Anna Wintour

Dame Anna Wintour (; born 3 November 1949) is a British journalist based in New York City who has served as editor-in-Chief of ''Vogue'' since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast since 2020; she is also the artistic director of Condé Nast and the Global Editorial Director of ''Vogue''. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and dark sunglasses, Wintour has become an important figure in much of the fashion world, praised for her eye for emerging fashion trends. Her reportedly aloof and demanding personality has earned her the nickname "Nuclear Wintour".

Her father, Charles Wintour, Editor of the London ''Evening Standard'' (1959–1976), consulted with her on how to make the newspaper relevant to the youth of the era. She became interested in fashion as a teenager. Her career in fashion journalism began at two British magazines. Later, she moved to the US, with stints at ''New York'' and '' House & Garden''. She returned to London and was the editor of British ''Vogue'' between 1985 and 1987. A year later, she assumed control of the franchise's magazine in New York, reviving what many saw as a stagnating publication. Her use of the magazine to shape the fashion industry has been the subject of debate within it. Animal rights activists have attacked her for promoting fur, while other critics have charged her with using the magazine to promote elitist views of femininity and beauty.

A former personal assistant, Lauren Weisberger, wrote the 2003 bestselling '' roman à clef'' '' The Devil Wears Prada'', later made into a successful 2006 film starring Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a fashion editor, believed to be based on Wintour. In 2009, Wintour was the focus of a documentary film, R. J. Cutler's '' The September Issue''.

Early life and family

Anna Wintour was born in Hampstead, London, to Charles Wintour (1917–1999), editor of the ''Evening Standard'', and Eleanor "Nonie" Trego Baker (1917–1995), an American, the daughter of a Harvard Law School professor. Her parents were married in 1940 and divorced in 1979. Wintour was named after her maternal grandmother, Anna Baker (née Gilkyson), a merchant's daughter from Pennsylvania.Oppenheimer
2
"Eleanor Baker, an American, met Wintour at Cambridge University in England in the fall of 1939 ... er mother Anna Gilkyson Baker, for whom Anna Wintour was named, was a charming, matronly, somewhat ditzy society girl from Philadelphia's Main Line ..." Audrey Slaughter, a magazine editor who founded publications such as ''Honey'' and ''Petticoat'', is her stepmother.Oppenheimer, 99. "... r animosity intensif edafter her father married Slaughter."

Wintour's grandfather was Major-General Fitzgerald Wintour, a British military officer and descendent of Prime Minister George Grenville. Through her paternal grandmother, Alice Jane Blanche Foster, Wintour is a great-great-great-granddaughter of the late-18th-century novelist Lady Elizabeth Foster (later the Duchess of Devonshire) and her first husband, the Irish politician John Thomas Foster. Her great-great-great-great-grandfather was Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, who served as the Anglican Bishop of Derry. Sir Augustus Vere Foster, 4th Baronet, the last Baronet of that name, was a granduncle of Wintour's. She is a niece of Cordelia James, Baroness James of Rusholme (daughter of Fitzgerald Wintour).

She had four siblings. Her older brother, Gerald, died in a traffic accident as a child.Oppenheimer, 6 One of her younger brothers, Patrick, is also a journalist, currently diplomatic editor of ''The Guardian''.Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent
''The Guardian''. Retrieved 6 December 2006 James and Nora Wintour have worked in London local government and for international non-governmental organisations, respectively.

In her youth, Wintour was educated at the independent North London Collegiate School, where she frequently rebelled against the dress code by taking up the hemlines of her skirts.Oppenheimer, 15 At the age of 14, she began wearing her hair in a bob.Oppenheimer, 21. She developed an interest in fashion as a regular viewer of Cathy McGowan on ''Ready Steady Go!,''Oppenheimer, 22. and from the issues of '' Seventeen'' which her grandmother sent from the United States.''The September Issue'', 0:19. "Growing up in London in the '60s, you'd have to have had Irving Penn's sack over your head not to know something extraordinary was happening in fashion", she recalled.''The September Issue'', 0:18. Her father regularly consulted her when he was considering ideas for increasing readership in the youth market.

Career

From fashion to journalism

"I think my father really decided for me that I should work in fashion", she recalled in '' The September Issue''. He arranged for his daughter's first job, at the influential Biba boutique, when she was 15.Oppenheimer, 42–44. The next year, she left North London Collegiate and began a training program at Harrods. At her parents' behest, she also took fashion classes at a nearby school. Soon she gave them up, saying, "You either know fashion or you don't."Oppenheimer, 51. Another older boyfriend, Richard Neville, gave her her first experience of magazine production at his popular and controversial '' Oz''.Oppenheimer, 58–62.

In 1970, when ''Harper's Bazaar UK'' merged with ''Queen'' to become ''Harper's & Queen'', Wintour was hired as one of its first editorial assistants, beginning her career in fashion journalism.Oppenheimer, 63. She told her co-workers that she wanted to edit ''Vogue''.Oppenheimer, 70. While there, she discovered model Annabel Hodin, a former North London classmate. Her connections helped her secure locations for innovative shoots by Helmut Newton, Jim Lee and other trend-setting photographers.Oppenheimer, 81. "She quickly built up a reputation of being able to round up the best people and locations, mainly because of her connections through her father, pals like Nigel Dempster, and other well-placed people she met socially." One recreated the works of Renoir and Manet using models in go-go boots.Metropolitan Museum of Art; 12 January 1999
Anna Wintour elected honorary trustee
Retrieved 6 December 2006. After chronic disagreements with her rival, Min Hogg,Oppenheimer, 96. she quit and moved to New York with her boyfriend, freelance journalist Jon Bradshaw.Oppenhimer, 100.

New York City

In her new home, she became a junior fashion editor at ''Harper's Bazaar'' in New York City in 1975. Wintour's innovative shoots led editor Tony Mazzola to fire her after nine months.Oppenheimer, 109. She was reportedly introduced to Bob Marley by one of Bradshaw's friends, and disappeared with him for a week;Oppenheimer, 107. in a 2017 appearance on ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'', she said she had never actually met the reggae legend, but certainly would have "hooked up" with him if she had. A few months later, Bradshaw helped her get her first position as a fashion editor, at ''Viva'', a women's adult magazine started by Kathy Keeton, then wife of '' Penthouse'' publisher Bob Guccione. She has rarely discussed working there, due to that connection.Oppenheimer, p. 118. This was the first job at which she was able to hire a personal assistant, which began her reputation as a demanding and difficult boss.Oppenheimer, p. 120.

In late 1978, Guccione shut down the unprofitable magazine. Wintour decided to take some time off from work. She broke up with Bradshaw and began a relationship with French record producer Michel Esteban, for two years dividing her time with him between Paris and New York.Oppenheimer, 152. She returned to work in 1980, succeeding Elsa Klensch as fashion editor for a new women's magazine named ''Savvy''.Larson, Christina; April 2005
From Venus To Minerva
; ''Washington Monthly''. Retrieved 11 December 2006. It sought to appeal to career-conscious professional women who spent their own money,Oppenheimer, p. 159. the readers Wintour would later target at ''Vogue''.Fortini, Amanda; 10 February 2005

''Slate''. Retrieved 6 December 2006.

The following year, she became fashion editor of ''New York.'' There, the fashion spreads and photo shoots she had been putting together for years finally began attracting attention. Editor Edward Kosner sometimes bent very strict rules for her and let her work on other sections of the magazine. She learned through her work on a cover involving Rachel Ward how effectively celebrity covers sold copies.Oppenheimer, 188. "Anna saw the celebrity thing coming before everyone else did", Grace Coddington said three decades later.''The September Issue'', 1:12:00. A former colleague arranged for an interview with ''Vogue'' editor Grace Mirabella that ended when Wintour told Mirabella she wanted her job.Gray, 4.Oppenheimer, p. 190.

Condé Nast

She went to work at ''Vogue'' when Alex Liberman, who was then the editorial director for Condé Nast and publisher of ''Vogue'', talked to Wintour about a position there in 1983. She eventually accepted after a bidding war that doubled her salary, becoming the magazine's first creative director, a position with vaguely defined responsibilities.Oppenheimer, p. 207. Her changes to the magazine were often made without Mirabella's knowledge, causing friction among the staff.Oppenheimer, pp. 208–10. She began dating child psychiatrist David Shaffer, an older acquaintance from London.Oppenheimer, 193. They married in 1984.Oppenheimer, p. 223.

In 1985, Wintour attained her first editorship, taking over the UK edition of ''Vogue'' after Beatrix Miller retired.Oppenheimer, 230. Once in charge, she replaced many of the staff and exerted far more control over the magazine than any previous editor had, earning the nickname "Nuclear Wintour" in the process.Oppenheimer, 243. Those editors who were retained began to refer to the period as "The Wintour of Our Discontent".Oppenheimer, 240. Her changes moved the magazine from its traditional eccentricity to a direction more in line with the American magazine. Wintour's ideal reader was the same woman ''Savvy'' had tried to reach. "There's a new kind of woman out there", she told the ''Evening Standard.'' "She's interested in business and money. She doesn't have time to shop anymore. She wants to know what and why and where and how."

In 1987, Wintour returned to New York to take over '' House & Garden.'' Its circulation had long lagged behind rival ''Architectural Digest,''Oppenheimer, 269. and Condé Nast hoped she could improve it. Again, she made radical changes to staff and look, canceling $2 million worth of photo spreads and articles in her first week.Zuckerman, Lawrence; 13 June 1988
The Dynamic Duo at Condé Nast
''Time''. Retrieved 8 February 2007. She put so much fashion in photo spreads that it became known as ''House & Garment'', and enough celebrities that it was referred to as ''Vanity Chair'', within the industry. These changes worsened the magazine's problems. When the title was shortened to just ''HG'', many longtime subscribers thought they were getting a new magazine and put it aside for the real thing to arrive. Most of those subscriptions were eventually canceled and, while some fashion advertisers came over, most of the magazine's traditional advertisers pulled out.Oppenheimer, 271.

Ten months later, she became editor of US ''Vogue''. Industry insiders worried that under Mirabella, the magazine was losing ground to the recently introduced American edition of ''Elle''. After making sweeping changes in staff, she changed the style of the cover pictures. Mirabella had preferred tight head shots of well-known models in studios; Wintour's covers showed more of the body and were taken outside, like those Diana Vreeland had done years earlier. She used less well-known models, and mixed inexpensive clothes with high fashion: the first issue she was in charge of, November 1988, featured a Peter Lindbergh photograph of 19-year-old Michaela Bercu in a $50 pair of faded jeans and a bejeweled jacket by Christian Lacroix worth $10,000. It was the first time a ''Vogue'' cover model had worn jeans; when the printer saw it they called the magazine's offices, thinking it was the wrong image.

In 2012, Wintour reflected on the cover:

Years later, Wintour admitted the photo had never been planned as the cover shot. In 2011, when ''Vogue'' put its entire archive online, Wintour was quoted as saying, "I just said, 'Well, let's just try this.' And off we went. It was just very natural. To me it just said, 'This is something new. This is something different.' The printers called to make sure that was supposed to be the cover, as they thought a mistake might have been made." In 2015, she said if she had to pick a favorite of her covers, it would be that one. " was a leap of faith and it was certainly a big change for ''Vogue''."

"Wintour's approach hit a nerve—this was the way real women put clothes together (with the likely exception of wearing multi-thousand-dollar T-shirts)", one reviewer says. On the June 1989 cover, model Estelle Lefebure was shown in wet hair, with just a bathrobe and no apparent makeup. Photographers, makeup artists, and hairstylists got credited along with the models. In August 2014, Gigi Hadid paid tribute to Wintour's first cover.

She exerts a great deal of control over the magazine's visual content. Since her first days as editor, she has required that photographers not begin until she has approved Polaroids of the setup and clothing. Afterwards, they must submit all their work to the magazine, not just their personal choices.Oppenheimer, p. 244.

Her control over the text is less certain. Her staff claim she reads everything written for publication,Oppenheimer, 325. but former editor Richard Story has claimed she rarely, if ever, reads any of ''Vogue''s arts coverage or book reviews.Oppenheimer, 326. Earlier in her career, she often left writing of the text that accompanied her layouts to others; former coworkers claim she has minimal skills in that area.Oppenheimer, pp. 70–71, 123–24, 161–62, 179–80. Today, she writes little for the magazine save the monthly editor's letter. She reportedly has three full-time assistants but sometimes surprises callers by answering the phone herself.Horyn, "Citizen Anna", 2.

1990s

Under her editorship, the magazine renewed its focus on fashion and returned to the prominence it had held under Vreeland. ''Vogue'' held its position as market leader against three contenders: ''Elle''; ''Harper's Bazaar'', which had lured away Liz Tilberis, Wintour's most prominent deputy, and ''Mirabella'', a magazine Rupert Murdoch created for Wintour's fired predecessor. Her most serious competitor was within the company: Tina Brown, editor of ''Vanity Fair'' and later ''The New Yorker''.Oppenheimer, pp. 293–96.

At the end of the decade, another of Wintour's inner circle left to run ''Harper's Bazaar''. Kate Betts, seen as Wintour's likely successor, had broadened the magazine's reach by commissioning stories with a more hard-news edge, about women in politics, street culture, and the financial difficulties of some major designers. She had also added the "Index" section, a few pages of tips meant to be torn out of the magazine. At staff meetings, she earned Wintour's respect as the only person who publicly challenged her.Gray, pg. 2.

The two began to disagree about the magazine's direction. Betts felt ''Vogue'' fashion coverage was getting too limited. Wintour in turn thought that the stories with popular culture angles Betts was assigning were beneath readers, and began pairing Betts with Plum Sykes, whom Betts reportedly detested as a "pretentious airhead". Eventually, she left, complaining to ''The New York Times'' that Wintour had not even sent her a baby gift. Wintour wrote an editor's letter that complimented Betts and wished her well.Gray, pg. 3.

2000s

Betts was one of several longtime editors to leave ''Vogue'' around the new millennium. A year later, Sykes, another putative successor, left to concentrate on her best-selling novels set in the city's upper classes and a screenplay. A number of other editors also left to assume the top jobs at other publications. While some of their replacements did not last, a new group of core editors formed.

The September 2004 issue was 832 pages, the largest issue of a monthly magazine ever published at that time, since exceeded by the September 2007 issue Cutler's documentary covered. Wintour oversaw the introduction of three spinoffs: ''Teen Vogue'', ''Vogue Living'' and '' Men's Vogue.'' ''Teen Vogue'' has published more ad pages and earned more advertiser revenue than either '' Elle Girl'' and ''Cosmo Girl'', and the 164 ad pages in the début issue of '' Men's Vogue'' were the most for a first issue in Condé Nast history. ''AdAge'' named her "Editor of the Year" for this brand expansion."Magazine Editor of the Year: Anna Wintour"
''Advertising Age'', 22 October 2006. Retrieved 8 February 2007.

Queen Elizabeth II appointed her Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.Anna Wintour awarded OBE
''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 14 June 2008. However, 2008 was generally difficult year for ''Vogue'', as the economy worsened. After ruffling feathers at the Milan shows in February, the April issue's cover image of LeBron James and Gisele Bündchen brought criticism for its evocation of racial stereotypes. The next month a lavish Karl Lagerfeld gown she wore to the Met's Costume Institute Gala was called "the worst fashion ''faux pas'' of 2008". In the fall, ''Vogue Living'' was suspended indefinitely, and ''Men's Vogue'' cut back to two issues a year as an outsert or supplement to the women's magazine. At the end of the year, December's cover highlighted a disparaging comment Jennifer Aniston made about Angelina Jolie, to the former's displeasure; media observers began speculating that Wintour had lost her touch.

In 2008, rumours arose that she would retire, and be replaced by French ''Vogue'' editor Carine Roitfeld. An editor at Russian '' GQ'' reportedly introduced Russian ''Vogue'' editor Aliona Doletskaya as the next editor of American ''Vogue''. Condé Nast responded by taking out a full-page ad in ''The New York Times'' defending her record. In that same publication, Cathy Horyn later wrote that while Wintour had not lost her touch, the magazine had become "stale and predictable", as a reader had recently complained. "To read ''Vogue'' in recent years is to wonder about the peculiar fascination for the 'villa in Tuscany' story", Horyn added. The magazine also dealt awkwardly with the recession, she commented.

In 2009, Wintour began making more media appearances. On a ''60 Minutes'' profile, she said she would not retire. "To me this is a really interesting time to be in this position and I think it would be in a way irresponsible not to put my best foot forward and lead us into a different time."Safer, 4. A documentary film, '' The September Issue'', by '' The War Room'' producer R.J. Cutler, about the production of the September 2007 issue, was released in September. It focused on the sometimes-difficult relationship between Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington. Wintour appeared on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' to promote it, defending the relevance of fashion in a tough economy. The American Society of Magazine Editors elected her to its Hall of Fame in 2010.

2010s

In 2013, Condé Nast announced she would be taking on the position of artistic director for the company's magazines while remaining at ''Vogue''. She assumed some of the responsibilities of Si Newhouse, the company's longtime chairman, who, in his mid-80s at the time, was retreating from his role at Condé Nast to oversee managing Advance Publications, its parent company. A company spokesman told ''The New York Times'' the position was created to keep Wintour. She described it as "an extension of what I am doing, but on a broader scale."

In January 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art named its Costume Institute complex after Wintour; First Lady Michelle Obama opened it in May of that year. Wintour starred in '' The Fashion Fund'', which aired on Ovation TV that year as well; she was named the 39th most powerful woman in the world by ''Forbes''.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of '' The Devil Wears Prada'' release, in 2016, '' The Ringer'' noted how Wintour's personal image had evolved since that film's depiction of Miranda Priestley. "A decade ago this summer, Wintour became a living, breathing avatar for a certain kind of boss—the terrible kind, with 'great' a halfhearted asterisk", wrote Alison Herman. "''The Devil Wears Prada'' transformed Wintour's image from that of a mere public figure into that of a cultural icon."

But since then, "Wintour isn't just redeemed. She's openly admired, Arctic chill and all." The grievances reflected in the novel and film " eemlike an increasingly petty complaint when held up against a readership that remains well into the seven figures and the undisputed edge in ad sales that comes with it. Wintour is seemingly the only person on earth who knows how to run a steady print operation in 2016 ... At 10 years old, Miranda Priestley is iconic but ever-so-slightly out of date. Anna Wintour is still the boss..."

In a May 2017 ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Wintour was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to fashion and journalism. According to a January 2017 report in ''The Nation'', an American news magazine, it was rumored that Wintour would have become the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom had Hillary Clinton been elected President of the United States the previous November.

2020s

In May 2020, former editor-at-large, André Leon Talley, released his second memoir, ''The Chiffon Trenches'', which exposed Talley and Wintour's personal fall out in 2018 after he was discontinued as ''Vogue''s Met Gala red carpet reporter.

Following the murder of George Floyd, Wintour was reported to have issued an apology to staff for ''Vogue''s complicity in racism, stating the magazine had "not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators".

On 15 December 2020, Condé Nast promoted Wintour to the role of chief content officer, worldwide, as part of a restructuring the company unveiled. In addition, she will be working as global editorial director of ''Vogue''.

Influence in fashion industry

Through the years, she has come to be regarded as one of the most powerful people in fashion, setting trends, and anointing new designers. Industry publicists often hear "Do you want me to go to Anna with this?" when they have differences with her subordinates. ''The Guardian'' has called her the "unofficial mayoress" of New York City.Pilkington, Ed; 5 December 2006
Central Bark
''The Guardian''. Retrieved 6 December 2006. She has encouraged fashion houses such as Christian Dior to hire younger, fresher designers such as John Galliano. Her influence extends outside fashion. She persuaded Donald Trump to let Marc Jacobs use a ballroom at the Plaza Hotel for a show when Jacobs and his partner were short of cash. In 2006, she persuaded Brooks Brothers to hire the relatively unknown Thom Browne.Horyn, "Citizen Anna", 1. A protégée at ''Vogue'', Plum Sykes, became a successful novelist, drawing her settings from New York's fashionable élite.

Her salary was reported to be $2 million a year in 2005.26 September 2005
Who Makes How Much – New York's Salary Guide
''New York''. Retrieved 3 March 2007. In addition, she receives several perks, such as a chauffeured Mercedes S-Class (both in New York and abroad), a $200,000 shopping allowance, and the Coco Chanel Suite at the Hotel Ritz Paris while attending European fashion shows. Condé Nast president S.I. Newhouse had the company make her an interest-free $1.6 million loan to purchase her townhouse in Greenwich Village.Oppenheimer, pg. 29.

Personal life

At the age of 15, Wintour began dating well-connected, older men. She was involved briefly with Piers Paul Read, then 24.Oppenheimer, 31–35. In her later teens, she and gossip columnist Nigel Dempster became a fixture on the London club circuit.Oppenheimer, 36–37.

She had two children with David Shaffer following their 1984 marriage: Charles (Charlie) born 1985 and Katherine (known as Bee) born 1987. Charlie is a graduate of the University of Oxford and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Bee graduated from Columbia University in 2009 and wrote occasional columns for ''The Daily Telegraph'' in 2006,Alexander, Hilary; 15 February 2006
Wintour comes in from the cold
''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 7 February 2007. but says she will not follow her mother into fashion.''The September Issue'', 0:35. Bee married Italian-born director Francesco Carrozzini, son of '' Vogue Italia'' editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani in 2018.

Wintour and Shaffer divorced in 1999. Newspapers and gossip columnists claimed her affair with investor Shelby Bryan ended the marriage.Oppenheimer, 341–42, She declined to comment.Gray, 1.Oppenheimer, 342. A former colleague quoted in the '' Observer'' says that Bryan has mellowed her and that " e smiles now and has been seen to laugh".25 June 2006;
Meet the acid queen of New York fashion
; ''The Observer''. Retrieved 7 February 2007. Wintour split with Bryan in 2020.

Wintour is also involved with charities. She serves as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where she has organised benefits that have raised $50 million for the museum's Costume Institute. She began the CFDA/Vogue Fund in order to encourage, support and mentor unknown fashion designers. She has also raised over $10 million for AIDS charities since 1990, by organising various high-profile benefits.

As of 2016, Wintour lived in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan.Kurutz, Steven
"What Do Anna Wintour and Bob Dylan Have in Common? This Secret Garden"
''The New York Times'', 28 September 2016. Accessed 3 November 2016. "The house is part of the Macdougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District, a landmarked community of 21 row homes, with 11 lining Macdougal Street and 10 running parallel on Sullivan Street." She says she rises at 5:30 a.m., plays tennis and has her hair and makeup done, then gets to ''Vogue''s offices two hours later. She always arrives at fashion shows well before their scheduled start. "I use the waiting time to make phone calls and notes; I get some of my best ideas at the shows", she says.

At work

According to the BBC documentary series ''Boss Woman'', she rarely stays at parties for more than 20 minutes at a time and goes to bed by 10:15 every night.

She often turns her mobile phone off in order to eat her lunch, usually a steak (or bunless hamburger), undisturbed. Amiel, Barbara
The 'Devil' I know
, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 2 July 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2007. High-protein meals have been a habit of hers for a long time. "It was smoked salmon and scrambled eggs " for lunch, says a co-worker at ''Harpers & Queen''. "She would eat nothing else."

Personal fashion preferences

Because of her position, Wintour's wardrobe is often closely scrutinised and imitated. Earlier in her career, she mixed fashionable T-shirts and vests with designer jeans. When she started at ''Vogue'' as creative director, she switched to Chanel suits with miniskirts. She continued to wear them during both pregnancies, opening the skirts slightly in back and keeping her jacket on to cover up.Oppenheimer, 229. Wintour was listed as "one of the 50 best-dressed over 50s" by ''The Guardian'' in March 2013. Aside from sporting Chanel suits with midiskirts, Wintour has also been seen wearing kitten heels & printed midi-dresses.

According to biographer Jerry Oppenheimer, her ubiquitous sunglasses are actually corrective lenses, since she has deteriorating vision as her father did. A former colleague he interviewed recalls trying on her Wayfarers in her absence and getting dizzy.Oppenheimer, 215–16. "I think at this point they've become, you know, really armour", Wintour herself told ''60 Minutes'' correspondent Morley Safer, explaining that they allow her to keep her reactions to a show private.Safer, 3. As she rebounded from the end of her marriage and the turnover in the magazine's editorial staff, a fellow editor and friend noted that "she's not hiding behind her glasses anymore. Now she's having fun again."

Politics

Wintour has been a supporter of the Democratic Party since Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate run and John Kerry's 2004 presidential run. She also served Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 presidential runs as a " bundler" of contributions. In 2008 and 2012, she co-hosted fundraisers with Sarah Jessica Parker, the latest being a 50-person, $40,000-per-person dinner at Parker's West Village town house with Meryl Streep, Michael Kors, and Trey Laird, an advertising executive, among the attendees. She has also teamed with Calvin Klein and Harvey Weinstein on fundraisers during Obama's first term and Donna Karan has been among the attendees. In 2013 when ''Vogue''s former director of communications stepped down, Wintour was rumoured to be looking to hire someone with a political background. Soon after, Wintour hired Hildy Kuryk, a former fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee and Obama's first campaign. She supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, forming part of Clinton's long list of wealthy donors or "Hillblazers" as well as serving as Clinton's consultant on her wardrobe choices for key moments of the campaign. Wintour endorsed Joe Biden for the 2020 United States presidential election.

''The Devil Wears Prada''

Lauren Weisberger, a former Wintour assistant who left ''Vogue'' for '' Departures'' along with Richard Story, wrote '' The Devil Wears Prada'' after a writing workshop he suggested she take. It was eagerly anticipated for its supposed insider portrait of Wintour prior to its publication. Wintour told ''The New York Times'', "I always enjoy a great piece of fiction. I haven't decided whether I am going to read it or not."Carr, David; 17 February 2003
Anna Wintour Steps Toward Fashion's New Democracy
''The New York Times''. Retrieved 10 December 2006. While it has been suggested that the fashion magazine setting and Miranda Priestly character were based on ''Vogue'' and Wintour, Weisberger claims she drew not only from her own experiences but those of her friends as well. Wintour herself makes a cameo appearance near the end of the book,Weisberger, 322. "Immediately I recognized Anna Wintour, looking absolutely ravishing in a cream-colored slip dress and beaded Manolo sandals. She was talking animatedly to a man I presumed to be her boyfriend, although her giant Chanel sunglasses prevented me from being able to tell if she was amused, indifferent or sobbing. The press loved to compare the antics and attitudes of Anna and Miranda, but I found it impossible to believe that anyone could be quite as unbearable as my boss." where it is said she and Miranda dislike each other.Weisberger, 348. "'Maybe I should try to work for one of her enemies? They'd be happy to hire me, right' Sure. Send your resume over to Anna Wintour—they've never liked each other very much."

In the novel, Priestly has many similarities to Wintour—among them, she is British, has two children,Weisberger, 38–39. "I had Googled her and was surprised to find Miranda Priestly was born Miriam Princhek in London's East End ... Her rough, Cockney-girl accent was soon replaced by a carefully cultivated, educated one ... She moved her two daughters and her then rock-star husband ..." and is described as a major contributor to the Met.Weisberger, 267. Priestly is a tyrant who makes impossible demands of her subordinates, gives them almost none of the information or time necessary to comply and then berates them for their failures to do so.Weisberger, 145. "''Ah yes. Mrs. Whitmore. I am a lucky girl ''indeed''. I'm so lucky, you have no idea. I can't tell you how lucky I felt when I was sent out to get tampons for my boss, only to be told that I'd bought the wrong ones and asked why I do nothing right. And luck is probably the only way to explain why I get to sort another person's sweat- and food-stained clothing each morning before eight and arrange to have it cleaned. Oh wait! I think what actually makes me luckiest of all is getting to talk to breeders all over the tristate area for three straight weeks in search of the perfect French bulldog puppy so two incredibly spoiled and unfriendly little girls can each have their own pet. Yes, that's it!''"

Kate Betts, who had been fired by Harper's after two years during which staffers said she tried too hard to emulate Wintour, reviewed it harshly in ''The New York Times Book Review'':

Priestly has some positive qualities. Andrea Sachs, the novel's main character, notes that she makes all the magazine's key editorial decisions by herselfWeisberger, 208. "Miranda was as far as I could tell, a truly fantastic editor. Not a single word of copy made it into the magazine without her explicit, hard-to-obtain approval ... Although the various fashion editors called in the clothes they wanted to shoot, Miranda alone selected the looks she wanted and which models she wanted wearing each one ... at made her, in my mind, the main reason for the magazine's stunning success each month. ''Runway'' wouldn't be ''Runway'' — hell, it wouldn't be much of anything at all – without Miranda Priestly. I knew it and so did everyone else." and that she has genuine class and style.Weisberger, 271–72. "I never grew tired of watching Miranda. She was the true lady and the envy of every woman in the museum that night." "I never for one second didn't know it was an amazing opportunity to assist Anna", Weisberger said in 2008.

Film adaptation

During the production of '' The Devil Wears Prada'' in 2005, Wintour was reportedly threatening prominent fashion personalities, particularly designers, that ''Vogue'' would not cover them if they made cameo appearances in the movie as themselves. She denied it through a spokesperson who said she was interested in anything that "supports fashion". Many designers are mentioned in the film. Only one, Valentino Garavani, appeared as himself.

The film was released, in mid-2006, to great commercial success.The Devil Wears Prada
at boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 8 February 2007. Wintour attended the première wearing Prada. In the film, actress Meryl Streep plays a Priestly different enough from the book's to receive critical praise as an entirely original (and more sympathetic) character. (Streep's office in the film was similar enough to Wintour's that Wintour reportedly had hers redecorated.)

Wintour reportedly said the film would probably go straight to DVD. It made over $300 million in worldwide box office receipts. Later in 2006, in an interview with Barbara Walters that aired the day of the DVD's release, Wintour said she found the film "really entertaining" and praised it for making fashion "entertaining and glamorous and interesting ... I was 100 percent behind it."

That opinion of the movie has not yet led her to forgive Weisberger.Oppenheimer, 328. When it was reported that the novelist's editor told her to start her third novel over, Wintour's spokesman suggested she "should get a job as someone else's assistant."

Oppenheimer suggests ''The Devil Wears Prada'' may have done Wintour a favour by increasing her name recognition. "Besides giving Weisberger her fifteen minutes", he says, " t... place Anna squarely in the mainstream celebrity pantheon. hewas now known and talked about over Big Macs and french fries under the Golden Arches by young fashionistas in Wal-Mart denim in Davenport and Dubuque."

When ''The September Issue'' was released three years later, critics compared it with the earlier, fictional film. "For the past year or so, she's been on the media warpath to win back her image", said Paul Schrodt in ''Slant Magazine''. Many considered the question of how similar she was to Streep's Priestly, and praised the film for showing the real person. Manohla Dargis at ''The New York Times'' said that Priestly had helped humanise Wintour, and "the documentary continues this". "The movie offers insights that lift it beyond a realist version of ''The Devil Wears Prada''", agreed Mary Pols in ''Time''.

The film version of the Weisberger novel (screenplay penned by Aline Brosh McKenna) has not been the only movie to have a character borrowing some aspects of Wintour. Edna Mode's similar hairstyle in ''The Incredibles'' has been noted, Johnny Depp said he partially based the demeanour of Willy Wonka in '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' on Wintour. Fey Sommers in the ''Ugly Betty'' television series was also likened to Wintour, from the trademark bob and sunglasses, to Wintour's last name homophonous with 'Winter', while Sommers' is homophonous with 'Summer'.

Criticism

In 2005, two years after ''The Devil Wears Prada'', Oppenheimer's ''Front Row: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor in Chief'' was published. It painted a similar portrait of the real woman. According to Oppenheimer, Wintour not only declined his requests for an interview but discouraged others from talking to him.Oppenheimer, ''xi''

Personality

Wintour is often described as emotionally distant by those who have come to know her well, even her close friends. "At some stage in her career, Anna Wintour stopped being Anna Wintour and became 'Anna Wintour,' at which point, like wings of a stately home, she closed off large sections of her personality to the public", wrote ''The Guardian''. "I think she enjoys not being completely approachable. Just her office is very intimidating. You have to walk about a mile into the office before you get to her desk and I'm sure it's intentional", Coddington says. "I don't find her to be accessible to people she doesn't need to be accessible to", agrees ''Vogue'' publisher Tom Florio.''The September Issue'', 0:11.

She has said she admired her father Charles, known as "Chilly Charlie" for being "inscrutable". Former coworkers told Oppenheimer of a similar aloofness on her part. But she is also known for volatile outbursts of displeasure, and the widely used "Nuclear Wintour" sobriquet is a result of both. She dislikes it enough to have asked ''The New York Times'' not to use it. "There are times I get quite angry", she admitted in ''The September Issue''.''The September Issue'', 1:11.

"I think she has been very rude to a lot of people in the past, on her way up – very terse", a friend told ''The Observer''. "She doesn't do small talk. She is never going to be friends with her assistant." Junior staff at ''Vogue'' are said to understand, through unwritten rules, that they should not initiate interactions with her; it has been said that they are discouraged from riding an elevator with her, and if they do, should not speak to her, though Wintour has called this an exaggeration.Stummer, Robin; 18 June 2006;
Nuclear Wintour: The Movie
; ''The Independent on Sunday''. Retrieved 7 February 2007. In a 1999 profile, journalist Kevin Gray observed that one staffer appeared "panic stricken" when she realised she would have to be in the elevator with Wintour. Gray also reports that another employee told him that she once saw Wintour trip in a hallway, walked past her without offering assistance, and was later told she "did the right thing."

Even friends admit to some trepidation in her presence. "Anna happens to be a friend of mine", says Barbara Amiel, "a fact which is of absolutely no help in coping with the cold panic that grips me whenever we meet." "I know when to stop pushing her", says Coddington. "She doesn't know when to stop pushing me."''The September Issue'', 32:15.

She has often been described as a perfectionist who routinely makes impossible, arbitrary demands of subordinates: "kitchen scissors at work", in the words of one commentator. She once made a junior staffer look through a photographer's trash to find a picture he had refused to give her. In a deleted scene from ''The September Issue'', she complains about the "horrible white plastic buckets" of ice behind the bars at the CFDA's 7th on Sale AIDS benefit and moves them out of sight.''The September Issue'', "7th on Sale" 4:30. "The notion that Anna would want something done 'now' and not 'shortly' is accurate", Amiel says of ''The Devil Wears Prada''. "Anna wants what she wants right away." A longtime assistant says, "She throws you in the water and you'll either sink or swim."Oppenheimer, 192.

Peter Braunstein, a former ''Women's Wear Daily'' media reporter convicted of sexually assaulting a coworker, allegedly planned to kill Wintour because of perceived slights. After receiving only one ticket to the 2002 ''Vogue'' Fashion Awards, which he perceived as a snub, his anger cost him his job. At his 2007 trial, prosecutors introduced as evidence a journal he kept on his computer in which he stated his intention to kill Wintour. In it he wrote, "She just never talked to peons like us" to justify his intended actions.Italiano, Laura; 15 May 2007;
'Devil'ish Plot To Murder Wintour
; ''New York Post''. Retrieved 15 May 2007.

On one occasion she had to pay for her treatment of employees. In 2004, a court ruled that she and Shaffer were to pay $104,403, and Wintour herself an additional $32,639, to settle a lawsuit brought against them by the New York State Workers' Compensation Board. They had failed to pay the $140,000 judgement against them by a former employee of theirs (not the magazine) injured on the job, who did not have the necessary insurance coverage.Bastone, William; 18 May 2004
Wintour In $140,000 Worker's Comp Default
''The Smoking Gun''. Retrieved 10 December 2006.

In the 2000s, her relationship with Bryan was credited with softening her personality at work. "Even when she's in a bad mood, she has a different posture ..is that she's so much more mellow and easier to work for", someone described as a "Wintour watcher" told ''The New York Observer'' in 2000.

Pro-fur stance

She has often been the target of animal rights organisations like PETA, who are angered by her use of fur in ''Vogue'', her pro-fur editorials and her refusal to run paid advertisements from animal rights organisations. Undeterred, she continues to use fur in photo spreads, saying there is always a way to wear it.''The September Issue'', 0:05. "Nobody was wearing fur until she put it on the cover in the early 1990s", says ''Vogue'' co-worker Tom Florio. "She ignited the entire industry."''The September Issue'', 0:09

She has "lost count" of the times she has been physically attacked by activists. In Paris in October 2005, she was hit with a tofu pie while waiting to get into the Chloé show. On another occasion, an activist dumped a dead raccoon on her plate at a restaurant; she told the waiter to remove it. She and ''Vogue'' publisher Ron Galotti once retaliated for a protest outside the Condé Nast offices during the company's annual Christmas party by sending down a plate of roast beef.

Others outside of the animal rights community have raised the fur issue. Fashion journalist Peter Braunstein wrote in his manifesto that she would go to a hell guarded by large rats, where it would be so warm she would not need to wear fur. Pamela Anderson, in an early 2008 interview, said Wintour was the living person she most despised "because she bullies young designers and models to use and wear fur."

Elitism

Another common criticism of Wintour's editorship focuses on ''Vogue'' increasing use of celebrities on the cover, and her insistence on making them meet her standards.Derrick, Robin; 6 November 2006
In 'Vogue' for 90 Years
''The Independent''. Retrieved 12 August 2009.Landman, Beth, and Mitchell, Deborah; 28 September 1998

''New York''. Retrieved 2 March 2007. She reportedly told Oprah Winfrey to lose weight before her cover photograph. Likewise, Hillary Clinton was told not to wear a blue suit. At the 2005 Anglomania celebration, a ''Vogue''-sponsored salute to British fashion at the Met, Wintour is said to have personally chosen the clothes for prominent attendees such as Jennifer Lopez, Kate Moss, Donald Trump, and Diane von Fürstenberg. "I don't think Vreeland had that kind of concentration", says ''Women's Wear Daily'' publisher Patrick McCarthy. "She wouldn't have dressed Babe Paley. Nor would Babe Paley have let her." By persuading designers to lend clothes to prominent socialites and celebrities, who are then photographed wearing the clothes not only in ''Vogue'' but more general-interest magazines like ''People'' and '' Us'', which in turn influence what buyers want, some in the industry believe Wintour is exerting too much control over it, especially since she is not involved in making or producing clothes herself. "The end result is that Anna can control it all the way to the selling floor", says Candy Pratts Price, executive fashion director at style.com. She has been credited with killing grunge fashion in the early 1990s, when it was not selling well, by telling designers if they continued to avoid glamour their looks would not be photographed for ''Vogue''. All complied.

Another ''Vogue'' writer has complained Wintour excluded ordinary working women, many of whom are regular subscribers, from the pages. "She's obsessed only about reflecting the aspirations of a certain class of reader", she says. "We once had a piece about breast cancer which started with an airline stewardess, but she wouldn't have a stewardess in the magazine so we had to go and look for a high-flying businesswoman who'd had cancer."

Wintour has been accused of setting herself apart even from peers. "I do not think fiction could surpass the reality", a British fashion magazine editor says of ''The Devil Wears Prada''. " t in this instance is only a poor imitation of life." Wintour, the editor says, routinely requests to be seated out of sight of competing editors at shows. "We spend our working lives telling people which it-bag to carry but Anna is so above the rest of us she does not even have a handbag."

At Milan Fashion Week in 2008, she requested that some key shows be rescheduled for earlier in the week so she and other U.S.-based editors could have time to return home before the Paris shows. This led to complaints. Other editors said they had to rush through the earlier shows, and lesser-known designers who had to show later were denied an important audience. Dolce & Gabbana said Italian fashion was getting short shrift and Milan was becoming a "circus without sense".Moore, Malcolm; 22 February 2008;
Dolce & Gabbana slams Milan Fashion Week
; ''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 23 February 2008.

Giorgio Armani, who at the time was co-chairing a Met exhibition on superheroes' costumes with Wintour, drew some attention for his personal remarks. "Maybe what she thinks is a beautiful dress, I wouldn't think was a beautiful dress", he said. While he claimed he could not understand why people disliked her, saying he himself was indifferent, he expressed hope she had not made a comment once attributed to her that "the Armani era is over". He accused her of preferring French and American fashion over Italian.Peck, Sally; 21 February 2008;
Giorgio Armani attacks Vogue's Anna Wintour
; ''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 23 February 2008. Geoffrey Beene, who stopped inviting Wintour to shows after she stopped writing about him, called her "a boss lady in four-wheel drive who ignores or abandons those who do not fuel her tank. As an editor, she has turned class into mass, taste into waste."

Her remarks about obesity have caused controversy on more than one occasion. In 2005, Wintour was heavily criticised by the New York chapter of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance after ''Vogue'' editor-at-large André Leon Talley said on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', at one point, Wintour demanded he lose weight. "Most of the ''Vogue'' girls are so thin, tremendously thin", he said, "because Miss Anna don't like fat people." In 2009, residents of Minneapolis took umbrage after she told ''60 Minutes'' she could "only kindly describe most of the people I saw as little houses." They noted their city had been named the third fittest in the nation that year by '' Men's Fitness'' while New York had been named the fifth fattest.

Wintour surprised observers when developing an association with the Kardashian family and Kanye West, which culminated in having the Kardashian-Wests on a ''Vogue cover''; Wintour reportedly commented that having only "deeply tasteful" people in the magazine was "boring", and her decision to resort to such personalities has led some to accuse the magazine of being "desperate for buzz". Wintour has nevertheless continued the association with the pair.

Responses

Defences of Wintour have often come from others. Amanda Fortini at ''Slate'' said she was comfortable with Wintour's elitism since that was intrinsic to fashion:

Emma Brockes sees this in Wintour herself: " erunwavering ability to look as if she lives within the pages of her magazine has a sort of honesty to it, proof that, whatever one thinks about it, the lifestyle peddled by Vogue is at least physically possible."

"Print publications have to be as luxurious an experience as possible", Wintour explained in 2015. "You have to feel it coming off the page. You have to see photographs and pieces that you couldn't possibly see anywhere else."

Some friends see her purported coldness as just traditional British reserve, or shyness. Brockes says it may be mutual, "partly a reflection of how awkward people are with her, particularly women, who get preemptively chippy when faced with the prospect of meeting Fashion Incarnate."Brockes, Emma; 27 May 2006;
What lies beneath
; ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 23 March 2007. Wintour describes herself as shy, and Harry Connick Jr., who escorted her and Bee to shows in 2007, agrees.Smith, Liz; 12 February 2007
Virginia Gentleman
''New York Post''. Retrieved 12 February 2007. When Morley Safer asked her about complaints about her personality, she said,

She has made similar statements in defence of her reported refusal to hire fat people. "It's important to me that the people that are working here, particularly in the fashion department", she says, "will present themselves in a way that makes sense to the outside world that they work at ''Vogue''."

Her defenders have called criticism sexist. "Powerful women in the media always get inspected more thoroughly than their male counterparts", said ''The New York Times'' in a piece about Wintour shortly after ''The Devil Wears Prada'' release.Carr, David; 10 July 2006;
The Devil Wears Teflon
; ''The New York Times'', retrieved from plainsfeminist.blogspot.com 10 December 2006. When Wintour took over at ''Vogue'', gossip columnist Liz Smith reported rumours she had gotten the job through an affair with Si Newhouse. A reportedly furious Wintour made her anger the subject of one of her first staff meetings; she still complained about the allegation when accepting a media award in 2002.Oppenheimer, 286.

She has been called a feminist whose changes to ''Vogue'' have reflected, acknowledged, and reinforced advances in the status of women. Reviewing Oppenheimer's book in the ''Washington Monthly'', managing editor Christina Larson notes that ''Vogue'', unlike many other women's magazines,
Wintour, unlike Vreeland, "...shifted ''Vogue''s focus from the cult of beauty to the cult of the creation of beauty." To Wintour, the focus on celebrities is a welcome development as it means women are making the cover of ''Vogue'' at least in part for what they have accomplished, not just how they look.

Complaints about her role as fashion '' eminence grise'' are dismissed by those familiar with how she actually exercises it. "She's honest. She tells you what she thinks. Yes is yes and no is no", according to designer Karl Lagerfeld. "She's not too pushy", agrees François-Henri Pinault, chief executive officer of Kering, Gucci's parent company. "She lets you know it's not a problem if you can't do something she wants." Defenders also point out she continued supporting Gucci despite her strong belief Kering should not have let Tom Ford go. Designers such as Alice Roi and Isabel Toledo have flourished without indulging Wintour or ''Vogue''. Her willingness to throw her weight around has helped keep ''Vogue'' independent despite its heavy reliance on advertising dollars. Wintour was the only fashion editor who refused to follow an Armani ultimatum to feature more of its clothes in the magazine's editorial pages, although she has also admitted if she has to choose between two dresses, one by an advertiser and the other not, she will choose the former every time. "Commercial is not a dirty word to me."

Wintour herself, when asked about it, dismisses the notion that she has all the power attributed to her. "I don't think of myself as a powerful person", she told ''Forbes'' in 2011, when it named her 69th on its list of the world's hundred most powerful women. "You know, what does it mean? It means you get a better seat in a restaurant or tickets to a screening or whatever it may be. But it is a wonderful opportunity to be able to help others, and for that I'm extremely grateful."

In response to criticisms like Beene's, she has defended the democratisation of what were once exclusive luxury brands. "It means more people are going to get better fashion", she told Dana Thomas. "And the more people who can have fashion, the better."

See also

* New Yorkers in journalism

References

Works cited

*
*
* Horyn, Cathy (1 February 2007).
Citizen Anna
. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
* Oppenheimer, Jerry (2005). ''Front Row: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor In Chief''. St. Martin's Press, New York. .
*
* Weisberger, Lauren (2003). '' The Devil Wears Prada''. Broadway Books, New York. .

External links

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