Anna Wintour

Dame Anna Wintour, born on 3 November 1949, is a British and American media executive who was the editor-in-chief of *Vogue* from 1988 until 2025. She now works as global chief content officer and artistic director at Condé Nast. Instantly recognizable for her pageboy bob haircut and dark sunglasses, Wintour is widely considered the most powerful woman in publishing and a major force in fashion. She has been the lead chairperson of the haute couture Met Gala in Manhattan since the 1990s. While admired for her ability to spot emerging fashion trends, she has also faced criticism for a reportedly aloof and demanding personality.

Her father, Charles Wintour, edited the London *Evening Standard* from 1959 to 1976 and often asked her advice on making the paper appeal to younger readers. Wintour became interested in fashion as a teenager and started her career in fashion journalism at two British magazines. She later moved to the United States, working at *New York* and *House & Garden*, then returned to London to edit British *Vogue* from 1985 to 1987. A year after that, she took over the American edition in New York, reviving what many saw as a stagnating publication. Her use of the magazine to shape the fashion industry has sparked debate. Animal rights activists have attacked her for promoting fur, and other critics say she uses the magazine to promote elitist and unattainable views of femininity and beauty.

A former personal assistant, Lauren Weisberger, wrote the 2003 bestselling novel *The Devil Wears Prada*, a roman à clef adapted into a 2006 film starring Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a character widely believed to be based on Wintour. Her editorship was also featured in R. J. Cutler’s 2009 documentary *The September Issue*.

Wintour was born in Hampstead, London, to Charles Wintour and Eleanor "Nonie" Trego Baker, who married in 1940 and divorced in 1979. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Anna Baker, a merchant’s daughter from Pennsylvania. Her stepmother was magazine editor Audrey Slaughter. Her paternal grandfather was Major-General Fitzgerald Wintour, a descendant of former British Prime Minister George Grenville. Through her paternal grandmother, she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of novelist Lady Elizabeth Foster, later Duchess of Devonshire, and her first husband, Irish politician John Thomas Foster. Her great-great-great-great-grandfather was Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, an Anglican bishop. Sir Augustus Vere Foster, the last Baronet of that name, was her granduncle. She is also a niece of Cordelia James, Baroness James of Rusholme.

Wintour had four siblings. Her older brother, Gerald, died in a childhood traffic accident. One younger brother, Patrick, is a journalist and diplomatic editor of *The Guardian*. She attended North London Collegiate School, where she rebelled against the dress code by raising her skirt hemlines. At 14, she began wearing her hair in a bob. She developed an interest in fashion by watching Cathy McGowan on *Ready Steady Go!* and reading *Seventeen*, sent by her grandmother from the United States. Her father regularly consulted her on ideas to attract younger readers.

Her father arranged her first job at the Biba boutique when she was 15. The next year, she left school for a training program at Harrods and briefly took fashion classes, but quit, saying, “You either know fashion or you don’t.” An older boyfriend, Richard Neville, gave her first magazine experience at *Oz*. In 1970, when *Harper’s Bazaar UK* merged with *Queen* to become *Harper’s & Queen*, she was hired as an editorial assistant, beginning her fashion journalism career. She told coworkers she wanted to edit *Vogue*. There, she discovered model Annabel Hodin and used her connections to secure shoot locations for photographers like Helmut Newton and Jim Lee. After disagreements with a rival, she quit and moved to New York with journalist Jon Bradshaw.

In New York, she became a junior fashion editor at *Harper’s Bazaar* in 1975 but was dismissed after nine months. Bradshaw then helped her get a fashion editor position at *Viva*, a women’s adult magazine. When *Viva* shut down in late 1978, she took time off, ended her relationship with Bradshaw, and began a relationship with French record producer Michel Esteban, splitting her time between Paris and New York. She returned to work in 1980 as fashion editor for *Savvy*, a new women’s magazine.