WINTOUR is coming.

Widely known as Nuclear Wintour, a name not so adored by her, but given by those who adore her, Anna Wintour, the Editor in chief of Vogue, is still as headstrong and decisive as she was back when she started. Born on November 3, 1949, in Hampstead, London, England, to Charles Wintour and Eleanor “Nonie” Trego Baker, Anna was one of five kids. Her father, whom she speaks of very highly and says is a big influence on her, was the editor of The Evening Standard, a famous newspaper in England. Being a bold young woman, who was never scared of changing things around and being a little different from others, anna made some interesting choices even then. She always wore her hemlines shorter than instructed and cut her hair short, shaped into her iconic bob that she manages to kill up to today.

Never a studious kid, anna dropped out of her English degree at North London Collegiate and never looked back. She never intended to study, even when fashion was the subject. She signed up for fashion classes and ended up dropping out of those as well, saying- ” you either know fashion or you don’t”. Her first major job was at a controversial magazine named OZ which turned out to be quite a failure. Then she worked at Harpers & Queen. She worked there for quite a bit but her true goal was to land up at vogue. She even ended up in a feud with her then boss, Min Hogg because of the very same reason. She told anyone who would listen that she would rather be editing at vogue. While living in London, Anna seemed to never be able to leave the grasp of her father’s influence, as she was always referred to as Charles Wintour’s daughter. Even her elder brother is a journalist. Her father often re- ferred to her help and insights when she was younger and so never really could escape the journalism world. This played a major role in her decision to leave London and shift to the States. The other reason being her feud with Min Hogg of course.

After landing up in the US, she interviewed for various magazines and finally got a job at Harper’s Bazaar but was fired after only 9 months. She took it in stride though and now looks at it as a fond memory. She thinks of it as a learning experience and even thinks that everyone should get fired once in their life. After this brief stint in her career, she worker at various magazines such as Viva and Savvy. But that did not last long. She soon interviewed for Vogue, her lifelong dream but the interview did not go as smoothly as she expected it to. She straight up told her interviewer that she wanted her job and thus ended up in an unfavorable position. In spite of all this, she ended up at Vogue when she was eventually hired by Alex Liberman, then Editor at Conde Nast. It was like her destiny to be at

While she was achieving all these milestones in her career, her private life was not left far behind. She fell in love with child psychiatrist David Chaffer and went ahead to get married to him. She has two children with him, named Charles and Katherine. But while she finally settled down in her private life, things at work took a turn for the worse. When the prior editor at Vogue UK stepped down, Anna was put in charge. She took some big steps at reforming the magazine as soon as she got there, starting with firing hundreds of people. This is when she got her infamous nickname, Nuclear Wintour. People feared and hated her, but she never seemed to be bothered. This is also where the movie, Devil wears Prada came into being. Although she may seem as unapproachable and cutthroat, the employees who have worked with Anna for over a decade can attest to the fact that she is a dedicated and direct boss, who is gentle and caring when you get closer to her.

She aimed the UK Vogue at more professional and career-oriented women, rather than letting it be just another lifestyle and fashion magazine. Although this laid the foundation of modern magazines, back then it did not resonate with the masses. She also edited the magazine House and Garden and shortened its name to HG. But nothing seemed to be working out for her at that point. In 1987 she returned back to New York and with her dedication got back on her steady feet. She is someone who gets up at 6 every morning, just to play tennis and get her hair and makeup done for work every day, so it can expected of her to have a onetrack mind and a rock-hard dedication. Her first magazine cover was also one to take notice of. Instead of the regular headshots and portraits of models, as seen on every other magazine, Anna chose a candid picture of then 19-yearold Michaela Bercu, wearing a ten-thousand-dollar Christian Lucroux jacket, with fifty-dollar jeans. The cover was such a start contrast to its predecessors that the printers thought there had been a mistake. But apparently, she knew what she was doing because it was a hit amongst the masses who related to it a lot more than headshots of famous models caked up in makeup.

But once again, just as things in her life seemed to be settled, there was turmoil. Anna went through a nasty divorce in 1999 amongst the coverage of tabloids and newsletters watching her every move. Everyone was talking about her alleged affair with investor Shelby Brian, who was also married at that time. Eventually she went ahead and married him in 2004. In the meantime, she worked at different issues of vogue, namely teen vogue, vogue men and vogue living to name a few. But soon Vogue living was cancelled, and layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket layer jacket

Vogue men reduced to 2 issues a month. That is when Anna decided to be more open and started giving public interviews. She tried to communicate with the masses and became focused on her career. She is now the Creative Director at Conde Nast and also teaches master classes on fashion and leadership online. She is also a loving mother and grandmother who knows how to balance both aspects of her life perfectly. When asked what she learned from her children, her answer was- ‘love’. She still uses a flip phone upto this day, being the iconic woman that she is. And of course, throws the most lavish party of the year that every fashion follower looks forward to- the Met Gala.

Anna was also honored with the title of Dame of the British Empire by the queen herself. Even to this day, her decisions are heavily criticized but she has learned to take it in stride. She especially admires women who are comfortable in their own skin and know what they want from life. Fashion to her is a language to communicate and so she loves it when someone’s clothes truly represent their story. She has rightfully earned her position as a fashion icon and continues to make history as we go.