something about Anna Wintour

BORN

3 November 1949

NATIONALITY

British

HISTORY

Anna Wintour was born in London on November 3, 1949. She grew up in a family of journalists and intellectuals as the daughter of Charles Vere Wintour, editor of the London Evening Standard and Eleanor Trego Baker, daughter of a Harvard law professor. Her mother-in-law is a magazine editor who founded a number of British magazines.

After dropping out of North London Collegiate School, Anna Wintourworked at Harrod’s, and then began a career in journalism at Harper’s & Queen in 1970. Five years later, Wintour moved to New York City as the newest junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Her work finally began attracting attention when she became fashion editor of New York. But it was not until 1983 that she caught the eye of Condé Nast’seditorial director, Alex Liberman, who then hired her as Vogue US’first creative director. In 1985, Wintour took over Vogue UK afterBeatrix Miller retired. The year 1988 marked the highest point inWintour’s career when she landed the job of her dreams: editor-in-chief of Vogue US, following Grace Mirabella.

Seen as a formidable editor-in-chief with a harsh and demanding personality, Wintour became the subject of the book The Devil Wears Prada, written in 2003 by one of her former assistants, Lauren Weisberger. The book was adapted into a movie in 2008 starring Meryl Streep as the editor-in-chief, and Anne Hathaway as her assistant.

In 2003, Anna Wintour founded the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund to support promising designers, such as Zac Posen, Alexander Wang andJoseph Altuzarra who all owe their success to the initiative. In an attempt to bounce back from the recession, Anna Wintour also launchedFashion’s Night Out, beginning in New York in 2009.

Considered the most influential person in the fashion industry, the editor-in-chief was honored as Officer of the Order of the British Empire byQueen Elizabeth II in 2008. A year later, she was the subject of The September Issue by R.J. Cutler, a documentary revealing the process behind the biggest issue of the year, for the first time.

Also a philanthropist, Anna Wintour has been organizing benefits for theCostume Institute since 1999, and in 2011 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City appointed her as one of its trustees. The same year, Anna Wintour was awarded the Legion of Honor medal by President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy, an event attended byStefano Pilati, Albert Elbaz, Karl Lagerfeld, and Charlotte Casiraghi.

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