People: Grande Dame of “Vogue”: Anna Wintour turns 75

Large dark sunglasses, a precisely cut bob with forehead fringes and an haute couture dress: Anna Wintour has made herself a recognizable brand. “Even her hairstyle is visible from space,” the British “Guardian” once joked. As a journalist, she made it to the top of the US fashion magazine “Vogue”, and since 2020 she has been responsible for the content of all “Vogue” editions worldwide and for almost everything that the Condé Nast publishing house publishes in the USA. Today the grande dame of fashion magazines turns 75 – but she’s not thinking about stopping. “I love what I do. It always challenges me.”

At least since the hit film “The Devil Wears Prada” from 2006, in which Meryl Streep plays a magazine editor-in-chief who is unmistakably based on Wintour, the “Vogue” editor has had the reputation of being a devilish, nasty boss who constantly wants the impossible and nothing at all Mistakes forgiven. This has also become a building block of her brand – and she wears it with composure. “Sometimes there is a certain kind of personal criticism against me that a man in my position probably wouldn’t receive,” the fashion icon once said – but also: “I’m very focused. So maybe also because of my clarity and my I didn’t let that get to me.”

Wintour admits that she’s not really good at delegating. “The devil is just in the details. But I’m not a creative person, I can’t paint, I can’t draw, I can’t make anything – I just have to make sure everything is done right.”

Tennis with children and grandchildren

She is often described as having a “vivid imagination”. “I really hope that my colleagues know who I am and what our shared values ​​are. And I know that my son Charlie and my daughter Bee know exactly who I am and who I am not,” says Wintour, who is between Was married to child psychologist David Shaffer in 1984 and 1999. When she spends time with her two children and three grandchildren, she doesn’t talk about work. “We play tennis and silly games. That’s my consolation.”

Wintour was born in London in 1949, the daughter of a newspaper editor. “I grew up in a time when women left the dinner table so men could smoke their cigars and talk about the issues that really mattered.” At 16, Wintour left school. “I honestly wasn’t very good. And I wanted to be independent and do my own thing. It was a mix of being lazy and having brothers and sisters who were very good academically.”

After her first jobs in department stores and various magazines, Wintour came to the US “Vogue”, where she has been editor-in-chief since 1988. Meanwhile, the magazine world around her has changed completely. “In my first job as a young girl in the UK, reaching 90,000 people was a great thing.” Vogue’s Instagram profile alone now has almost 50 million fans. At the same time, however, the print circulation of many magazines continues to decline and advertising revenue is falling.

Kamala Harris on the cover of Vogue

Like the entire industry, Wintour is also looking for recipes to combat this – one of them: taking a stand. For example, the Grande Dame is positioning herself firmly on the side of the Democrats in the US presidential election campaign. She celebrated former first lady Michelle Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the cover of Vogue, and current presidential candidate Kamala Harris has already received two covers.

However, the magazine did not dedicate a cover to Melania Trump during her time as First Lady – and Wintour’s opinion is also clear with regard to Melania’s husband, the former US President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump. What could he do to be invited back to the legendary “Met Gala,” with which Wintour celebrates the party with the most coveted guest list in New York every year at the Metropolitan Museum? “Absolutely nothing.”