Let's face it. Fashion is full of characters. From eccentric designers to iconic models and celebrity style stars, planet fashion exists in the most fabulous bubble. It's an industry where what you wear—or often what you don't wear, look at the current no-pants trend— determines your hierarchy. In a world full of over-the-top people, one persona reigns supreme: Anna Wintour.
The famed Vogue global director (she was promoted from editor-in-chief) is the woman behind the annual Met Gala. And well, the queen of fashion. Thanks to the movie The Devil Wears Prada, which portrayed Wintour as the ice queen many believe she is, you may think you have a pretty good idea of who the woman behind those famous dark sunglasses is. But there's a lot you don't know about the magazine editor, seen here at the 2024 Met Gala in a fabulous floor-length floral custom coat by Loewe. Read on to find out everything you ever wanted to know about Anna Wintour.
Anna Wintour on the Met Gala Madness
- How old is Anna Wintour we hear you ask? She's 74. Wintour was born in London on November 3, 1949. Her father, Charles Vere Wintour, served as editor of London's Evening Standard newspaper twice.
- She started her fashion career when she was only 15 by working in a boutique called Biba. This was around the time Wintour started rocking her now signature bob and bangs.
- She dropped out of North London Collegiate in 1966 to begin a training program at Harrods department store. Just four years later she went to work for Harper's & Queen magazine as a fashion assistant.
- Wintour moved to New York City in 1975 to serve as a junior fashion editor for Harper's Bazaar. She also worked at House & Garden in 1987 and stirred up some controversy by rebranding the publication as HG.
- She took over the reins of Vogue from Grace Mirabella in 1988. She transformed the magazine by selecting celebrities to star on its covers instead of just models.
- Wintour turned the Met Gala from a gathering strictly for New York society folk to the spectacle that it is today.
- She's helped several designers become household names. She secured backing for John Galliano's eponymous fashion house and also helped Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen and Thom Browne. Wintour and the Council of Fashion Designers of America created the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2003 to offer financial support and mentoring to the "next generation" of designers.
- There's actually a reason why she favors dark sunglasses. She told 60 Minutes in an interview in 2009, "They're seriously useful. I can sit in a show and if I'm bored out of my mind, nobody will notice... At this point, they have become, really, armor."
- Wintour has two children with child psychiatrist David Shaffer. The divorced couple share a son, Charlie Shaffer, a doctor and assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell, and a daughter, Bee Carrozzini, who previously worked as a producer for Late Night With Seth Meyers.
- In 2008 she was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire before advancing to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017.
- Winter was promoted to chief content officer for Condé Nast in 2020.
- She loves tennis. Wintour both plays and watches as often as possible and her favorite player is Roger Federer.
- Wintour is actually just like us. She enjoys Starbucks, her favorite action star is Hugh Jackman, she'd never wear head-to-toe black, she rarely carries a bag, she doesn't drink alcohol and her favorite food is avocado.
- She attended this year's Met Gala in a custom floral jacket by Loewe.
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