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{{Short description |British and American media executive (born 1949)}}
{{for |the song |Anna Wintour (song)}}
{{Use British English |date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates |date=November 2022}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[Dame]]
| name = Anna Wintour
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals |country=GBR |size=100% |CH |DBE}}
| image = Anna Wintour in 2024 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Wintour in 2024
| birth_date = {{birth date and age |df=yes |1949 |11 |3}}
| birth_place = [[London]], England<!-- No country link. -->
| citizenship = {{plainlist |
* United Kingdom
* United States
}}
| education = {{plainlist |
* [[Queen's College, London]]
* [[North London Collegiate School]]
}}
| title = {{cslist | Global [[Chief Content Officer]], [[Condé Nast]] |Artistic Director, [[Condé Nast]] | Global Editorial Director, ''[[Vogue (magazine) |Vogue]]'' |semi=true}}
| years_active = 1975–present
| credits = {{cslist |Editorial Assistant, ''[[Harpers & Queen]]'', ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]'' |Fashion Editor, ''[[Viva (American magazine) |Viva]]'', ''Savvy'', ''[[New York (magazine) |New York]]'' |Creative Director, U.S. ''[[Vogue (magazine) |Vogue]]'' |Editor-in-Chief, British ''Vogue'', ''[[House & Garden (magazine) |House & Garden]]'' and U.S. ''Vogue'' |semi=true}}
| employer = [[Condé Nast]]
| known_for =
| predecessor = [[Grace Mirabella]]
| boards = [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
| spouse = {{plainlist |
* {{marriage |[[David Shaffer]] |1984 |1999 |end=div}}
* {{marriage |[[Shelby Bryan]] |2004 |2020 |end=div}}
}}
| children = 2
| father = [[Charles Wintour]]
| mother = {{#ifexist:Eleanor Trego Baker |[[Eleanor Trego Baker]]}}
| relatives = {{plainlist |
* [[Patrick Wintour]] (brother)
* [[Francesco Carrozzini]] (son-in-law)
}}
| signature = Anna Wintour signature.png
| signature_alt =
| signature_size =
}}
'''Dame Anna Wintour''' ({{IPAc-en |ˈ |w |ɪ |n |t |ər}}; born 3 November 1949<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.vogue.fr/vogue-list/thevoguelist/anna-wintour/1008 |title=Anna Wintour |website=Vogue |language=en |access-date=1 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113165847/https://en.vogue.fr/vogue-list/thevoguelist/anna-wintour/1008 |archive-date=13 November 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>) is a British and American<ref>[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fash-track/obama-anna-wintour-ambassador-uk-397574 "Obama supporter Anna Wintour reportedly considered for ambassadorial post by administration"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718001407/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fash-track/obama-anna-wintour-ambassador-uk-397574 |date=18 July 2018 }}, ''The Hollywood Reporter''. Retrieved 10 August 2016.</ref><ref>Chris Rovzar, [https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2008/11/anna_wintour_rest_of_city_turn.html "Anna Wintour, Rest of City Turn Out to Vote"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717212652/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2008/11/anna_wintour_rest_of_city_turn.html |date=17 July 2018 }}, ''New York'', November 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2016.</ref> media executive who has served as [[editor-in-chief]] of ''[[Vogue (magazine) |Vogue]]'' since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of [[Condé Nast]] since 2020, where she oversees all Condé Nast publications worldwide, and concurrently serves as artistic director. Wintour is also global editorial director of ''Vogue''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Edmund |date=15 December 2020 |title=Condé Nast Puts Anna Wintour in Charge of Magazines Worldwide |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/business/media/conde-nast-anna-wintour.html |access-date=18 May 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=27 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927220524/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/business/media/conde-nast-anna-wintour.html |url-status=live}}</ref> With her trademark [[pageboy]] [[bob cut |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 (magazine) |New York]]'' and ''[[House & Garden (magazine) |House & Garden]]''. She returned to London and was the editor of [[Vogue (British magazine) |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, [[Lauren Weisberger]], wrote the bestselling 2003 ''[[roman à clef]]'' ''[[The Devil Wears Prada (novel) |The Devil Wears Prada]]'', later made into a successful [[The Devil Wears Prada (film) |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>{{Cite web |date=1 October 2009 |title='The September Issue' turns sharp focus to inner workings of Vogue |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/the-september-issue-turns-sharp-focus-to-inner-workings-of-vogue/ |access-date=18 May 2021 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US |archive-date=11 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511085707/https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/the-september-issue-turns-sharp-focus-to-inner-workings-of-vogue/ |url-status=live}}</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>{{Cite web |url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=f%2B3mJfgFNtnE3pXq4VL9zg&scan=1 |title=Index entry |access-date=31 December 2016 |work=FreeBMD |publisher=ONS |archive-date=30 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730195752/https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=f%2B3mJfgFNtnE3pXq4VL9zg&scan=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> Her parents were married in 1940 and divorced in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=uDgHQDyoficmcvX6toRpog&scan=1 |title=Index entry |access-date=31 December 2016 |work=FreeBMD |publisher=ONS |archive-date=30 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730195801/https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=uDgHQDyoficmcvX6toRpog&scan=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> Wintour was named after her maternal grandmother, Anna Baker (née Gilkyson), a merchant's daughter from [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name="Oppenheimer2">Oppenheimer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wq3WpfuFc1oC&pg=PA2 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 [[Philadelphia Main Line |Main Line]] ..."</ref> Audrey Slaughter, a magazine editor who founded publications including ''[[Honey (UK magazine) |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">{{cite book |title=The Media in Britain |last=Tunstall |first=Jeremy |year=1983 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-05816-0 |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4J80JqdUZgC&q=%22Audrey%20Slaughter%22%2Bhoney&pg=PA103 |access-date=10 June 2010 |quote=...[F]or example a newish magazine is often identified with a particular editor; an example is the association of Audrey Slaughter in the 1960s and 70s with a succession of young women's publications — ''Honey'', ''Petticoat'', and ''Over 21''. |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226032147/https://books.google.com/books?id=p4J80JqdUZgC&q=%22Audrey%20Slaughter%22%2Bhoney&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=%22Audrey%20Slaughter%22%2Bhoney&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>
Wintour's grandfather was Major-General [[Fitzgerald Wintour]], a British military officer and descendant of [[George Grenville]], who served as [[List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom |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 [[Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire |Lady Elizabeth Foster]], who was later the [[Duke of Devonshire |Duchess of Devonshire]], and her first husband, the [[Ireland |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]]. [[Foster baronets |Sir Augustus Vere Foster, 4th Baronet]], the last Baronet of that name, was a granduncle of Wintour's.<ref name="Lady Foster">{{cite book |title=Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire |last=Masters |first=Brian |year=1981 |publisher=[[Hamish Hamilton]] |___location=London, UK |isbn=0-241-10662-1 |pages=298–99}}</ref> She is a niece of [[Cordelia James, Baroness James of Rusholme]], the daughter of Fitzgerald Wintour.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/920bb3aa-39b2-3494-91c7-528e45016b43 | title=Wintour, Maj Gen Fitzgerald (1860–1949) – Archives Hub | access-date=29 August 2022 | archive-date=28 August 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828140023/https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/920bb3aa-39b2-3494-91c7-528e45016b43 | url-status=live }}</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 Wintour |Patrick]], is also a journalist, currently diplomatic editor of ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref name="Patrick Wintour">[https://www.theguardian.com/profile/patrickwintour Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411124139/https://www.theguardian.com/profile/patrickwintour |date=11 April 2020 }}; ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 6 December 2006</ref><ref name="Camden News Journal story">{{cite news |last=Osley |first=Richard |title=Former Camden Town Hall director Jim Wintour 'quit over pension' – Housing boss feared new tax proposal |url=http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2010/may/former-camden-town-hall-director-jim-wintour-%E2%80%98quit-over-pension%E2%80%99-housing-boss-feared-n |newspaper=[[Camden New Journal]] |date=13 May 2010 |access-date=2 June 2010 |quote=Mr Wintour, who is brother of Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue ... |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708113339/http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2010/may/former-camden-town-hall-director-jim-wintour-%E2%80%98quit-over-pension%E2%80%99-housing-boss-feared-n |archive-date=8 July 2011 }}</ref>
Wintour attended [[North London Collegiate School]], where she rebelled against the [[Social aspects of clothing#Private dress codes|dress code]] by taking up the [[hemline]]s of her skirts.<ref name="Oppenheimer15">Oppenheimer, 15</ref> At the age of 14, she began wearing her hair in a [[bob cut|bob]].<ref name="Oppenheimer21">Oppenheimer, 21.</ref> She developed an interest in fashion as a regular viewer of [[Cathy McGowan (presenter)|Cathy McGowan]] on ''[[Ready Steady Go!]],''<ref name="Oppenheimer22">Oppenheimer, 22.</ref> and from reading ''[[Seventeen (American magazine) |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 [[Swinging London |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 (writer) |Richard Neville]], gave her her first experience of magazine production at ''[[Oz (magazine)|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 (Photographer and Film Director) |Jim Lee]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Adams |first=Jo |title=A Scooterman's Portfolio |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/sep/11/photography.fashion |newspaper=The Guardian |date=11 September 2005 |access-date=25 November 2011 |___location=London |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730071020/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/sep/11/photography.fashion |url-status=live}}</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 [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir |Renoir]] and [[Manet]] using models in [[go-go boots]].<ref name="Met bio">Metropolitan Museum of Art; 12 January 1999; [http://www.metmuseum.org/Press_Room/full_release.asp?prid={44C504B8-C28F-11D3-936E-00902786BF44} Anna Wintour elected honorary trustee]. Retrieved 6 December 2006. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119020206/http://www.metmuseum.org/Press_Room/full_release.asp?prid=%7B44C504B8-C28F-11D3-936E-00902786BF44%7D |date=19 November 2007 }}</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 (American magazine) |Viva]]'', a women's adult magazine started by [[Kathy Keeton]], then the wife of ''[[Penthouse (magazine) |Penthouse]]'' publisher [[Bob Guccione]]. She has rarely discussed working there, due to that connection.<ref name="Oppenheimer118">Oppenheimer, p. 118.</ref> This was the first job at which she was able to hire a personal assistant, starting her reputation as a demanding boss.<ref name="Oppenheimer120">Oppenheimer, p. 120.</ref>
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.<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; [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0504.larson2.html From Venus To Minerva] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128222851/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0504.larson2.html |date=28 November 2006 }}; ''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; [https://slate.com/culture/2005/02/defending-vogue-s-evil-genius.html Defending ''Vogue''{{'s}} evil genius] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919085652/http://www.slate.com/id/2113278/ |date=19 September 2011 }}; ''Slate''. Retrieved 6 December 2006.</ref>
The following year, she became fashion editor of ''[[New York (magazine) |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===
{{Further|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 ''[[Vogue (British magazine)|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 (magazine)|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; [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930103628/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967685-1,00.html 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>
[[File:November 1988 Vogue cover.jpg |right |upright |thumb |Wintour's first U.S. ''Vogue'' cover in November 1988, featuring model [[Michaela Bercu]]. |alt=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"]]
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 (magazine)|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>{{Cite news |last=Pollard |first=Eve |author-link=Eve Pollard |date=18 May 2025 |title='We were dubbed the "Killer Bimbos of Fleet Street"' |work=[[The Mail on Sunday#Sections |You]] |pages=23}}</ref>
After making sweeping changes in staff, Wintour changed the style of the cover pictures. Mirabella had preferred tight [[head shot]]s 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">{{cite news |last=Holland |first=Tom |title=Remember Anna Wintour's shocking first ''Vogue'' cover? |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/27/style/anna-wintour-first-vogue-cover |newspaper=[[CNN]] |date=27 June 2025 |access-date=4 July 2025}}</ref> When the printer saw it, they called the magazine's offices, thinking it was the wrong image.<ref name="Hadid tribute">{{Cite web |url=http://www.vogue.com/1019685/gigi-hadid-vogue-cover/ |title=Gigi Hadid, Model of the Moment, Pays Tribute to Anna Wintour's First ''Vogue'' Cover |last=Thomas |first=Mark Guiducci, Sean |website=Vogue |date=26 August 2014 |access-date=4 May 2016 |archive-date=2 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502011817/http://www.vogue.com/1019685/gigi-hadid-vogue-cover |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2012, Wintour reflected on the cover:
{{blockquote |It was so unlike the studied and elegant close-ups that were typical of Vogue's covers back then, with tons of makeup and major jewelry. This one broke all the rules. Michaela wasn't looking at you, and worse, she had her eyes almost closed. Her hair was blowing across her face. It looked easy, casual, a moment that had been snapped on the street, which it had been, and which was the whole point. Afterwards, in the way that these things can happen, people applied all sorts of interpretations: It was about mixing high and low, Michaela was pregnant, it was a religious statement. But none of these things was true. I had just looked at that picture and sensed the winds of change. And you can't ask for more from a cover image than that.<ref name="Wintour on Bercu cover">{{cite web |last=Wintour |first=Anna |title=Honoring the 120th Anniversary: Anna Wintour Shares Her Vogue Story |url=http://www.vogue.com/vogue-daily/article/anna-wintour-on-her-first-vogue-cover-plus-a-slideshow-of-her-favorite-images-in-vogue/#1 |work=[[Vogue (magazine) |Vogue]] |date=14 August 2012 |access-date=22 August 2013 |archive-date=11 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711185515/http://www.vogue.com/vogue-daily/article/anna-wintour-on-her-first-vogue-cover-plus-a-slideshow-of-her-favorite-images-in-vogue/#1 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
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">{{cite news |title=Vogue puts its 120-year history online |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vogue-puts-its-120-year-history-online/ |work=CBS News |date=11 December 2011 |access-date=22 December 2011 |archive-date=22 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222091550/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57340950/vogue-puts-its-120-year-history-online/ |url-status=live}}</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">{{cite news |last=LaRocca |first=Amy |title=In Conversation With Anna Wintour |url=https://nymag.com/thecut/2015/05/anna-wintour-amy-larocca-in-conversation.html |newspaper=[[New York (magazine) |New York]] |date=4 May 2015 |access-date=14 August 2015 |archive-date=22 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822000340/http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/05/anna-wintour-amy-larocca-in-conversation.html |url-status=live}}</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 [[Instant film |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">{{cite news |last=Snyder |first=Gabriel |date=17 December 2000 |title=Bright Young Thing, Plum Sykes, Abandons Vogue, Sort Of |work=The New York Observer |url=http://www.observer.com/node/43767 |url-status=dead |access-date=11 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513182359/http://www.observer.com/node/43767 |archive-date=13 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="Oppenheimer325">Oppenheimer, 325.</ref> but former editor Richard Story has claimed she rarely, if ever, reads any of ''Vogue''{{'}}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 (magazine) |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 ''Vogue''{{'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"/>
[[File:Anna Wintour2.jpg |thumb |upright |Wintour in Germany, 2006 |alt=Anna Wintour wearing sunglasses as she walks along a street in Germany]]
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">{{cite web |url=http://www.foliomag.com/2006/anna-wintour-editor-chief-vogue |title=Anna Wintour:Editor-in-Chief, Vogue |date=29 March 2006 |access-date=24 June 2010 |quote=And ''Men's Vogue'', with 164 pages, was the most ad-laden launch in Condé Nast history |archive-date=27 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227133508/http://www.foliomag.com/2006/anna-wintour-editor-chief-vogue |url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Advertising Age |AdAge]]'' named her "Editor of the Year" for this brand expansion.<ref name="Editor of the Year">[http://adage.com/amc06/article?article_id=112639 "Magazine Editor of the Year: Anna Wintour"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114003830/http://adage.com/amc06/article?article_id=112639 |date=14 November 2006 }}, ''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>{{London Gazette |issue=58729 |date=14 June 2008 |page=25 |supp=y}}</ref><ref name="OBE">[https://web.archive.org/web/20081220170145/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/3364968/Anna-Wintour-awarded-OBE.html 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">{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1583333/Race-row-over-King-Kong-Vogue-cover.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1583333/Race-row-over-King-Kong-Vogue-cover.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Race row over 'King Kong' Vogue cover |last=Sherwell |first=Philip |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=30 March 2008 |access-date=8 August 2019 |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}{{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">{{cite news |last=Mullaney |first=Tim |title=Condé Nast to Fold Men's Vogue, Cut Back Portfolio |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a3l1r3s.uPK0 |publisher=Bloomberg |date=30 October 2008 |access-date=14 June 2010 |quote=Condé Nast Publications Inc. will fold Men's Vogue into the larger women's Vogue magazine [...] because of faltering advertising sales. Men's Vogue will be published twice a year, the closely held New York-based publisher said today in an e-mail. |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226032203/https://www.bloomberg.com/politics?pid=20601103&sid=a3l1r3s.uPK0 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Saveanna-736291.jpg |upright |right |thumb |"Save Anna" logo created in response to retirement rumours |alt=A black-and-white photo of Wintour's head with "Save Anna" in white on black in a banner below.]]
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">{{cite news |last=Horyn |first=Cathy |author-link=Cathy Horyn |title=What's Wrong With Vogue? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/fashion/01ANNA.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1 January 2009 |access-date=14 August 2009 |quote=It's embarrassing to see how Vogue deals with the recession. For the December issue, it sent a writer off to discover the 'charms' of WalMart and Target. A similar obtuseness permeates a fashion spread in the January issue, where a model and a child are portrayed on a weekend outing with a Superman figure. Is a '50s suburban frock emblematic of the mortgage meltdown? |archive-date=31 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131232721/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/fashion/01ANNA.html |url-status=live}}</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">{{cite web |title=Why Anna Wintour Isn't Going Anywhere |url=https://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2008/10/anna_wintour.html |work=New York |date=2 October 2008 |access-date=14 August 2009 |archive-date=14 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114195728/http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2008/10/anna_wintour.html |url-status=live}}</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 [[Late 2000s recession in the Americas#U.S. |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>{{cite web |url=http://www.arp.tv/production.html?production=septissue |title=The September Issue, the documentary feature film |publisher=Actual Reality Pictures |access-date=16 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228183841/http://arp.tv/production.html?production=septissue |archive-date=28 February 2009}}</ref><ref name="Observer September issue article">{{cite news |last=Hill |first=Amelia |title=Film reveals soft side to Vogue's icy style queen Anna Wintour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/may/24/anna-wintour-vogue-film-documentary |work=The Observer |date=24 May 2009 |access-date=17 August 2009 |___location=London, UK |archive-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906130222/http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/may/24/anna-wintour-vogue-film-documentary |url-status=live}}</ref> Wintour appeared on the ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]'' to promote it,<ref name="Letterman appearance">{{cite news |last=Lapowsky |first=Issie |title=Vogue editor Anna Wintour gets laughs on 'Late Show with David Letterman' |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/08/25/2009-08-25_anna_wintours_appearance_on_late_show_with_david_letterman_a_hit.html |work=Daily News |___location=New York |date=25 August 2009 |access-date=27 August 2009 |archive-date=28 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828002921/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/08/25/2009-08-25_anna_wintours_appearance_on_late_show_with_david_letterman_a_hit.html |url-status=live}}</ref> defending the relevance of fashion in a tough economy.<ref name="Letterman appearance Daily News 2">{{cite news |last=Hinckley |first=Dave |title=Anna Wintour on David Letterman: ice queen thaws, but doesn't melt hearts under TV spotlight |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/08/25/2009-08-25_anna_wintour_on_david_letterman_.html |work=Daily News |___location=New York |date=25 August 2009 |access-date=27 August 2009 |quote=She became more perfunctory when Dave asked the two questions that probably most interest the non-fashionista. First, what happens to high fashion in a down economy, and second, does anyone wear the really bizarre stuff you see at fashion shows? Wintour's reply to the first question was that fashion is available at all prices, and that's probably true. |archive-date=28 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828151312/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/08/25/2009-08-25_anna_wintour_on_david_letterman_.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[American Society of Magazine Editors]] elected her to its Hall of Fame in 2010.<ref name="ASME Hall of Fame">{{cite web |last=Fell |first=Jason |title=Vogue's Wintour Gets ASME's Hall of Fame Nod |url=http://www.foliomag.com/2010/vogue-s-wintour-gets-asme-s-hall-fame-nod |work=Folio |publisher=Red 7 Media LLC |date=23 February 2010 |access-date=25 June 2010 |archive-date=27 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227003943/http://www.foliomag.com/2010/vogue-s-wintour-gets-asme-s-hall-fame-nod |url-status=live}}</ref>
===2010s===
[[File:Victoria Beckham becomes international ambassador for GREAT campaign (6886222987) (cropped - Anna Wintour).jpg |thumb |left |Wintour in February 2012]]
In 2013, [[Condé Nast Publications |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 [[Samuel Irving Newhouse, Jr. |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">{{cite news |last=Wilson |first=Eric |title=Condé Nast Adds to Job of Longtime Vogue Editor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/media/conde-nast-creates-new-job-for-anna-wintour.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=12 March 2013 |access-date=16 March 2013 |archive-date=16 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316010427/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/media/conde-nast-creates-new-job-for-anna-wintour.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
In January 2014, the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] [[Anna Wintour Costume Center |named its Costume Institute complex after Wintour]];<ref name="Met Names Costume Institute Complex in Honor of Anna Wintour">{{cite web |url=http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/met-names-costume-institute-complex-in-honor-of-anna-wintour-7360586?src=nl/mornReport/20140115 |title=Met Names Costume Institute Complex in Honor of Anna Wintour |work=Women's Wear Daily |date=14 January 2014 |access-date=15 January 2014 |author=Karimzadeh, Marc |archive-date=16 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116152221/http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/met-names-costume-institute-complex-in-honor-of-anna-wintour-7360586?src=nl%2FmornReport%2F20140115 |url-status=live}}</ref> First Lady [[Michelle Obama]] opened it in May of that year.<ref>{{cite news |last=Koblin |first=John |title=At Met Gala, Fashionistas Dress Up in Tribute |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/anna_wintour/index.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=5 May 2014 |access-date=15 August 2014 |archive-date=9 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809145830/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/anna_wintour/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Wintour starred in ''[[The Fashion Fund]]'', which aired on [[Ovation (U.S. TV channel) |Ovation TV]] that year as well;<ref name="Anna Wintour, 'The Fashion Fund' to Air on Cable TV">{{cite web |url=http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/anna-et-al-back-in-the-spotlight-7356813?src=nl/mornReport/20140114 |title=Anna Wintour, 'The Fashion Fund' to Air on Cable TV |work=Women's Wear Daily |access-date=14 January 2014 |author=Steigrad, Alexandra |date=14 January 2014 |archive-date=16 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116145021/http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/anna-et-al-back-in-the-spotlight-7356813?src=nl/mornReport/20140114 |url-status=live}}</ref> she was named the 39th most powerful woman in the world by ''[[Forbes]]''.<ref name=Forbes14>{{cite web |title=The World's 100 Most Powerful Women |url=https://www.forbes.com/power-women/list/#tab:overall |work=Forbes |access-date=24 June 2014 |archive-date=20 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920073036/https://www.forbes.com/power-women/list/#tab:overall |url-status=live}}</ref>
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of ''[[The Devil Wears Prada (film) |The Devil Wears Prada]]''{{'s}} release, in 2016, ''[[The Ringer (website) |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">{{cite news |last=Herman |first=Alison |title=Everybody Wants to Be Us |url=https://theringer.com/the-rehabilitation-of-anna-wintour-2e7cce5a3c80 |newspaper=[[The Ringer (website) |The Ringer]] |date=30 June 2016 |access-date=10 September 2016 |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226032159/https://www.theringer.com/2016/6/30/16046964/the-rehabilitation-of-anna-wintour-2e7cce5a3c80 |url-status=live}}</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 [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom |Queen Elizabeth II]] in May 2017 at [[Buckingham Palace]].<ref name="2017 knighthood">{{cite news |last=Saad |first=Nadine |title=You can call her Dame Anna Wintour now (not that you didn't already) |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-entertainment-news-updates-may-anna-wintour-elevated-to-dame-by-queen-1494013916-htmlstory.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=5 May 2017 |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=8 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508140205/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-entertainment-news-updates-may-anna-wintour-elevated-to-dame-by-queen-1494013916-htmlstory.html |url-status=live}}</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>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenational.scot/news/15014316.Vogue_s_Anna_Wintour_was_to_be_Clinton_ambassador_to_UK/ |title=Vogue's Anna Wintour was to be Clinton ambassador to UK |website=The National |date=11 January 2017 |access-date=28 December 2017 |archive-date=29 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229052530/http://www.thenational.scot/news/15014316.Vogue_s_Anna_Wintour_was_to_be_Clinton_ambassador_to_UK/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===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 falling-out in 2018 after he was discontinued as ''Vogue''{{'}}s [[Met Gala]] red carpet reporter.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Freeman |first=Hadley |date=23 May 2020 |title=André Leon Talley: 'My story is a fairytale, and in every fairytale there is evil and darkness' |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/may/23/andre-leon-talley-my-story-is-a-fairytale-and-in-every-fairytale-there-is-evil-and-darkness |access-date=3 July 2020 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703045117/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/may/23/andre-leon-talley-my-story-is-a-fairytale-and-in-every-fairytale-there-is-evil-and-darkness |url-status=live}}</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>{{Cite news |last=Coster |first=Helen |date=15 December 2020 |title=Condé Nast promotes Vogue's Anna Wintour to Worldwide Chief Content Officer |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/conde-nast-wintour-idUSKBN28P2BH |access-date=15 December 2020 |archive-date=18 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218033800/https://www.reuters.com/article/conde-nast-wintour-idUSKBN28P2BH |url-status=live}}</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>{{Cite news |first=Morwenna |last=Ferrier |date=31 May 2023 |title=Vogue editor Anna Wintour planning London's answer to Met Gala |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/may/31/vogue-editor-anna-wintour-london-fundraiser-fashion-show-met-gala |access-date=31 May 2023 |archive-date=31 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531122353/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/may/31/vogue-editor-anna-wintour-london-fundraiser-fashion-show-met-gala |url-status=live }}</ref>
Wintour was appointed [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] (CH) in the [[2023 Birthday Honours]] for services to fashion.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=64082 |supp=y |page=B6 |date=17 June 2023}}</ref> In 2025, she was awarded with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=House |first=The White |date=2025-01-04 |title=President Biden Announces Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/04/president-biden-announces-recipients-of-the-presidential-medal-of-freedom-3/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}</ref>
Wintour stepped down as editor-in-chief of ''Vogue'' in June 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Helmore |first=Edward |date=2025-06-26 |title=Anna Wintour steps down as editor-in-chief of American Vogue |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/jun/26/anna-wintour-vogue-editor |access-date=2025-06-26 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
===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; [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/05/worlddispatch.usa Central Bark] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927201404/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/05/worlddispatch.usa |date=27 September 2016 }}; ''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">{{cite news |last=Freeman |first=Hadley |title=Victoria's secret |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/apr/17/fiction.fashion |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 April 2004 |access-date=10 June 2010 |quote=Sykes, who is 34, moved to New York from her native Britain in 1996, and has been charting the lives of Manhattan's upper classes, its Park Avenue Princesses, or PAPs, to use Sykes's phrase, ever since. |___location=London, UK |archive-date=13 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913121249/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/apr/17/fiction.fashion |url-status=live}}</ref>
Her salary was reported to be $2 million a year in 2005.<ref name="Who Makes How Much">26 September 2005; [https://nymag.com/guides/salary/14497/index3.html Who Makes How Much – New York's Salary Guide] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114061518/http://nymag.com/guides/salary/14497/index3.html |date=14 January 2020 }}; ''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 [[Anna Wintour Costume Center |Costume Institute]].<ref name="60 Minutes 2"/> She began the [[Council of Fashion Designers of America |CFDA]]/Vogue Fund in order to encourage, support and mentor unknown fashion designers. She has also raised over $10 million for [[HIV/AIDS |AIDS]] charities since 1990, by organising various high-profile benefits.<ref name="Met bio" />
==Personal life==
[[File:Anna Wintour.jpg |right |thumb |Wintour at a 2005 show |alt=Anna Wintour wearing sunglasses and a grey-and-white striped top in a dark background looking to the right]]
Wintour has been described as perfectionist,<ref name="Slate"/> emotionally distant,<ref name="What lies beneath">Brockes, Emma; 27 May 2006; "[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/may/27/pressandpublishing.fashion What lies beneath] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221125403/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/may/27/pressandpublishing.fashion |date=21 December 2016 }}"; ''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>{{Cite news |date=29 June 2014 |title=Elizabeth Cordry and Charles Shaffer (Published 2014) |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/fashion/weddings/elizabeth-cordry-and-charles-shaffer.html |access-date=13 November 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=13 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113183752/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/fashion/weddings/elizabeth-cordry-and-charles-shaffer.html |url-status=live}}</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; [https://web.archive.org/web/20081220170034/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/catwalkdiaries/london/3350178/Wintour-comes-in-from-the-cold.html Wintour comes in from the cold]; ''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 7 February 2007.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bee Shaffer Is Worried About Finding a Job -- New York Magazine – Nymag |url=https://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52436/ |access-date=13 November 2020 |website=New York Magazine |date=31 January 2008 |language=en-us |archive-date=13 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113112839/https://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52436/ |url-status=live}}</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>{{Cite web |title=Anna Wintour's Daughter Bee Shaffer Marries Francesco Carrozzini Again: See Her Second Wedding Dress! |url=https://people.com/style/bee-shaffer-marries-francesco-carrozzini-second-ceremony-italy/ |access-date=13 November 2020 |website=PEOPLE.com |language=EN |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202044206/https://people.com/style/bee-shaffer-marries-francesco-carrozzini-second-ceremony-italy/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
Newspapers and [[gossip columnist]]s 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 ''[[The Observer |Observer]]'' said that Bryan "mellowed her" and that she "smiles now and has been seen to laugh".<ref name="Acid Queen">25 June 2006; "[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/jun/25/features.review Meet the acid queen of New York fashion] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502165546/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/jun/25/features.review |date=2 May 2016 }}"; ''The Observer''. Retrieved 7 February 2007.</ref>
===Residence===
Wintour lives in New York City's [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name=NYT20160929>Kurutz, Steven. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/fashion/new-york-secret-garden-anna-wintour-bob-dylan.html "What Do Anna Wintour and Bob Dylan Have in Common? This Secret Garden"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174225/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/fashion/new-york-secret-garden-anna-wintour-bob-dylan.html |date=14 February 2019 }}, ''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">{{cite news |last=Money-Coutts |first=Sophia |title=Vogue documentary tries to get a read on the chilly Wintour |url=http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/film/vogue-documentary-tries-to-get-a-read-on-the-chilly-wintour |work=The National |___location=Abu Dhabi |publisher=Mubadala Development Company |date=2 August 2009 |access-date=9 August 2009 |archive-date=6 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006084344/http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/film/vogue-documentary-tries-to-get-a-read-on-the-chilly-wintour |url-status=live}}</ref> She turns off her mobile phone so as not to be disturbed while eating her lunch,<ref name="Amiel">[[Barbara Amiel |Amiel, Barbara]]; [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3653567/The-Devil-I-know.html The 'Devil' I know] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121060012/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3653567/The-Devil-I-know.html |date=21 November 2020 }}", ''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>{{cite news |title=The 50 best-dressed over 50s |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2013/mar/29/50-best-dressed-over-50s |newspaper=The Guardian |___location=London, UK |first1=Jess |last1=Cartner-Morley |first2=Helen |last2=Mirren |first3=Arianna |last3=Huffington |first4=Valerie |last4=Amos |date=28 March 2013 |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-date=10 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110175602/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2013/mar/29/50-best-dressed-over-50s |url-status=live}}</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 [[Ray-Ban Wayfarer |Wayfarer]]s 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 of the United States |Democratic Party]] since [[US Senate career of Hillary Clinton |Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate run]] and [[John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign |John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign]]. She also served as a "[[Bundler (campaigning)#Bundling |bundler]]" of contributions during [[Barack Obama]]'s presidential campaigns in [[Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign |2008]] and [[Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign |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., [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/fashion/for-anna-wintour-power-is-always-in-vogue.html "Power Is Always in Vogue"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110052133/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/fashion/for-anna-wintour-power-is-always-in-vogue.html |date=10 November 2016 }}, ''The New York Times'', 15 June 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.</ref>
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, she hired [[Hildy Kuryk]], who worked as a fundraiser for the [[Democratic National Committee]] and Obama's 2008 campaign.<ref name=Haberman11>{{cite news |title=50 politicos to watch: Fundraisers |author=Maggie Haberman |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2011/07/fundraisers-059945 |work=[[POLITICO]] |date=28 July 2011 |access-date=27 January 2014 |archive-date=26 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226171001/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59945.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NYT>{{cite news |title=Hildy Kuryk, Jarrod Bernstein |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/fashion/weddings/24kuryk.html |date=24 June 2007 |access-date=27 January 2014 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123158/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/fashion/weddings/24kuryk.html |url-status=live}}</ref> She supported Hillary Clinton's [[Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign |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>{{cite news |title=Styling Politicians in the Age of Image Wars |author=Kate Abnett |url=https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/styling-politicians-donald-trump-theresa-may-hillary-clinton |date=28 July 2016 |access-date=28 October 2016 |archive-date=29 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029045622/https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/styling-politicians-donald-trump-theresa-may-hillary-clinton |url-status=live}}</ref> Wintour endorsed [[Joe Biden]] for the [[2020 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/anna-wintour-joe-biden-covid-19-the-met-gala |title=Anna Wintour on COVID-19, the Met Gala, and Why She Will Be Voting for Joe Biden |last=Wintour |first=Anna |magazine=Vogue |date=16 March 2020 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=24 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024072635/https://www.vogue.com/article/anna-wintour-joe-biden-covid-19-the-met-gala |url-status=live}}</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">{{cite book |title=Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster |last=Thomas |first=Dana |year=2007 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=978-1-59420-129-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/deluxehowluxuryl00thom/page/322 322] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/deluxehowluxuryl00thom/page/322 }}</ref> An investigation in ''The New York Times'' indicated that black women had been sidelined at ''Vogue'' during her time there.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/business/media/anna-wintour-vogue-race.html | title=The White Issue: Has Anna Wintour's Diversity Push Come Too Late? | work=The New York Times | date=24 October 2020 | last1=Lee | first1=Edmund }}</ref> Wintour apologized to staff for the magazine's complicity in racism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ferrier |first=Morwenna |date=10 June 2020 |title=Anna Wintour apologises for not giving space to black editors at Vogue |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jun/10/anna-wintour-apologises-for-not-giving-space-to-black-people-at-vogue |access-date=3 July 2020 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703044954/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jun/10/anna-wintour-apologises-for-not-giving-space-to-black-people-at-vogue |url-status=live}}</ref>
==''The Devil Wears Prada''==
{{main |The Devil Wears Prada (novel)}}
[[Lauren Weisberger]], a former Wintour assistant<ref name="Weisberger autobio">{{cite web |last=Weisberger |first=Lauren |author-link=Lauren Weisberger |title=Author Lauren Weisberger |url=http://www.laurenweisberger.com/about.php |publisher=laurenweisberger.com |access-date=14 August 2009 |quote=Lauren's first job after returning to the U.S. and moving to Manhattan was the Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224050910/http://www.laurenweisberger.com/about.php |archive-date=24 February 2008}}</ref> who left ''Vogue'' for ''[[Departures Magazine |Departures]]'' along with Richard Story, wrote ''[[The Devil Wears Prada (novel) |The Devil Wears Prada]]'' after a writing workshop he suggested she take.<ref name="2005 NYT Weisberger story">{{cite news |last=Kinetz |first=Erica |title=Devil's in the Follow-Up |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/fashion/sundaystyles/06LAUREN.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 November 2005 |access-date=19 June 2010 |archive-date=29 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429061221/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/fashion/sundaystyles/06LAUREN.html? |url-status=live}}</ref> It was eagerly anticipated for its supposed insider portrait of Wintour prior to its publication.<ref name="Kate Betts DWP novel review">{{cite news |last=Betts |first=Kate |title=Anna Dearest |url=https://nytimes.com/2003/04/13/books/review/13BETTS2T.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=13 April 2003 |access-date=14 June 2010 |quote=It's hard to get past the onslaught of [[Page Six]] gossip and film-rights buzz that has preceded ''The Devil Wears Prada,'' [[Lauren Weisberger]]'s thinly veiled [[roman à clef]] about her thankless year sidetracked in the trenches of a fashion magazine. |archive-date=26 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526025721/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/books/review/13BETTS2T.html |url-status=live}}</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; [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/business/media/17MAG.html Anna Wintour Steps Toward Fashion's New Democracy] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313023818/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/business/media/17MAG.html |date=13 March 2016 }}; ''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">{{cite web |title=A Conversation With Lauren Weisberger |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/features/devilwearsprada/qanda.html |publisher=Random House |year=2004 |access-date=14 August 2009 |quote=Some of the stories aren't so far away from the tasks either I or my friends in various industries—whether fashion or magazines or PR or advertising—went through our first few years out of college. I imagine that assistants everywhere will recognize some of their own experiences in Andrea's life. |archive-date=24 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924080426/http://www.randomhouse.com/features/devilwearsprada/qanda.html |url-status=live}}</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 Blahnik |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 [[East End of London |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 [[Metropolitan Museum of Art |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">{{cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Alexandra |title=Good Witch Glenda Comes to Bazaar as Classy, Chilly Kate Gets Gate |url=https://observer.com/2001/06/good-witch-glenda-comes-to-bazaar-as-classy-chilly-kate-gets-gate/ |work=The New York Observer |date=10 June 2001 |access-date=9 October 2020 |quote=[She] adopted every Anna Wintourism under the sun, down to mannerisms, posture, [a] way of carrying herself in the office, a certain way of crossing her legs, leaning on her elbow at a certain way at her desk. It was eerie, at times, how similar she acted to Anna—always sequestered in her corner office, with her two assistants perched there like little lion guard dogs. |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101093359/https://observer.com/2001/06/good-witch-glenda-comes-to-bazaar-as-classy-chilly-kate-gets-gate/ |url-status=live}}</ref> reviewed it harshly in ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'':
{{blockquote |Having worked at Vogue myself for eight years and having been mentored by Anna Wintour, I have to say Weisberger could have learned a few things in the year she sold her soul to the devil of fashion for $32,500. She had a ringside seat at one of the great editorial franchises in a business that exerts an enormous influence over women, but she seems to have understood almost nothing about the isolation and pressure of the job her boss was doing, or what it might cost a person like Miranda Priestly to become a character like Miranda Priestly.<ref name="Kate Betts DWP novel 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 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===
{{Further |The Devil Wears Prada (film)}}
During the production of ''[[The Devil Wears Prada (film) |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">{{cite web |url=https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/01/the-devil-you-know-on-line-one-php/ |title=The Devil You Know, On Line One |date=30 January 2008 |website=[[Radar Online]] |orig-year=November 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703030434/https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/01/the-devil-you-know-on-line-one-php/ |archive-date=3 July 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=25 June 2010}}</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 (designer) |Valentino Garavani]], appeared as himself.<ref name="Radar" />
The film was released, in mid-2006, to great commercial success.<ref name="boxofficemojo">[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=devilwearsprada.htm The Devil Wears Prada] {{Webarchive |url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110223131033/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=devilwearsprada.htm |date=23 February 2011 }} 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">{{cite news |last=Scott |first=A.O. |author-link=A.O. Scott |title=In 'The Devil Wears Prada,' Meryl Streep Plays the Terror of the Fashion World |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/movies/30devi.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=30 June 2006 |access-date=15 June 2010 |quote=No longer simply the incarnation of evil, she is now a vision of aristocratic, purposeful and surprisingly human grace ... And the movie, while noting that she can be sadistic, inconsiderate and manipulative, is unmistakably on Miranda's side | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100705061254/http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/movies/30devi.html | archive-date= 5 July 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="UK Indepdendent review">{{cite news |last=Quinn |first=Anthony |title=Claws out, dressed to kill |url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/reviews/article1808686.ece |newspaper=The Independent |date=6 October 2006 |access-date=15 June 2010 |quote=[Streep] may just have given us a classic here |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061108015222/http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/reviews/article1808686.ece |archive-date = 8 November 2006 |url-status=dead |___location=London}}</ref> Streep's office in the film was similar enough to Wintour's that Wintour reportedly had hers redecorated.<ref name="Whitworth">{{cite news |last=Whitworth |first=Melissa |title=The Devil has all the best costumes |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/3355862/The-Devil-has-all-the-best-costumes.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=9 June 2006 |access-date=6 February 2007 |quote=... after seeing the film, Wintour apparently decided to redecorate her office because the film set was almost an exact replica. |___location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220170043/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/3355862/The-Devil-has-all-the-best-costumes.html |archive-date=20 December 2008 }}</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">{{cite news |last=Walter |first=Barbara |title=Anna Wintour: Always in Vogue |url=https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2716887&page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213224316/https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2716887&page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 December 2006 |work=ABC News |date=12 December 2006 |access-date=18 December 2006}}</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">{{cite news |last=Grove |first=Lloyd |author-link=Lloyd Grove |title=Author Goes From 'Prada' To Nada |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/gossip/2006/05/02/2006-05-02_author_goes_from__prada__to_.html |newspaper=Daily News |___location=New York |date=2 May 2006 |access-date=24 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614065406/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/gossip/2006/05/02/2006-05-02_author_goes_from__prada__to_.html |archive-date=14 June 2009 }}</ref>
Oppenheimer suggests ''The Devil Wears Prada'' may have done Wintour a favour by increasing her name recognition. "Besides giving Weisberger her [[15 minutes of fame |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 [[fashion victim |fashionistas]] in Wal-Mart denim in [[Davenport, Iowa |Davenport]] and [[Dubuque, Iowa |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">{{cite web |last=Schrodt |first=Paul |title=The September Issue |website=[[Slant Magazine]] |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=4472 |date=27 August 2009 |access-date=7 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829062322/http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=4472 |archive-date=29 August 2009}}</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">{{cite news |last=Dargis |first=Manohla |author-link=Manohla Dargis |title=The Cameras Zoom In on Fashion's Empress |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/movies/28issue.html |work=The New York Times |date=28 August 2009 |access-date=6 September 2009 |archive-date=31 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831133416/http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/movies/28issue.html? |url-status=live}}</ref> "The movie offers insights that lift it beyond a realist version of ''The Devil Wears Prada''", agreed Mary Pols in ''[[Time (magazine) |Time]]''.<ref name="Time SI review">{{cite magazine |last=Pols |first=Mary |title=''The September Issue'': Humanizing the Devil |url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1918962,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830035531/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1918962,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 August 2009 |magazine=Time |date=28 August 2009 |access-date=6 September 2009}}</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 (film) |Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' (2005) on Wintour.<ref name="Johnny Depp in Time">{{cite magazine |author=Rebecca Winters |date=26 June 2005 |title=Just a Couple of Eccentrics |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1077302,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726232831/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1077302%2C00.html |archive-date=26 July 2010 |access-date=24 June 2010}}</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">{{cite news |last=McFarland |first=Melanie |date=28 September 2006 |title=On TV: 'Ugly Betty' tackles the cruel fashion world with grace |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/tv/286670_tv28.html |access-date=17 August 2009 |quote=Family love steels her against what she has to face on her job at Mode magazine, which lost its Anna Wintour-like leader Fey Sommers in a car accident.}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[New Yorkers in journalism]]
* [[Vogue World 2024]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Works cited==
* {{cite video |first=R.J. (director) |last=Cutler |author-link=R.J. Cutler |year=2009 |title=[[The September Issue]] |medium=Motion picture |publisher=[[Roadside Attractions]] }}
* {{cite news |last=Gray |first=Kevin |title=The Summer of Her Discontent |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/1460/ |work=[[New York (magazine) |New York]] |date=13 September 1999 |access-date=14 August 2009}}
* [[Cathy Horyn |Horyn, Cathy]] (1 February 2007). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120828180717/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/fashion/01WINTOUR.htm Citizen Anna]". ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
* [[Jerry Oppenheimer |Oppenheimer, Jerry]] (2005). ''Front Row: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor In Chief''. [[St. Martin's Press]], New York. {{ISBN |0-312-32310-7}}.
* {{cite news |last=Safer |first=Morley |author-link=Morley Safer |title=Anna Wintour, Behind the Shades |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anna-wintour-behind-the-shades-14-05-2009/ |work=[[60 Minutes]] |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date= 17 May 2009 |access-date=26 August 2009}}
* [[Lauren Weisberger |Weisberger, Lauren]] (2003). ''[[The Devil Wears Prada (novel) |The Devil Wears Prada]]''. [[Broadway Books]], New York. {{ISBN |0-7679-1476-7}}.
==External links==
{{Wikiquote |Anna Wintour}}
{{Commons category |Anna Wintour}}
* {{IMDb name |1659661 |Anna Wintour}}
* {{Muckrack}}
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{{s-media}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Beatrix Miller]]
| title = Editor of British ''[[Vogue (magazine) |Vogue]]''
| years = 1985–1987
| after = [[Liz Tilberis]]
}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Grace Mirabella]]
| title = Editor of American ''[[Vogue (magazine) |Vogue]]''
| years = 1988–present
| after = current
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award}}
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