Anna Wintour facts for kids

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Anna Wintour

OBE
Anna Wintour 2009 crop.jpg
Wintour at a 2009 show of Sienna Miller's Twenty8Twelve line
Born 3 November 1949 (1949-11-03) (age 69)
London, England
Residence Greenwich Village, Mastic Beach, New York
Education North London Collegiate School
Occupation Magazine editor, fashion journalist
Years active 1975–present
Employer Conde Nast Publications
Known for Editor-in-chief, U.S. Vogue
Notable credit(s)
 Editorial assistant, Harpers & Queen, Harper's Bazaar; fashion editor, Viva, Savvy, New York; creative director, U.S. Vogue; editor-in-chief, British Vogue and House & Garden
Salary $2 million (reportedly)
Predecessor Grace Mirabella
Board member of Metropolitan Museum of Art
Spouse(s)
David Shaffer (m. 1984–1999)
Children 2
Parent(s) Charles Wintour
Eleanor "Nonie" Trego Baker
Relatives Patrick Wintour (brother)
James Wintour (brother)
Norah Wintour (sister)
Signature
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Anna Wintour, OBE (born 3 November 1949) is the English editor-in-chief of American Vogue, a position she has held since 1988.

Life

Anna Wintour stopped going to school at 16 and started her career in fashion. She worked on magazines in America called New York and Home & Garden. She then went back to Britain and worked on a British magazine known as Vogue. She later worked on the American version, making them both more popular and successful. Wintour supports young fashion designers and is sometimes called "Nuclear Wintour" because of her demanding personality.

Media

The Devil Wears Prada

It is thought that Anna Wintour was the inspiration behind the demanding editor, Miranda Priestly, in the novel The Devil Wears Prada. The author of the book, Lauren Weisberger, had worked as the personal assistant of Anna Wintour at Vogue. It has been suggested that the setting and Priestly were based on Vogue and Wintour, but Weisberger denies this, and says that Wintour is given her own appearance near the end of the book.

The similarities between Priestly and Wintour are:

  • They both have two children
  • They both serve on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Miranda Priestly is a mean person who makes impossible demands of the people who work for her, and Wintour is also a very strict boss.

Before the book started selling, 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."

Ugly Betty

It is also said that a character in the TV series of Ugly Betty is based on Wintour. The character Fey Sommers, is very similar to Anna Wintour:

  • They both have a bob haircut
  • They both wear sunglasses indoors
  • Their surnames are both homophones for seasons (Sommers=Summer, Wintour=Winter)
  • They were both targeted by animal rights activists for using fur in their fashion
  • Both Sommers and Wintour were involved in some way with fashion magazines. (Sommers with MODE, Wintour with Vogue).

Wintour is also mentioned in Ugly Betty when Wilhelmina Slater is going to get a better job at MODE (the magazine) after Bradford Meade is arrested. She does not accept a lunch invitation from Anna Wintour, saying she should have called back in 1998, not 2007.

Personal life

Politics

Wintour has been a supporter of the Democratic Party going back to Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate run and John Kerry's 2004 presidential run and serving Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 presidential runs as a lot of contributions. In 2008 and 2012, she co-hosted fundraisers with Sarah Jessica Parker, the latter being a 50-person, $40,000-a-plate dinner at Parker's West Village town house with Meryl Streep, Michael Kors, and Trey Laird, an advertising executive, among the attendees. She has also teamed with Calvin Klein and Harvey Weinstein on fundraisers during Obama's first term and Donna Karan has been amongst the attendees.

Images for kids

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

    Wintour's first US Vogue cover

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

    Wintour in Germany, 2006

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

    "Save Anna" logo created in response to retirement rumours

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

    Wintour in sunglasses at a 2005 show

  • Anna Wintour Shankbone 2010 NYC

    Wintour at the Vanity Fair party for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

  • A seated woman wearing a white dress, holding a coffee cup and sunglasses, looking at the camera. The surrounding seats are empty.

    Wintour (photographed by Ed Kavishe of Fashion Wire Press) often insists on being seated apart from other fashion editors at shows.


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