Raúl Martinez, Anna Wintour’s favorite creative director, is returning to Condé Nast after a two-year stint at Victoria’s Secret. His new title is global creative director of Vogue, the company announced Friday, a slight comedown from his past moniker of chief creative officer of Condé Nast, but whatever. The chance to take one final journey with A.W., his on-again, off-again, but-usually-on boss since 1988, was likely too hard to resist. Martinez will replace Paris-based creative director Juan Costa Paz, who replaced him when he left for Victoria’s Secret in 2021.  

I have to be honest, the current situation at Victoria’s Secret is very blah, so while I have co-written an entire book on the company, the last few years—post-Les Wexner, post-Ed Razek, post-Jeffrey Epstein, post-everything good and positive also—are not the primary focus. But here’s some background for you. Martinez was recruited to Victoria’s Secret in 2020 by then-president John Mehas, one of the final Wexner hires. A vet of Tory Burch and Ralph Lauren, Mehas has a mixed reputation personality-wise, but he understands marketing and merchandising, and he assembled quite a powerful pack to turn around Victoria’s Secret. But Mehas was fired not long after he brought in Martinez. In fact, Mehas’ ouster was announced a month before Martinez’s appointment was made public.