Anna Wintour: The British-Born Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue

by Yoon Joung Lee

Magazine Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, was born in November 3, 1949 in London, England to a family with considerable wealth.  She was the oldest child.  Her father, Charles Wintour was an editor for the London Evening Standard and her mother, Elinor Wintour, was a philanthropist.

From her early age, she demonstrated her interest in fashion and she did everything her own way.  During North London Collegiate School, she wore skirts taken up at the hemlines to rebel against the school’s dress code. The is also when she first bobbed her hair, a style she still maintains. In 1970, she began her first career in fashion journalism.  She was hired as an editorial assistant for Harper’s & Queen.  

In 1975, she moved to New York City to take over as a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar.  Soon after she left Harper’s to work for Viva, a womens' adult magazine started by Kathy Keeton who managed Penthouse.  At Viva, she started to reveal her own sense of fashion and direction and became a high-end managing editor.

In 1980, for a short period of time, she worked for Savvy, a new womens’ magazine appealing to career-conscious professional women who spend their own money. The next year, she became a fashion editor of New York.  There, her work finally started attracting attention.

In 1986, she married David Shaffer, South African psychiatrist and returned back to London to serve British Vogue as a chief editor. In 1987, she returned to New York to work for House & Garden.  Due to its rival Architectural Digest, the company wanted to give her a chance to improve it.  She made radical changes on HG, but the changes didn’t make the magazine’s financial situation any better.  

She didn’t stay at HG too long. About a year later in 1988, she became an editor for Vogue.  As an editor, she made innovative changes, such as adding articles about women in politics and street culture.   She also called an end to the supermodel era.  She picked celebrities for covers with mix low-end fashion items.  She introduced not only well-known designers but also newer designers and their styles.

In recent years, she has become a powerful broker between designers and retailers. She is very competitive like all people who represent the best of what they do.   Although she developed a reputation for being cold and aloof, she is a sweet mother of two kids at home and seeks perfection in her profession.

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