Vogue's editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is worth an estimated $35 million. From her first job in retail to front-row seats at NYFW, here's what her career and life have been like.
Madeline Stone,Rachel Askinasi,Dominic-Madori Davis
- Anna Wintour is editor-in-chief of Vogue and artistic director at Condé Nast.
- She has been in the news recently as the magazine and its parent company, Condé Nast, face accusations of racism, discrimination, and classism.
- Aside from her work in fashion, Wintour is also known for her involvement with the Metropolitan Museum of Art — Wintour hosts the annual fundraiser, known as the Met Gala, for the museum's Costume Institute.
- While she has a reputation for being an intimidating and demanding boss, Wintour's influence on the fashion industry has been noticeable since her very first cover at American Vogue.
- Her net worth has been estimated to be as much as $35 million.
Perhaps no one knows the ins and outs of fashion better than Anna Wintour, longtime editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine and artistic director at Condé Nast. With her trademark black Chanel sunglasses and perfectly styled bob, Wintour has been a fashion-show fixture for decades.
With a reported annual salary of $2 million and an estimated net worth of $35 million, Wintour leads the kind of lifestyle that fashionistas envy — or, envied. Recently, Wintour has been in the news as Vogue and its parent company, Condé Nast face accusations of racism, discrimination, and classism by former employees.
In a note sent to staff, later obtained by Page Six, Wintour apologized for Vogue's "hurtful and intolerant" behavior.
"I want to say this especially to the Black members of our team — I can only imagine what these days have been like," she wrote. "But I also know that the hurt, and violence, and injustice we're seeing and talking about have been around for a long time. Recognizing it and doing something about it is overdue."
Keep reading to find out how Wintour become the most iconic — and controversial — person in fashion.
Anna Wintour is the editor-in-chief of Vogue and artistic director of Condé Nast, Vogue's publishing company.
Source: Vogue
In June, Wintour made headlines as Vogue and its parent company, Condé Nast, faced accusations of racism, discrimination, and classism by former employees.
Wintour addressed the allegations in a note sent to her staff, later obtained by Page Six, where she apologized for Vogue's "hurtful and intolerant" behavior.
"I want to say this especially to the Black members of our team — I can only imagine what these days have been like," she wrote in part. "But I also know that the hurt, and violence, and injustice we're seeing and talking about have been around for a long time. Recognizing it and doing something about it is overdue."
Wintour also made headlines in May after her former colleague, André Leon Talley, accused her of ageism and being fatphobic.
As reported by Page Six, Leon said Wintour stopped answering his phone calls and dumped him as a friend because he was "too old" and "too fat." Leon is the former editor-at-large for American Vogue.
He detailed his now-strained friendship with Wintour in his latest memoir, "The Chiffon Trenches." In one instance, Talley said Wintour did not thank him after he wrote a glowing op-ed in the Washington Post about Beyoncé's 2018 September Vogue cover.
The cover is historic because it is the first Vogue cover to have ever been photographed by a Black person.
"Not one quick email from Anna Wintour," he wrote in his book. "Editors I've worked with for decades didn't understand the immense importance of this occasion simply because they are not capable of understanding. None of my contemporaries have seen the world through black eyes."
Source: Page Six
Wintour is widely known as "the most influential figure in fashion."
Source: Business of Fashion
Her late father, Charles Wintour, was the editor of the London Evening Standard for nearly 20 years. He's said to be one of the greatest and most influential journalists "in the second half of the 20th century."
Source: The Independent, The Guardian
In an interview with Vogue, Wintour said her father taught her perseverance.
Source: Vogue
She has two brothers and a sister. She had a third brother who died as a child in a car accident. Wintour said she learned "great reporting" from her brother Patrick, the diplomatic editor of The Guardian.
Source: The Guardian, Vogue, The Telegraph
In "The September Issue" — a documentary about Wintour's life and career — she said that growing up in London in the 1960s framed her view on fashion and made her fall in love with it at a young age.
Source: Business of Fashion
When Anna was 15 years old, her father set her up with a job at London clothing store Biba. She then joined a training program at Harrod's, gathered up some magazine experience at Oz, and then landed an editorial assistant position at Harper's & Queen.
Source: Business of Fashion, Who What Wear
She left London for New York and got a job as a junior fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar. She bounced from Bazaar to Viva in the '70s, and then landed at Savvy in 1980.
Source: Business of Fashion
Wintour then leapt back to the UK in 1985 for the editor-in-chief position at British Vogue. She returned to the US in 1987 to run House & Garden magazine for a short time before taking over at Vogue.
At the time, the storied fashion magazine had lost some market share to rival Elle, and its focus had shifted slightly to include lifestyle coverage.
Her first cover for American Vogue made a huge statement in the industry: Israeli model Michaela Bercu wore a haute couture Christian Lacroix jacket with stonewashed Guess jeans, styled by Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele.
Source: Vogue
"It was so unlike the studied and elegant close-ups that were typical of Vogue’s covers back then, with tons of makeup and major jewelry," Wintour wrote in Vogue in 2012. "This one broke all the rules."
Source: Vogue
She added, "I had just looked at that picture and sensed the winds of change. And you can't ask for more from a cover image than that." It turned out to be a giant gust of wind.
Source: Vogue, Business of Fashion
Wintour went on to break the rules again with her May 1989 cover that featured Madonna. Not only was featuring the then-controversial singer a shock to people, but no celebrity had ever landed the cover. This shifted focus from models to celebrities going forward.
Source: Who What Wear
Under Wintour, Vogue reestablished itself as the dominant American fashion magazine.
The famed editor-in-chief surrounded herself — and still does — with people who have all become major players in the fashion industry. When she first took the job at Vogue, she brought with her Grace Coddington, whom she worked with at British Vogue.
Source: E! News, Business of Fashion
Throughout the years, her editorial posse has also seen the likes of André Leon Talley, Annie Leibovitz, Tonne Goodman, and Phillip Picardi.
Source: Business of Fashion
They've accompanied her to runway shows all over the world.
She's also shared the front row with countless celebrities, like Lupita Nyong'o and Naomi Watts.
And she's hobnobbed with fashion greats like the late Oscar de la Renta ...
... the late Karl Lagerfeld ...
... and actress-turned-fashion-icon Sarah Jessica Parker.
Wintour has attended more than 3,000 fashion shows on behalf of Vogue. And as of 2014 she had an annual clothing budget rumored to be as high as $200,000.
Source: T Magazine, Daily Mail
She is known for being an intimidating and demanding boss, a demeanor that has earned her the nickname "Nuclear Wintour."
Source: The Guardian
Meryl Streep's somewhat terrifying character in "The Devil Wears Prada," Miranda Priestley, was rumored to be inspired by Wintour. The movie was based on a book by Lauren Weisberger, formerly an assistant to the Vogue editor-in-chief.
Source: E! News
Although Weisberger says the character isn't entirely based on Wintour, and Streep says she actually channeled a series of men while prepping for the role, the editor-in-chief has been seen joking about it with Streep on camera.
As for her signature look, Wintour has reportedly sported a bob since she was 15 years old.
Source: CBS News
The black Chanel sunglasses serve a purpose beyond fashion. She told "60 Minutes" in 2009: "I can sit in a show and if I am bored out of my mind, nobody will notice … At this point, they have become, really, armor."
Source: CBS News
You'll often see Wintour wearing the same beige Manolo Blahnik slingback shoes. Some have said that she owns the same pair in multiple variations to match her skin color when she tans.
Source: Vogue
The designer himself has said he has been working with her since 1994 on her custom shoes. "We're always discussing materials and adjusting the heel heights and whether or not the straps should be wider or stay the same," he said to The Daily. "In the end, it's always up to Anna."
Source: Vogue
Anna also has a hand in the annual Met Gala, always on the first Monday in May. It's known as the most highly coveted red carpet in fashion and benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.
Source: INSIDER
She's been chairing the event since the '90s and has raised so much money that the museum renamed a wing the Anna Wintour Costume Center in 2014.
Source: The Met
As seen in a "73 Questions" segment produced by Vogue, Wintour's office in the old Condé Nast Building was tastefully decorated with a wide variety of pieces.
Source: Vogue
You can take a look inside Wintour's office at One World Trade Center — which Vogue moved into in 2014 — in a skit Vogue produced with her and Amy Schumer.
Source: Vogue
Wintour has two children with her first husband, David Shaffer, whom she divorced in 1999. Her daughter, Bee Shaffer, often accompanies Wintour on the red carpet.
Source: Page Six
Bee has worked as a producer on "Late Night with Seth Meyers." She left the show in 2017 to work for Ambassador Theatre Group.
Source: Page Six
Bee married Francesco Carrozzini — son of the late Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani — in the summer of 2018. They had two ceremonies: one in Long Island, New York, and another in Portofino, Italy.
Source: People
Wintour's son, Charlie Shaffer, attended medical school at Columbia after graduating from Oxford University.
Source: The New York Times
He married Elizabeth Cordry at Wintour's home in Mastic, on New York's Long Island, in 2014. Photographer Mario Testino, Oscar de la Renta — who designed Elizabeth's dress — and designer Prabal Gurung were all in attendance. Wintour became a grandmother in 2017 when their daughter was born.
Source: Vogue, The New York Times
Wintour's offspring have shared funny stories of their mother's particularity on social media. "My mom threw out our tree before Christmas Day because 'it was too messy,'" Bee once wrote on Instagram.
Source: Bee Shaffer Instagram
Wintour has now been with Texan investor Shelby Bryan for more than 15 years, though they are rarely seen together. Some have said that their relationship has mellowed her, telling the Guardian, "She smiles now and has been seen to laugh."
Source: The Guardian
Wintour lives in a four-story townhouse on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village. The home dates back to 1899 and reportedly has some 3,960 square feet of space.
Source: Street Easy, The New York Times
Wintour has been a vocal neighbor during her time in the Village. In 2010, she tried to block the opening of a Jamaican eatery called Miss Lily's. "I am completely concerned," she said during a meeting, according to the New York Daily News. "This is a unique historic neighborhood. I'm also concerned for the safety of the kids here."
Source: New York Daily News
When she's not working or being a community advocate, you may be able to catch her cheering on Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Her favorite sport is tennis, and she can often be spotted smiling from the sidelines of the US Open and Wimbledon.
Source: Vogue
You can get a glimpse at her personality in the "73 Questions" interview. She tells viewers she usually has Starbucks with her breakfast ...
Source: Vogue
... she wishes everyone would stop using the word "journey" when talking about fashion ...
Source: Vogue
... and her "favorite comedian of all time" is James Corden. He got her to eat bacon-wrapped pizza on a game of Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts on the "The Late Late Show."
And you also won't find her sipping on a cocktail — but when it comes to water she wants it sparkling.
Source: Vogue
Even the most powerful woman in fashion is afraid of something: spiders.
Source: Vogue
And even in the face of all the glitz and glamour, she says the best part about her job is "the people."
Source: Vogue
Wintour's love of fur in fashion has drawn some attacks from PETA over the years. While she was in Paris in 2005, a PETA supporter threw a tofu pie in her face.
Source: Vogue
What was she planning on doing after the pie fiasco? "Wear more fur."
Source: Vogue
Wintour has been known as an arbiter of style and one of the most recognizable faces in fashion for decades. She was even reportedly considered for an ambassadorship after President Obama's second election, though the position eventually went to top fundraiser Matthew Barzun.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Wintour was made a dame for her work in fashion and journalism during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in May 2017.
Source: BBC
Rumors of her departure from Vogue — and even Condé Nast as a whole — have ebbed and flowed for a long time. But as of August 2018, the company confirmed she's not going anywhere just yet.
Her future departure will likely shake much more than just the fashion industry. As The New York Times' fashion director Vanessa Friedman put it: "Think [her departure] won’t matter to anyone outside the lint-picking world of One World Trade Center ... and Avenue Montaigne? Just close your eyes for a moment, and think again."
Source: The New York Times
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