As the headquarters of the world’s leading fashion bible, Vogue House has stood as a symbol of style and elegance.
But that was not quite the reality after staff threw a wild party to bid adieu to the Mayfair building the magazine has occupied for the past 66 years.
Such was the carnage left by the 300 champagne-fuelled revellers – including swathes of lewd graffiti – that most of the second and sixth floors had to be repainted before publisher Conde Nast handed back its keys.
Several X-rated illustrations and the outline of a body, painted to make Vogue House look like a murder scene, were deemed to be less than amusing in the cold light of the morning after.
Staff threw a wild party to bid adieu to the Mayfair building the magazine has occupied for the past 66 years (pictured)
Staff crept back inside ostensibly to ‘clear their desks’ – and were still going five hours later
A cartoon portrait of Vogue’s acerbic boss Dame Anna Wintour fell particularly flat.
With some irony, some of the worst damage was in the second-floor offices of World Of Interiors magazine. A source said: ‘Its editor Emma Redmayne found her office being used as the smoking room.
‘On the sixth floor, all the Gen Z staff of Glamour were dancing like they were at a Central Saint Martins fashion student rager. There was an anarchic, creative old-school energy.
‘But Anna is an immaculate person, so Vogue House had to be put back in perfect condition.’ That might be considered overkill given that Monaco-based Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, who paid £75 million for 1 Hanover Square, plans to demolish it.
The party started at 5pm on the last day, January 31, after Dame Anna was whisked away in a luxury car, having posed briefly for pictures outside.
Staff crept back inside ostensibly to ‘clear their desks’ – and were still going five hours later.
The source added: ‘Clearing the desks became dancing on the tables.
‘There were disco balls, bunting, singing – and plenty of prosecco, with Tony from Vogue’s canteen The Hatch and John the receptionist.’
Staff were told to ‘work from home’ for a week to recover before starting at new offices in The Strand.
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