Anna Wintour
Dame Anna Wintour (/ˈwɪntər/ WIN-tər; born 3 November 1949) is a British-American media executive, who served as editor-in-chief of Vogue from 1988 to 2025. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of Condé Nast since 2020, where she oversees all Condé Nast publications worldwide, and concurrently serves as artistic director.
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Dame
Anna Wintour
CH DBE
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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 |
| Board member of | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Spouses |
David Shaffer
(m. 1984; div. 1999) Shelby Bryan
(m. 2004; div. 2020) |
| Children | 2 |
| Father | Charles Wintour |
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Wintour is also global editorial director of Vogue. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and dark sunglasses, Wintour is regarded as the most powerful woman in publishing, and has become an important figure in the fashion world, serving as the lead chairperson of the annual haute couture Met Gala global fashion spectacle in Manhattan since the 1990s.
Wintour is praised for her skill in identifying emerging fashion trends, but has been criticised for her reportedly aloof and demanding personality.
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Her father, Charles Wintour, who was editor of the London-based Evening Standard from 1959 to 1976, consulted with her on how to make the newspaper relevant to the youth of the era. She became interested in fashion as a teenager and her career in fashion journalism began at two British magazines.
Later, she moved to the United States, with stints at New York and House & Garden. She returned to London and was the editor of British Vogue between 1985 and 1987. A year later, she assumed control of the franchise’s magazine in New York, reviving what many saw as a stagnating publication. Her use of the magazine to shape the fashion industry has been the subject of debate within it.
Animal rights activists have attacked her for promoting fur, while other critics have charged her with using the magazine to promote elitist and unattainable views of femininity and beauty.
A former personal assistant, Lauren Weisberger, wrote the bestselling 2003 roman à clef The Devil Wears Prada, later made into a successful 2006 film starring Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a fashion editor, believed to be based on Wintour.
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In 2009, Wintour’s editorship of Vogue was the original focus of a documentary film, R. J. Cutler’s The September Issue. The film’s focus switched to the creative teams and more senior fashion editors as filming progressed.
Early career
Anna Wintour is the daughter of Charles Vere Wintour, who twice served as editor of London’s Evening Standard newspaper. She dropped out of North London Collegiate in 1966 and four years later became a fashion assistant for Harper’s & Queen magazine.
After working as a fashion editor for a series of New York magazines, she served as editor (1986) of British Vogue and as editor (1987) of House & Garden, which she controversially relaunched in the United States as HG.
Vogue
In 1988 Wintour replaced Grace Mirabella as editor in chief at American Vogue. The move came three years after the American launch of the French magazine Elle, which consistently threatened to reduce Vogue’s circulation and advertising revenue.
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In explaining her publishing philosophy of democratic fashion fantasy, Wintour remarked, “Mass with class—that’s my mantra.” Her Vogue covers began featuring prominent women (including actresses Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie and politician Hillary Clinton) rather than exclusively using models.
Originally an elite gathering of Manhattan socialites, the gala became an internationally chronicled celebrity-dominated red-carpet event known as the “East Coast’s answer to the Oscars.”
Wintour has been instrumental in bolstering the careers of numerous prominent fashion professionals, including the 1990s generation of supermodels, gifted fashion photographer Herb Ritts, and several important designers.
Deploying her influence and clout, she secured financial backing for John Galliano’s fledgling eponymous Paris fashion house, a move that helped in his elevation in 1997 to designer in chief at Christian Dior. Alexander McQueen and Marc Jacobs also benefited from Wintour’s patronage.
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In 2003 she and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) jointly inaugurated the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which offered financial support and business mentoring to the “next generation” of American fashion designers. After an introduction by Wintour in 2007, the menswear designer Thom Browne successfully launched his collection into 90 Brooks Brothers stores.
In a move that reflected her wide-ranging influence, in 2013 Wintour became artistic director at Condé Nast. Seven years later she was named the company’s global chief content officer.
In June 2025 Wintour announced that she was stepping down as editor in chief of Vogue but would continue to serve as the magazine’s global editorial director. In addition, a new position was being created, head of editorial content, who would report to Wintour and oversee day-to-day operations at Vogue. Wintour was expected to spend more time as Condé Nast’s global chief content officer.
The Devil Wears Prada and documentaries
In addition to such achievements, Wintour also became known for her imperious demeanor, which is heightened by her propensity to sport dark sunglasses.
The Devil Wears Prada (2004), the best-selling novel by Lauren Weisberger that in 2006 was adapted into a popular film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, is an account of the comic travails of one of the personal assistants of the fictional fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly. The Priestly character is widely believed to have been a caricature of Wintour, for whom Weisberger once worked.
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Wintour appeared in the documentaries The September Issue: Anna Wintour & the Making of Vogue (2009), charting the creation of the September 2007 issue of the magazine, and The First Monday in May (2016), chronicling the preparation for the “China: Through the Looking Glass” exhibition and its accompanying gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Personal life
From 1984 to 1999 Anna Wintour was married to David Shaffer, a psychiatrist. The couple had two children, Charles and Bee Shaffer. She later had a long-term relationship with businessman Shelby Bryan.
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Wintour was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2008 and advanced to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2017. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. Pres. Joe Biden in 2025.
