Laura Brown

Laura Brown is a journalist, editor, and host. Editor-in-chief of InStyle from 2016 until its closure in early 2022, she ushered the magazine vibrantly through a divisive administration, social unrest, and an unprecedented pandemic.

Reaching over 30 million women, Brown was responsible for the reinvention of InStyle in print, online, and events, embracing all readers with the slogan, “Everybody’s In.” At InStyle, Brown expanded the magazine’s sphere, believing diversity to be less an obligation than simply more interesting. She gave voice to new fashion, celebrity, and activist leaders, particularly with the bold “Badass Women” platform. Her social media sensibility extended the voice of InStyle beyond the page. Under Brown, InStyle was the first American fashion magazine to ban shooting fur, in 2018, and the first to sign the Fifteen Percent Pledge. Her unifying voice–most literally on her podcast, Ladies First–attracts women from all worlds, with an inclusive, warm, and witty worldview.

Prior to InStyle, Brown was executive editor of Harper’s BAZAAR. During her tenure at BAZAAR and InStyle, Brown received numerous magazine awards: 2016 ASME Fashion Cover of the Year for BAZAAR’s cover of Rihanna in a shark’s mouth; InStyle’s Best September Issue 2017 award from The Daily Front Row; 2018 ASME Fashion Cover of the Year for InStyle’s inaugural Badass Women cover starring Serena Williams; the Australian Fashion Laureate for Lifetime Achievement in 2019; Hottest Design/Photography in a Magazine, Adweek’s Hotlist, 2020; Editor of the Year, The Daily Front Row, 2021; Hottest Cover of the Year (Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland), Adweek, 2021; and the ASME award for Best Profile Photograph, 2022.

Prior to InStyle and Harper’s BAZAAR, Brown was articles director of Details and senior editor at W. She earned her B.A. in Arts and Communication from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia. Brown proudly sits on the boards of me too., SeeHer, the Fashion Trust U.S., Foot Soldiers Park, and the One Love Foundation.