WINTOUR, ANNA

(1949- )

Born to a prominent British newspaper editor of theEvening Standardand an American heiress, Wintour was educated at the prestigious North London Collegiate School. Foregoing college for the swinging world of London in the 1960s, she held several jobs ranging from a sales position at the trendy shop Biba to a short stint at a British ladies magazine. before moving to New York in 1975. There she worked as a junior fashion editor atHarper's Bazaar, an editor atVivamagazine, and in 1980 as a freelance fashion editor forSavvymagazine. In 1981, Wintour moved toNew Yorkmagazine, in charge of the fashion and home décor pages.In 1984, she married David Shaeffer, a child psychiatrist. Wintour returned to London in 1986 to become editor-in-chief ofBritish Vogueand, in 1987, went back to New York to runHouse&Garden. In 1988, S.I. Newhouse was eager to replace theVogueeditor at the time, Grace Mirabella, with a younger, hipper, more modern-thinking editor and Wintour was selected.

Wintour transformed the magazine within the first few years with her mantra of "Mass with Class" and became the single most influential person in the fashion industry. She made stars ofMarc Jacobs,John Galliano,Proenza Schouler, andAlexander McQueen, to name a few, as well as bolstering the careers of numerousmodelsandfashion photographers. She was one of the first to place celebrities on the cover, as well as a first lady (Hillary Clinton). Wintour's famous Louise Brooks bob hairdo (which she has donned since age fifteen), her signature wearing of sunglasses, and her infamous icy demeanor have been the subject of books and a movie, includingThe Devil Wears PradaandAnna Wintour:The Cool Life and Hot Times of VoguesEditor-in-Chief. Her philanthropy included initiating theCouncil of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fund, which promoted new, unknown fashiondesignerswith seed money; contributions as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and her work in training women to run beauty salons in Afghanistan. Wintour has been the target of animal rights organizations for endorsingfuryet remains firm on her position that people have the right to wear what they want. She is the mother of two children and has been married twice.