely different styles and personalities.  But her daughter, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, does live in New York . . .
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