Anna Wintour facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anna Wintour
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Wintour in 2024
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| Born | 3 November 1949 London, England
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| Years active | 1975–present |
| Employer | Condé Nast |
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| Predecessor | Grace Mirabella |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Board member of | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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David Shaffer
(m. 1984; div. 1999)Shelby Bryan
(m. 2004; div. 2020) |
| Children | 2 |
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Dame Anna Wintour is a very important person in the world of fashion and magazines. She was born on November 3, 1949. She is best known as the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, a job she has had since 1988. She also helps lead all of Condé Nast's magazines around the world.
Anna Wintour is famous for her unique look: a pageboy bob haircut and dark sunglasses. Many people see her as one of the most powerful women in publishing. She is also a key figure in the fashion world. For example, she leads the yearly Met Gala in Manhattan. This event is a huge fashion show that raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
People admire Anna Wintour for her ability to spot new fashion trends. She has also been described as a very demanding boss. Her father, Charles Wintour, was an editor for a newspaper in London. He often asked her for ideas on how to make the paper interesting to young people.
Anna Wintour became interested in fashion when she was a teenager. She started her career in fashion journalism in Britain. Later, she moved to the United States. She took over British Vogue for a short time before returning to New York to lead the American Vogue magazine. She helped make Vogue a very important magazine in the fashion industry.
A former assistant, Lauren Weisberger, wrote a famous book in 2003 called The Devil Wears Prada. This book was later made into a successful movie in 2006. The main character, Miranda Priestly, is a fashion editor who many believe is based on Anna Wintour. In 2009, a documentary film called The September Issue showed what it was like to create a big issue of Vogue under Anna Wintour's leadership.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Anna Wintour was born in Hampstead, London. Her father, Charles Wintour, was the editor of the Evening Standard newspaper. Her mother, Eleanor "Nonie" Trego Baker, was American. Anna was named after her grandmother.
She had four siblings. Her older brother, Gerald, sadly died in a traffic accident when he was a child. One of her younger brothers, Patrick Wintour, is also a journalist today.
Anna Wintour went to North London Collegiate School. She often broke the school's dress code by making her skirts shorter. When she was 14, she started wearing her hair in a bob, which became her signature style. She loved watching fashion shows on TV and reading Seventeen magazine. She once said that growing up in London in the 1960s meant you couldn't help but notice how exciting fashion was. Her father often asked for her advice on how to make his newspaper appeal to young readers.
Career in Fashion
Anna Wintour once said her father helped her decide to work in fashion. He even helped her get her first job at a famous clothing store called Biba when she was 15. The next year, she left school and started training at Harrods, a famous department store. She also took fashion classes but soon quit, saying, "You either know fashion or you don't."
Starting in Journalism
In 1970, Anna Wintour began her career in fashion journalism. She became an editorial assistant at Harper's & Queen magazine in Britain. She told her co-workers that her dream was to edit Vogue. She was good at finding new models and setting up creative photo shoots. After some disagreements, she left and moved to New York City.
Working in New York City
In New York, she became a junior fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar in 1975. Her new ideas for photo shoots led to her being fired after nine months. A few months later, she got a job as a fashion editor at Viva, a women's magazine. This was her first job where she could hire an assistant, and she started to get a reputation for being a demanding boss.
After Viva closed in 1978, Wintour took a break. She returned to work in 1980 at a new magazine called Savvy. This magazine was for professional women who earned their own money, which was the type of reader Anna Wintour would later aim for at Vogue.
The next year, she became fashion editor of New York magazine. Her fashion spreads and photo shoots started to get a lot of attention. She learned that putting celebrities on the cover helped sell many more copies. "Anna saw the celebrity thing coming before everyone else did," said Grace Coddington, a famous fashion editor.
Joining Condé Nast
In 1983, Anna Wintour was offered a job at Vogue by Alex Liberman, a director at Condé Nast, the company that owns Vogue. After some back-and-forth, she accepted and became the magazine's first creative director. She started making changes to the magazine, sometimes without the main editor knowing, which caused some tension.
In 1985, Anna Wintour became the editor of the British Vogue. She quickly changed many of the staff and took a lot of control over the magazine. This earned her the nickname "Nuclear Wintour" because of her strong approach. She wanted the magazine to appeal to a new kind of woman: "She's interested in business and money. She doesn't have time to shop anymore."
In 1987, Wintour came back to New York to take over House & Garden magazine. She made big changes there too, adding a lot of fashion and celebrities. However, these changes didn't help the magazine, and its problems got worse.
Ten months later, she became the editor of U.S. Vogue. Many people in the fashion world thought Vogue was losing its spark. Anna Wintour made big changes to the staff and the look of the covers. Instead of close-up studio shots, her covers showed more of the model's body and were often taken outside. She also mixed expensive clothes with more affordable items. Her very first Vogue cover in November 1988 showed a model wearing a $10,000 fancy T-shirt with faded jeans. It was the first time jeans had been on a Vogue cover! The printer even called the magazine to make sure it wasn't a mistake.
Anna Wintour later said that this cover was not planned. She just looked at the photo and felt it showed "the winds of change." She said it was "something new. This is something different." She considers it her favorite cover because it was a "leap of faith" and a big change for Vogue.
She has a lot of control over how the magazine looks. She requires photographers to get her approval before they start shooting. She also wants to see all their photos, not just their favorites. While she reads everything for publication, some former staff say she doesn't read much of the arts or book reviews. Today, she mostly writes the monthly editor's letter. She has three full-time assistants but sometimes answers the phone herself.
The 1990s and 2000s
Under Anna Wintour, Vogue became very important again in the fashion world. It stayed ahead of other fashion magazines. Many editors who worked closely with Wintour later left to take top jobs at other publications.
The September 2004 issue of Vogue was 832 pages long, making it the biggest issue of a monthly magazine ever at that time. Anna Wintour also helped launch three new Vogue magazines: Teen Vogue, Vogue Living, and Men's Vogue. Because of this, she was named "Editor of the Year" in 2007.
In 2008, Anna Wintour was given an award called Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the British Queen. However, 2008 was a tough year for Vogue because of money problems around the world. There were also rumors that she might retire, but she said she would not.
In 2009, Anna Wintour started appearing in the media more often. She was featured in a TV show called 60 Minutes and a documentary film, The September Issue. This film showed the making of the September 2007 issue of Vogue. She also went on the Late Show with David Letterman to talk about the film and why fashion was still important. In 2010, she was honored by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
The 2010s and 2020s
In 2013, Anna Wintour was given a new role as artistic director for all of Condé Nast's magazines. This meant she would help guide the look and feel of many different publications, not just Vogue.
In 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York named its Costume Institute after Anna Wintour. This is where many famous fashion exhibits are held. She was also named one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes magazine.
By 2016, many people saw Anna Wintour in a new light. While the movie The Devil Wears Prada made her seem like a very tough boss, her image had changed. People started to admire her for her strong leadership and her ability to keep Vogue successful in a changing world.
In 2017, Queen Elizabeth II made Anna Wintour a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her work in fashion and journalism.
In 2020, Condé Nast promoted Anna Wintour to a new role: worldwide chief content officer. This means she now oversees the content of all Condé Nast magazines globally. She also continues as global editorial director of Vogue.
In 2023, she was given another high honor, becoming a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH). In 2025, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a very high award in the United States.
Influence in the Fashion Industry
Anna Wintour is seen as one of the most powerful people in fashion. She helps set trends and supports new designers. She has encouraged big fashion houses like Christian Dior to hire younger, fresh designers. Her influence goes beyond fashion too. She once convinced Donald Trump to let a designer use a ballroom at the Plaza Hotel for a show when they needed a space. She also helped Brooks Brothers hire a lesser-known designer.
Her salary was reported to be $2 million a year in 2005. She also gets many benefits, like a car with a driver and money for shopping.
Charity Work
Anna Wintour is a trustee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has organized events that have raised $50 million for the museum's Costume Institute. She also started the CFDA/Vogue Fund to help new fashion designers. Since 1990, she has raised over $10 million for charities that help people with AIDS.
Personal Life
Relationships and Family
Anna Wintour married child psychiatrist David Shaffer in 1984. They had a son named Charles (born 1985) and a daughter named Katherine (born 1987). They divorced in 1999. Her son, Charles, is a doctor. Her daughter, Katherine, writes and works in theater. Katherine married Italian filmmaker Francesco Carrozzini in 2018.
Residence
Anna Wintour lives in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Daily Habits
Anna Wintour says she wakes up at 5:30 a.m., plays tennis, and gets her hair and makeup done. She arrives at the Vogue offices by 7:30 a.m. She always comes to fashion shows early to make calls and notes. She says she gets some of her best ideas at the shows. She usually goes to bed by 10:15 p.m. She turns off her phone during lunch, which is often a steak or a hamburger without the bun. She has always preferred high-protein meals.
Personal Fashion
Because of her important job, Anna Wintour's clothes are often watched closely and copied. Earlier in her career, she mixed fashionable T-shirts with designer jeans. When she started at Vogue, she began wearing Chanel suits with miniskirts. She was listed as one of the "50 best-dressed over 50s" by The Guardian in 2013. She is also known for wearing kitten heels and printed midi-dresses.
Her famous dark sunglasses are actually corrective lenses, meaning they help her see better. She once told a TV show that they are like "armor" that helps her keep her reactions private during shows.
Politics
Anna Wintour has supported the Democratic Party since 2000. She has helped raise money for political campaigns, including those of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. She also advised Hillary Clinton on her clothing choices during her 2016 presidential campaign. In 2020, she supported Joe Biden for president.
The Devil Wears Prada
Lauren Weisberger, a former assistant to Anna Wintour, wrote the book The Devil Wears Prada. Many people were excited about the book because they thought it would show what it was really like to work for Anna Wintour. Wintour said she enjoys fiction but wasn't sure if she would read it. While the book's fashion magazine and character Miranda Priestly are thought to be based on Vogue and Wintour, Weisberger says she used experiences from her friends too.
In the book, Miranda Priestly is similar to Wintour in many ways. She is British, has two children, and is a big supporter of the Met. Priestly is shown as a very demanding boss who asks for impossible things from her assistants.
However, Miranda Priestly also has good qualities. The main character in the book notices that Priestly makes all the important decisions for the magazine herself and has great style.
Film Adaptation
During the making of The Devil Wears Prada movie in 2005, there were rumors that Anna Wintour was telling famous fashion people not to appear in the film. Her spokesperson denied this, saying she was interested in anything that "supports fashion." Many designers are mentioned in the movie, but only one, Valentino Garavani, appeared as himself.
The movie came out in mid-2006 and was very successful. Anna Wintour even went to the movie's premiere wearing Prada. In the film, actress Meryl Streep played Miranda Priestly. Streep's performance was praised, and her character was seen as more understanding than in the book. (Streep's office in the movie was so much like Wintour's that Wintour reportedly redecorated her own office!)
Wintour reportedly thought the movie would not do well. But it made over $300 million around the world. Later in 2006, Anna Wintour said in an interview that she found the film "really entertaining." She praised it for making fashion "entertaining and glamorous."
Some people think The Devil Wears Prada actually helped Anna Wintour by making her more famous. She became known and talked about by many more people.
When the documentary The September Issue came out three years later, people compared it to The Devil Wears Prada. Many critics said the documentary helped show the real Anna Wintour and humanize her.
The movie version of The Devil Wears Prada is not the only film to have characters inspired by Anna Wintour. The character Edna Mode in The Incredibles (2004) has a similar hairstyle. Johnny Depp said he partly based his character Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) on Wintour's manner. Also, Fey Sommers in the TV show Ugly Betty (2006–2010) was compared to Wintour, with her bob haircut and sunglasses.
See Also
In Spanish: Anna Wintour para niños
- New Yorkers in journalism
- Vogue World 2024
Images for kids
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Wintour in Germany, 2006
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"Save Anna" logo created in response to retirement rumours
