Anna Wintour

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Good article Template:Infobox person Dame Anna Wintour (Template:IPAc-en; born 3 November 1949<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) is a British and American<ref>"Obama supporter Anna Wintour reportedly considered for ambassadorial post by administration" Template:Webarchive, The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 August 2016.</ref><ref>Chris Rovzar, "Anna Wintour, Rest of City Turn Out to Vote" Template:Webarchive, New York, November 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2016.</ref> media executive who served as editor-in-chief of Vogue from 1988 to 2025. Currently, Wintour serves as global chief content officer and artist director at Condé Nast.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Known for her trademark pageboy bob haircut and dark sunglasses, Wintour is regarded as the most powerful woman in publishing, and has become an important figure in the fashion world, serving as the lead chairperson of the annual haute couture Met Gala global fashion spectacle in Manhattan since the 1990s. Wintour is praised for her skill in identifying emerging fashion trends, but has been criticised for her reportedly aloof and demanding personality.

Her father, Charles Wintour, who was editor of the London-based Evening Standard from 1959 to 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 and her career in fashion journalism began at two British magazines. Later, she moved to the United States, 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 and unattainable views of femininity and beauty.

A former personal assistant of Wintour, Lauren Weisberger, wrote the bestselling 2003 roman à clef The Devil Wears Prada, which was adapted into a 2006 film starring Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a fashion editor, believed to be based on Wintour. In 2009, Wintour's editorship of Vogue was the original focus of a documentary film, R. J. Cutler's The September Issue. The film's focus switched to the creative teams and more senior fashion editors as filming progressed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Anna Wintour was born in Hampstead, London, to Charles Wintour (1917–1999), editor of the Evening Standard, and Eleanor "Nonie" Trego Baker (1917–1995).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her parents were married in 1940 and divorced in 1979.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wintour was named after her maternal grandmother, Anna Baker (née Gilkyson), a merchant's daughter from Pennsylvania.<ref name="Oppenheimer2">Oppenheimer, 2. "Eleanor Baker, an American, met Wintour at Cambridge University in England in the fall of 1939 ... [Her mother], Anna Gilkyson Baker, for whom Anna Wintour was named, was a charming, matronly, somewhat ditzy society girl from Philadelphia's Main Line ..."</ref> Audrey Slaughter, a magazine editor who founded publications including Honey and Petticoat, was her stepmother.<ref name="Oppenheimer99">Oppenheimer, 99. "...[H]er animosity intensif[ied] after her father married Slaughter."</ref><ref name="The Media in Britain">Template:Cite book</ref>

Wintour's paternal grandfather was Major-General Fitzgerald Wintour, a British military officer and descendant of George Grenville, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Through her paternal grandmother, Alice Jane Blanche Foster, Wintour is a great-great-great-granddaughter of the late-18th-century novelist Lady Elizabeth Foster, who was 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.<ref name="Lady Foster">Template:Cite book</ref> She is a niece of Cordelia James, Baroness James of Rusholme, the daughter of Fitzgerald Wintour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Wintour had four siblings. Her older brother, Gerald, died in a traffic accident as a child.<ref name="Oppenheimer6">Oppenheimer, 6</ref> One of her younger brothers, Patrick, is also a journalist, currently diplomatic editor of The Guardian.<ref name="Patrick Wintour">Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent Template:Webarchive; The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2006</ref><ref name="Camden News Journal story">Template:Cite news</ref>

Wintour attended North London Collegiate School, where she rebelled against the dress code by taking up the hemlines of her skirts.<ref name="Oppenheimer15">Oppenheimer, 15</ref> At the age of 14, she began wearing her hair in a bob.<ref name="Oppenheimer21">Oppenheimer, 21.</ref> She developed an interest in fashion as a regular viewer of Cathy McGowan on Ready Steady Go!,<ref name="Oppenheimer22">Oppenheimer, 22.</ref> and from reading Seventeen, which her grandmother sent from the United States.<ref name="The September Issue 19:05">The September Issue, 0:19.</ref> "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.<ref name="September Issue 18:35">The September Issue, 0:18.</ref> Her father regularly consulted her when he was considering ideas for increasing readership in the youth market.<ref name="Oppenheimer22"/>

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.<ref name="The September Issue 19:05"/> He arranged for his daughter's first job, at the influential Biba boutique, when she was 15.<ref name="Oppenheimer42-44">Oppenheimer, 42–44.</ref> The next year, she left North London Collegiate and began a training program at Harrods. At her parents' behest, she took fashion classes at a nearby school, but soon gave them up, saying, "You either know fashion or you don't."<ref name="Oppenheimer51">Oppenheimer, 51.</ref> An older boyfriend, Richard Neville, gave her her first experience of magazine production at Oz.<ref name="Oppenheimer58-62">Oppenheimer, 58–62.</ref>

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.<ref name="Oppenheimer63">Oppenheimer, 63.</ref> She told her co-workers that she wanted to edit Vogue.<ref name="Oppenheimer70">Oppenheimer, 70.</ref> While there, she discovered model Annabel Hodin, a former North London classmate. Her connections helped her secure locations for shoots by Helmut Newton, Jim Lee<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and other fashion photographers.<ref name="Oppenheimer81">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."</ref> One recreated the works of Renoir and Manet using models in go-go boots.<ref name="Met bio">Metropolitan Museum of Art; 12 January 1999; Anna Wintour elected honorary trustee. Retrieved 6 December 2006. Template:Webarchive</ref> After chronic disagreements with her rival, Min Hogg,<ref name="Oppenheimer96">Oppenheimer, 96.</ref> she quit and moved to New York with her boyfriend, freelance journalist Jon Bradshaw.<ref name="Oppenheimer100">Oppenheimer, 100.</ref>

Ascent in Manhattan

In New York City, she became a junior fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar in 1975.<ref name="Met bio"/> Wintour's innovative shoots led editor Tony Mazzola to fire her after nine months.<ref name="Oppenheimer109">Oppenheimer, 109.</ref> 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 the wife of Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, which she has rarely discussed.<ref name="Oppenheimer118">Oppenheimer, p. 118.</ref> This was the first job at which she was able to hire a personal assistant, marking the start her reputation as a demanding boss.<ref name="Oppenheimer120">Oppenheimer, p. 120.</ref>

In late 1978, Guccione shut down the unprofitable magazine, and 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.<ref name="Oppenheimer152">Oppenheimer, 152.</ref> She returned to work in 1980, succeeding Elsa Klensch as fashion editor for a new women's magazine named Savvy.<ref name="Larson">Larson, Christina; April 2005; From Venus To Minerva Template:Webarchive; Washington Monthly. Retrieved 11 December 2006.</ref> It sought to appeal to career-conscious professional women who spent their own money,<ref name="Oppenheimer159">Oppenheimer, p. 159.</ref> the readers Wintour would later target at Vogue.<ref name="Slate">Fortini, Amanda; 10 February 2005; Defending VogueTemplate:'s evil genius Template:Webarchive; Slate. Retrieved 6 December 2006.</ref>

The following year, she became fashion editor of New York.<ref name="Met bio"/> 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.<ref name="Oppenheimer188">Oppenheimer, 188.</ref> "Anna saw the celebrity thing coming before everyone else did", Grace Coddington said three decades later.<ref name="September Issue 1:12:00">The September Issue, 1:12:00.</ref> A former colleague arranged for an interview with Vogue editor Grace Mirabella that ended when Wintour told Mirabella she wanted her job.<ref name="Kevin Gray profile 4">Gray, 4.</ref><ref name="Oppenheimer190">Oppenheimer, p. 190.</ref>

Condé Nast

She went to work at Vogue when Alex Liberman, then the editorial director for Condé Nast and publisher of Vogue, talked to Wintour about a position there in 1983. She accepted after a bidding war that doubled her salary, becoming the magazine's first creative director, a position with vaguely defined responsibilities.<ref name="Oppenheimer207">Oppenheimer, p. 207.</ref> Her changes to the magazine were often made without Mirabella's knowledge, causing friction among the staff.<ref name="Oppenheimer208-10">Oppenheimer, pp. 208–10.</ref> She began dating child psychiatrist David Shaffer, an older acquaintance from London.<ref name="Oppenheimer193">Oppenheimer, 193.</ref> They married in 1984.<ref name="Oppenheimer223">Oppenheimer, p. 223.</ref>

In 1985, Wintour attained her first editorship, taking over the UK edition of Vogue after Beatrix Miller retired.<ref name="Oppenheimer230">Oppenheimer, 230.</ref> Once in charge, she replaced many of the staff and exerted far more control over the magazine than previous editors, earning the nickname "Nuclear Wintour" in the process.<ref name="Oppenheimer243">Oppenheimer, 243.</ref> Those editors who were retained called the period "The Wintour of Our Discontent".<ref name="Oppenheimer240">Oppenheimer, 240.</ref> Her changes moved the magazine from its traditional eccentricity to a direction more in line with the American magazine. "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."<ref name="Larson"/>

In 1987, Wintour returned to New York City to take over House & Garden. Its circulation had long lagged behind rival Architectural Digest,<ref name="Oppenheimer269">Oppenheimer, 269.</ref> 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.<ref name="Time 1988">Zuckerman, Lawrence; 13 June 1988; The Dynamic Duo at Condé Nast, Time. Retrieved 8 February 2007.</ref> 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.<ref name="Slate"/> 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.<ref name="Oppenheimer269"/> Most of those subscriptions were eventually canceled and, while some fashion advertisers came over, most of the magazine's traditional advertisers pulled out.<ref name="Oppenheimer271">Oppenheimer, 271.</ref>

November 1988 cover of American Vogue magazine, showing model Michaela Bercu, shot from just below the waist in natural outdoor light, wearing a $10,000 jewel-encrusted Christian LaCroix T-shirt with faded 450 jeans. The top headline on the cover reads "The real cost of looking good"

Wintour's first U.S. Vogue cover in November 1988, featuring model Michaela Bercu.

Ten months later, she became editor of U.S. Vogue. Industry insiders worried that under Mirabella, the magazine was losing ground to the recently introduced American edition of Elle.<ref name="Larson"/><ref name="Slate"/> Prior to her appointment as editor of Vogue, Eve Pollard had offered Wintour the position of editor-in-chief at Elle.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After making sweeping changes in staff, Wintour 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.<ref name="Larson"/> 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 T-shirt by Christian Lacroix worth $10,000. It was the first time a Vogue cover model had worn jeans,<ref name="Slate"/> swapped in at the last minute since the skirt Bercu was originally to wear did not fit properly.<ref name="CNN 1988 Vogue cover story">Template:Cite news</ref> When the printer saw it, they called the magazine's offices, thinking it was the wrong image.<ref name="Hadid tribute">Template:Cite web</ref>

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.'"<ref name="CBS News 2011 interview">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2015, she said if she had to pick a favorite of her covers, it would be that one. "[I]t was a leap of faith and it was certainly a big change for Vogue."<ref name="2015 New York interview">Template:Cite news</ref>

"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 said. On the June 1989 cover, model Estelle Lefebure was shown in wet hair, with just a bathrobe and no apparent makeup.<ref name="Slate"/> Photographers, makeup artists, and hairstylists got credited along with the models.<ref name="Larson"/> In August 2014, Gigi Hadid paid tribute to Wintour's first cover.<ref name="Hadid tribute"/>

She exerted 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.<ref name="Oppenheimer244">Oppenheimer, p. 244.</ref>

Her control over the text is less certain. Her staff claim she reads everything written for publication,<ref name="NY Observer Plum Sykes story2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Oppenheimer325">Oppenheimer, 325.</ref> but former editor Richard Story has claimed she rarely, if ever, reads any of VogueTemplate:'s arts coverage or book reviews.<ref name="Oppenheimer326">Oppenheimer, 326.</ref> 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.<ref name="Oppenheimer on poor writing">Oppenheimer, pp. 70–71, 123–24, 161–62, 179–80.</ref> 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.<ref name="Citizen Anna 22">Horyn, "Citizen Anna", 2.</ref>

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.<ref name="Oppenheimer293-96">Oppenheimer, pp. 293–96.</ref>

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.<ref name="Kevin Gray profile 2">Gray, pg. 2.</ref>

The two began to disagree about the magazine's direction. Betts felt VogueTemplate:'s 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.<ref name="Kevin Gray profile 3">Gray, pg. 3.</ref>

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.<ref name="NY Observer Plum Sykes story2"/>

Anna Wintour wearing sunglasses as she walks along a street in Germany

Wintour in Germany, 2006

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 covered in Cutler's documentary.<ref name="Slate"/> 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.<ref name="Folio">Template:Cite web</ref> AdAge named her "Editor of the Year" for this brand expansion.<ref name="Editor of the Year">"Magazine Editor of the Year: Anna Wintour" Template:Webarchive, Advertising Age, 22 October 2006. Retrieved 8 February 2007.</ref>

Wintour was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref name="OBE">Anna Wintour awarded OBE, The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 June 2008.</ref> However, 2008 was a particularly difficult year for Vogue, partially as a result of the Great Recession, but also related to several controversies. The April issue's cover image of LeBron James and Gisele Bündchen brought criticism for its evocation of racial stereotypes.<ref name="Daily Telegraph Lebron cover story">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> 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.<ref name="Men's Vogue folding">Template:Cite news</ref>

A black-and-white photo of Wintour's head with "Save Anna" in white on black in a banner below.

"Save Anna" logo created in response to retirement rumours

In 2008, rumours arose that she would retire, and be replaced by French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld.<ref name="Horyn New Year's 2009 story">Template:Cite news</ref> An editor at Russian GQ reportedly introduced Russian Vogue editor Aliona Doletskaya as the next editor of American Vogue.<ref name="NY mag The Cut">Template:Cite web</ref> Condé Nast responded by taking out a two-page ad in The New York Times defending Wintour's 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.<ref name="Horyn New Year's 2009 story"/>

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."<ref name="60 Minutes 2">Safer, 4.</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Observer September issue article">Template:Cite news</ref> Wintour appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman to promote it,<ref name="Letterman appearance">Template:Cite news</ref> defending the relevance of fashion in a tough economy.<ref name="Letterman appearance Daily News 2">Template:Cite news</ref> The American Society of Magazine Editors elected her to its Hall of Fame in 2010.<ref name="ASME Hall of Fame">Template:Cite web</ref>

2010s

File:Victoria Beckham becomes international ambassador for GREAT campaign (6886222987) (cropped - Anna Wintour).jpg

Wintour in February 2012

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."<ref name="NYT artistic director story">Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art named its Costume Institute complex after Wintour;<ref name="Met Names Costume Institute Complex in Honor of Anna Wintour">Template:Cite web</ref> First Lady Michelle Obama opened it in May of that year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Wintour starred in The Fashion Fund, which aired on Ovation TV that year as well;<ref name="Anna Wintour, 'The Fashion Fund' to Air on Cable TV">Template:Cite web</ref> she was named the 39th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.<ref name=Forbes14>Template:Cite web</ref>

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of The Devil Wears PradaTemplate:'s 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."<ref name="Ringer 2016 article">Template:Cite news</ref>

But since then, "Wintour isn't just redeemed. She's openly admired, Arctic chill and all." The grievances reflected in the novel and film "[seem] like 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..."<ref name="Ringer 2016 article"/>

Wintour was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to fashion and journalism and invested by Queen Elizabeth II in May 2017 at Buckingham Palace.<ref name="2017 knighthood">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2020s

File:Anna Wintour Is This Thing On-75.jpg

Wintour at the 2025 New York Film Festival

In May 2020, former editor-at-large André Leon Talley released his second memoir, The Chiffon Trenches, which exposed Talley and Wintour's personal falling-out in 2018 after he was discontinued as VogueTemplate:'s Met Gala red carpet reporter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2020, Condé Nast promoted Wintour to the role of worldwide chief content officer, as part of a company restructuring. In addition, she will be working as global editorial director of Vogue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2023, Wintour suggested the creation of an event similar to the Met Gala in London to raise funds for the local arts scene, which has struggled to recover in the aftermath of COVID.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Wintour was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to fashion.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In January 2025, she was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wintour stepped down as editor-in-chief of Vogue that June.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> On 1 September, the magazine announced she would be replaced by Chloe Malle, who was promoted from editor of vogue.com,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> though Wintour remains global chief content officer of Vogue internationally.<ref name=":0" />

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 heard "Do you want me to go to Anna with this?" when they had differences with her subordinates.<ref name="Citizen Anna 1"/> The Guardian has called her the "unofficial mayoress" of New York City.<ref name="Unofficial mayoress">Pilkington, Ed; 5 December 2006; Central Bark Template:Webarchive; The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2006.</ref> She encouraged fashion houses such as Christian Dior to hire younger, fresher designers such as John Galliano. Her influence extended 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.<ref name="Citizen Anna 1">Horyn, "Citizen Anna", 1.</ref> A protégée at Vogue, Plum Sykes,<ref name="Kevin Gray profile 2"/> became a successful novelist, drawing her settings from New York's fashionable élite.<ref name="Plum Sykes profile">Template:Cite news</ref>

Her salary was reported to be $2 million a year in 2005.<ref name="Who Makes How Much">26 September 2005; Who Makes How Much – New York's Salary Guide Template:Webarchive; New York. Retrieved 3 March 2007.</ref> In addition, she receives several perks, such as a chauffeured Mercedes-Benz S-Class (both in New York and abroad), a $200,000 shopping allowance,<ref name="60 Minutes 2" /> and the Coco Chanel Suite at the Hotel Ritz Paris while attending European fashion shows.<ref name="Oppenheimer207"/> Condé Nast president Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr. had the company make her an interest-free $1.6 million loan to purchase her townhouse in Greenwich Village.<ref name="Oppenheimer29">Oppenheimer, pg. 29.</ref>

Charity work

Wintour serves as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,<ref name="Met bio" /> where she has organised benefits that have raised $50 million for the museum's Costume Institute.<ref name="60 Minutes 2"/> 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.<ref name="Met bio" />

Personal life

Anna Wintour wearing sunglasses and a grey-and-white striped top in a dark background looking to the right

Wintour at a 2005 show

Wintour has been described as perfectionist,<ref name="Slate"/> emotionally distant,<ref name="What lies beneath">Brockes, Emma; 27 May 2006; "What lies beneath Template:Webarchive"; The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2007.</ref> and hard to approach.<ref name="60 Minutes 2"/><ref name="TSI 11:55">The September Issue, 0:11.</ref> She agrees she can "get quite angry".<ref name="TSI 1:11">The September Issue, 1:11.</ref>

Relationships

Wintour began dating well-connected older men during her teens. She was briefly involved with novelist Piers Paul Read when she was 15 and he was 24.<ref name="Oppenheimer31-35">Oppenheimer, 31–35.</ref> In her later teens, she dated gossip columnist Nigel Dempster and the two became a fixture on the London club circuit.<ref name="Oppenheimer36-37">Oppenheimer, 36–37.</ref>

Wintour married child psychiatrist David Shaffer in 1984, and they had a son named Charles (born 1985) and a daughter named Katherine (born 1987) before divorcing in 1999. Charles is a graduate of the University of Oxford and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Katherine wrote occasional columns for The Daily Telegraph in 2006 and graduated from Columbia University in 2009,<ref name="Bee">Alexander, Hilary; 15 February 2006; Wintour comes in from the cold; The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 February 2007.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and is a New York-based producer with Ambassador Theatre Group. Katherine married Italian filmmaker Francesco Carrozzini, son of Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani, in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Newspapers and gossip columnists claimed that Wintour's affair with investor Shelby Bryan ended her marriage to Shaffer.<ref name="Oppenheimer340-41">Oppenheimer, 341–42,</ref> She declined to comment.<ref name="Kevin Gray profile 1">Gray, 1.</ref><ref name="Oppenheimer342">Oppenheimer, 342.</ref> A former colleague quoted in the Observer said that Bryan "mellowed her" and that she "smiles now and has been seen to laugh".<ref name="Acid Queen">25 June 2006; "Meet the acid queen of New York fashion Template:Webarchive"; The Observer. Retrieved 7 February 2007.</ref>

Residence

Wintour lives in New York City's Greenwich Village.<ref name=NYT20160929>Kurutz, Steven. "What Do Anna Wintour and Bob Dylan Have in Common? This Secret Garden" Template:Webarchive, 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."</ref>

Habits

Wintour says she wakes up at 5:30 a.m., plays tennis, gets her hair and makeup done, and then arrives at the Vogue offices at 7:30 a.m. She always turns up at fashion shows well before their scheduled start, stating, "I use the waiting time to make phone calls and notes; I get some of my best ideas at the shows."<ref name="Bee" /> According to the BBC documentary series Boss Woman, she rarely stays at parties for more than 20 minutes at a time and usually goes to bed by 10:15 p.m. at the latest.<ref name="Boss Woman review">Template:Cite news</ref> She turns off her mobile phone so as not to be disturbed while eating her lunch,<ref name="Amiel">Amiel, Barbara; The 'Devil' I know Template:Webarchive", The Daily Telegraph, 2 July 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2007.</ref> which is most often a steak or a hamburger without the bun.<ref name="Kevin Gray profile 1" /> High-protein meals have been a habit of hers for a long time. A co-worker at Harpers & Queen said that she would eat "smoked salmon and scrambled eggs" every single day and that "she would eat nothing else".<ref name="Oppenheimer81" />

Personal fashion

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.<ref name="Oppenheimer207"/> She continued to wear them during both pregnancies,<ref name="Acid Queen"/> opening the skirts slightly in back and keeping her jacket on to cover up.<ref name="Oppenheimer229">Oppenheimer, 229.</ref> 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, she has also been seen wearing kitten heels & printed midi-dresses.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name="Oppenheimer215-16">Oppenheimer, 215–16.</ref> "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.<ref name="60 Minutes 3">Safer, 3.</ref> 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."<ref name="Kevin Gray profile 4"/>

Politics

Wintour has supported the Democratic Party since Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate run and John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. She also served as a "bundler" of contributions during Barack Obama's presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. She co-hosted fundraisers for Obama's campaigns with Sarah Jessica Parker, with one being a 50-person, $40,000-per-person dinner at Parker's West Village town house with Meryl Streep, Michael Kors, and advertising executive Trey Laird among the attendees. She also teamed with Calvin Klein and Harvey Weinstein on fundraisers during Obama's first term, with Donna Karan among the attendees.<ref>Peters, Jeremy W., "Power Is Always in Vogue" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, 15 June 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.</ref>

In 2013, when VogueTemplate:'s former director of communications stepped down, Wintour was rumoured to be looking to hire someone with a political background. Soon after, she hired Hildy Kuryk, who worked as a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee and Obama's 2008 campaign.<ref name=Haberman11>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=NYT>Template:Cite news</ref> She supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, forming part of Clinton's long list of wealthy donors and served as Clinton's consultant on wardrobe choices for key moments of the campaign.<ref name=veronchichi>Template:Cite news</ref> Wintour endorsed Joe Biden for the 2020 United States presidential election.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> She has written in favour of fur in Vogue, and has used fur in photo spreads.<ref name="TSI 5:33">The September Issue, 0:05.</ref> Her changes to Vogue have been described as advancing the status of women.<ref name="Larson"/> She has defended the democratisation of what were once exclusive luxury brands, stating that it is good that "more people are going to get better fashion".<ref name="Dana Thomas book">Template:Cite book</ref> An investigation in The New York Times indicated that black women had been sidelined at Vogue during her time there.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wintour apologized to staff for the magazine's complicity in racism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Devil Wears Prada

Lauren Weisberger, a former Wintour assistant<ref name="Weisberger autobio">Template:Cite web</ref> who left Vogue for Departures along with Richard Story, wrote the novel The Devil Wears Prada after a writing workshop he suggested she take.<ref name="2005 NYT Weisberger story">Template:Cite news</ref> It was eagerly anticipated for its supposed insider portrait of Wintour prior to its publication.<ref name="Kate Betts DWP novel review">Template:Cite news</ref> 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."<ref name="Times quote">Carr, David; 17 February 2003; Anna Wintour Steps Toward Fashion's New Democracy Template:Webarchive; The New York Times. Retrieved 10 December 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name="Weisberger Q & A">Template:Cite web</ref> Wintour herself makes a cameo appearance near the end of the book,<ref name=Weisberger322>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."</ref> where it is said she and Miranda dislike each other.<ref name="Weisberger348">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."</ref>

In the novel, Priestly has many similarities to Wintour—among them, she is British, has two children,<ref name="Weisberger38–9">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 ..."</ref> and is described as a major contributor to the Met.<ref name="Weisberger267">Weisberger, 267.</ref> 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.<ref name=Weisberger145>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!"</ref>

Kate Betts, who had been fired by Harper's after two years during which staffers said she tried too hard to emulate Wintour,<ref name="NY Observer Betts firing story">Template:Cite news</ref> reviewed it harshly in The New York Times Book Review: Template:Blockquote

Priestly has some positive qualities. Andrea Sachs, the novel's main character, notes that she makes all the magazine's key editorial decisions by herself<ref name=Weisberger208>Weisberger, 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 ... [T]hat 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."</ref> and that she has genuine class and style.<ref name="novel cite2">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."</ref>

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 film as themselves.<ref name="Radar">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Radar" />

The film was released in 2006 to great commercial success.<ref name="boxofficemojo">The Devil Wears Prada Template:Webarchive at boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 8 February 2007.</ref> Wintour attended the première wearing Prada. In the film, actress Meryl Streep plays Priestly different enough from the book to receive critical praise as an entirely original (and more sympathetic) character.<ref name="NYT DWP film review">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="UK Indepdendent review">Template:Cite news</ref> Streep's office in the film was similar enough to Wintour's that Wintour reportedly had hers redecorated.<ref name="Whitworth">Template:Cite news</ref>

Wintour reportedly said the film would probably go straight-to-DVD.<ref name="Amiel"/> 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."<ref name="Barbara Walters">Template:Cite news</ref>

That opinion of the film has not yet led her to forgive Weisberger.<ref name="Oppenheimer328">Oppenheimer, 328.</ref> 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."<ref name="Lloyd Grove">Template:Cite news</ref>

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, "[it] ... place[d] Anna squarely in the mainstream celebrity pantheon. [She] was 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."<ref name="Oppenheimer328" />

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.<ref name="Slant review">Template:Cite web</ref> 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".<ref name="Dargis SI review">Template:Cite news</ref> "The movie offers insights that lift it beyond a realist version of The Devil Wears Prada", agreed Mary Pols in Time.<ref name="Time SI review">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The film version of the Weisberger novel (screenplay penned by Aline Brosh McKenna) has not been the only film to have a character borrowing some aspects of Wintour. Edna Mode's similar hairstyle in The Incredibles (2004) has been noted,<ref name="Observer September issue article" /><ref name="What lies beneath" /> Johnny Depp said he partially based the demeanour of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) on Wintour.<ref name="Johnny Depp in Time">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Fey Sommers in Ugly Betty (2006–2010) 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'.<ref name="Seattle P-I Ugly Betty review">Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• New Yorkers in journalism
• Vogue World 2024

Works cited

• Template:Cite video
• Template:Cite news
• 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. Template:ISBN.
• Template:Cite news
• Weisberger, Lauren (2003). The Devil Wears Prada. Broadway Books, New York. Template:ISBN.

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Template:Muckrack