AMY ODELL’S REVEALING ANNA

BY: Ramona Duoba

Fashion journalist Amy Odell revealed, on Instagram, she has spent the last three years working on a book. “I wrote a biography of Anna Wintour. It is the product of interviews with more than 250 people. I can’t wait to share more about the book and reporting process as the publication date nears.”

Anna Wintour is a British-American journalist, who has served as Editor-in-Chief of Vogue since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast since 2020; she is also the Artistic Director of Condé Nast and the Global Editorial Director of Vogue. With her trademark bob haircut and dark sunglasses, Wintour is a significant figure in fashion. Praised for her eye for emerging fashion trends; her reportedly aloof, demanding personality has earned her the nickname “Nuclear Wintour.”

In 2009, the documentary September Issue, gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the influential Wintour and her team as they create the biggest fashion moment annually with the must-have September Issue.

Then, there was the movie The Devil Wears Prada, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, based on the novel by the same name. Many speculated Streep’s character, Miranda Priestly, was based on Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. The novel isn’t entirely based on real-life, but author Lauren Weisberger said her former job at Vogue magazine influenced the story. “It wasn’t a one-to-one portrayal [of Wintour],” Weisberger told the Daily Mail in 2010. ” Of course, my time at Vogue informed the book, there’s no denying that.”

But there is always room for more on the iconic fashionista who is both revered and feared. Odell is also the author of Anna and Tales from the Back Row (Simon & Schuster 2016). Her upcoming biography “chronicles the steep climb of an ambitious young woman who would, with singular and legendary focus, become the most powerful woman in media.”

The Simon & Schuster book’s synopsis delivers a glimpse into its content. As a child, Wintour was a tomboy with no apparent interest in clothing but, seduced by the miniskirts and bob haircuts of swinging ’60s London, she grew into a fashion-obsessed teenager. Her father, an influential newspaper editor, loomed large in her life, and once he decided she should become editor in chief of Vogue, Wintour never looked back.

Impatient to start her career, she left high school and got a job at a trendy boutique in London—an experience that would be the first of many missteps. Undeterred, she found work in the competitive world of magazines, eventually moving to New York to leave behind the association with her well-known father. Before long, Wintour’s journey to Vogue became a battle to win, no matter who or what stood in her way. Once crowned editor-in-chief—in one of the stormiest transitions in fashion magazine history—she continued the fight to retain her enviable position, ultimately rising to dominate all of Condé Nast.

Based on extensive interviews with Wintour’s closest friends and collaborators, including some of the biggest names in fashion, Odell has crafted the most revealing portrait of Wintour ever published. Weaving Wintour’s personal story into a larger narrative about the hierarchical dynamics of fashion, and the complex world of Condé Nast, Anna tracks the relentless ambition of the woman who would become an icon.

Anna The Biography, by Amy Odell, is coming on May 3, 2022. Pre-order is now available.