Wintour, Anna

▪ 2008

born Nov. 3, 1949, London, Eng.

 American Vogue magazine's editor in chief, Anna Wintour, continued in 2007 to exceed the influence of her predecessors and rivals by extending her clout beyond the pages of the glossy, glamorous magazine she has helmed since her 1988 appointment. A profile in the New York Times in February 2007 crowned Wintour the fashion industry's most powerful figurehead and estimated that her influence was “greater than any contemporary editor and running close to a press baron.”

      Wintour was the daughter of Charles Vere Wintour, who twice served as editor of London's Evening Standard newspaper. She dropped out of North London Collegiate in 1966 and four years later became a fashion assistant for Harper's & Queen magazine. After working as a fashion editor for a series of New York magazines, she served as editor (1986) of British Vogue and as editor (1987) of House & Garden, which she controversially relaunched in the U.S. as HG. Wintour replaced Grace Mirabella, a 17-year veteran at Vogue, three years after the dynamic 1985 U.S. launch of the French magazine Elle consistently threatened to reduce Vogue's circulation and advertising revenue. In explaining her publishing philosophy of democratic fashion fantasy, Wintour remarked, “Mass with class—that's my mantra.” Her Vogue covers began featuring prominent women (including actresses Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie and politician Hillary Clinton) rather than exclusively using models.

      Under Wintour's direction, Condé Nast Publications (Vogue's parent company) launched three successful spin-offs: Teen Vogue, Men's Vogue, and Vogue Living. Meanwhile, Wintour orchestrated a spate of high-profile philanthropic Vogue associations, including the transformation of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute Ball fund-raising gala (of which she served as cochair) from an elite gathering of Manhattan socialites into an internationally chronicled celebrity-dominated red-carpet event known as the “East Coast's answer to the Oscars.” In September 2003, with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Wintour also jointly inaugurated the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which offered financial support and business mentoring to the “next generation” of American fashion designers.

      Wintour was instrumental in bolstering the careers of numerous prominent fashion professionals, including the 1990s generation of supermodels, gifted fashion photographer Herb Ritts, and several important designers. Deploying her influence and clout, she secured financial backing for John Galliano's fledgling eponymous Paris fashion house, a move that helped in his elevation in 1997 to designer in chief at Christian Dior. Alexander McQueen and Marc Jacobs also benefited from Wintour's patronage, and menswear designer Thom Brown launched his collection into 90 Brooks Brothers stores in 2007 after an introduction by Wintour.

      Vogue's colossal circulation—by February 2007 a reported 1.28 million—secured Wintour's reputation as the “unimpeachable first lady of fashion.” Her imperious demeanour, however, heightened by her propensity to sport dark sunglasses at all times, sometimes eclipsed her incomparable talent. The 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada was a fictionalized account of the comic travails of one of the three executive assistants running Wintour's New York City office.

Bronwyn Cosgrave

* * *