Anna Wintour

Anna Wintour

“The British-born editor of American Vogue for 37 years (1988 to 2025), chair of the Met Gala and the person most often named as the model for 'The Devil Wears Prada'.”

Dame Anna Wintour is a British-born editor who ran American Vogue for 37 years, from 1988 to 2025, and became the best-known gatekeeper in world fashion. She is easy to recognise: a neat bob, dark glasses and a famously cool manner. She is now Condé Nast's global chief content officer and Vogue's global editorial director, and she has chaired the Met Gala, the yearly fund-raiser of the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute, since 1995. Many people believe she was the model for the fearsome editor in 'The Devil Wears Prada', a claim she has treated as entertainment.

She was born on 3 November 1949 in London (Hampstead, according to some sources), the daughter of Charles Wintour, the editor of the Evening Standard, and Eleanor Baker, an American. She went to North London Collegiate School and to Queen's College, shortened her skirts against the school rules, and at fifteen was found a job at the Biba boutique by her father. She left school at sixteen, started in magazines at Harpers & Queen in 1970, and moved to New York in the mid-1970s, where she worked on Harper's Bazaar, Viva, Savvy and New York magazine. Her pages were admired for their locations and photographers, though not for her writing.

At Condé Nast she was Vogue's first creative director (1983), then editor of British Vogue (1985 to 1987), where staff nicknamed her 'Nuclear Wintour', and of House & Garden (1987). In 1988 the company owner replaced Grace Mirabella with her at American Vogue. Her first cover, in November 1988, put a smiling model in a jewelled Christian Lacroix jacket and stonewashed jeans, shot in the street by Peter Lindbergh. It mixed high and low, and the printers called to ask if it was a mistake. She went on to put actresses, singers, athletes and politicians on the cover, and to back young designers such as John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Marc Jacobs.

Her power reaches well beyond the page. As co-chair of the Costume Institute Benefit she turned a society dinner into a global spectacle that pays for the museum's fashion department, which named its new galleries the Anna Wintour Costume Center in 2014. She helped found the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2003, became Condé Nast's artistic director in 2013 and its global chief content officer in 2020, and launched the travelling show 'Vogue World' in 2022. She has been made OBE (2008), Dame (2017) and Companion of Honour (2023), and received the American Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025. She has also drawn criticism, notably for the lack of Black staff and voices at Vogue, for which she apologised in June 2020.

In June 2025 she stepped down as American Vogue's editor in chief; Chloe Malle became its first 'head of editorial content' in September, reporting to her. In 2026 she co-chaired the Met Gala for the new Costume Institute galleries named for Condé Nast, appeared on a Vogue cover with Meryl Streep for the sequel 'The Devil Wears Prada 2', and backed the Met's decision to drop a planned exhibition on John Galliano after a storm of protest.

What happened

  1. 1949

  2. Anna Wintour is born in London (Hampstead, according to some sources) to Charles Wintour, soon to be editor of the London Evening Standard, and his American wife Eleanor 'Nonie' Baker.

    Hampstead, north London: where she was born on 3 November 1949 (Britannica says only London; EBSCO and Wikipedia say Hampstead)
  3. 1965

    At fifteen she starts work at Biba, the cheap and fashionable boutique in Kensington, a job her father arranged; she has already cut the bob she will keep for life and has hemmed her school skirts shorter against the rules at North London Collegiate.

  4. 1966

    She leaves North London Collegiate School at sixteen and starts a training programme at the department store Harrods, taking a few fashion classes before giving them up.

  5. 1970

    She becomes one of the first editorial assistants at Harpers & Queen, the London magazine formed when Harper's Bazaar UK merged with Queen; her fashion career begins.

  6. 1975

    She moves to New York and joins Harper's Bazaar as a junior fashion editor, but is let go after about nine months; she then becomes fashion editor of Viva, a Penthouse-group magazine, where she hires photographers such as Helmut Newton.

  7. 1980

    After Viva closes she freelances as fashion editor of Savvy, a new magazine for career women, the readers she would later aim Vogue at.

  8. 1981

    She becomes fashion editor of New York magazine under Edward Kosner, where her fashion and home pages first draw notice and where she learns what celebrity covers can sell.

  9. 1983

    Condé Nast's editorial director Alexander Liberman brings her to Vogue as its first creative director, after a bidding war that doubled her salary, with editor Grace Mirabella still in charge.

    350 Madison Avenue at East 45th Street, New York: Condé Nast's headquarters and the home of Vogue from the 1970s to 1999; where she worked from 1983 and edited American Vogue from 1988
  10. 1984

    She marries the child psychiatrist David Shaffer; they have two children, Charles (born 1985) and Katherine, called Bee (born 1987), and divorce in 1999.

  11. 1985

    She returns to London as editor in chief of British Vogue, working at Vogue House in Hanover Square; she replaces much of the staff and is nicknamed 'Nuclear Wintour'; she says she wants Vogue 'pacy, sharp and sexy' for energetic, working women.

    Vogue House, 1 Hanover Square, Mayfair, London: home of Condé Nast Britain and British Vogue from 1958 until 2024, where she was editor from 1985 to 1987
  12. 1987

    She returns to New York as editor of House & Garden, which she makes glossier, fills with fashion and celebrities and renames HG in early 1988; subscribers and traditional advertisers drift away.

  13. 1988

  14. In the summer Condé Nast's owner S. I. Newhouse replaces Grace Mirabella, after 17 years, with Wintour, then 38; Mirabella is said to have heard the news second-hand, and the gossip columnist Liz Smith's hint that the promotion owed to a closeness with Newhouse makes Wintour call a staff meeting to answer it.

    350 Madison Avenue at East 45th Street, New York: Condé Nast's headquarters and the home of Vogue from the 1970s to 1999; where she worked from 1983 and edited American Vogue from 1988

  15. FOLDED EVENT, 'Anna Wintour's first Vogue cover': the November 1988 issue, her first, puts the model Michaela Bercu on the cover laughing outdoors, her eyes almost shut, in a $10,000 beaded Christian Lacroix couture jacket and $50 stonewashed Guess jeans, photographed in the street by Peter Lindbergh. The jeans were a last-minute swap because the matching Lacroix skirt did not fit. It was the first pair of jeans on a Vogue cover; the printers phoned to ask if it was a mistake. Wintour later wrote that she 'sensed the winds of change'.

    350 Madison Avenue at East 45th Street, New York: Condé Nast's headquarters and the home of Vogue from the 1970s to 1999; where she worked from 1983 and edited American Vogue from 1988
  16. 1992

    Vogue breaks a century-old habit by putting a man on the cover, Richard Gere, with his then wife Cindy Crawford.

  17. 1995

    Wintour first co-chairs the Costume Institute Benefit at the Metropolitan Museum, for the exhibition 'Haute Couture'; she follows Diana Vreeland, who in the 1970s had turned the museum's party into a fashionable event, and she co-chairs again in 1997 for the Gianni Versace show; the Met itself dates her takeover to 1995.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995
  18. 1998

    Hillary Clinton appears on the cover of Vogue, the first First Lady to do so; Wintour calls her 'a woman of stature, and an icon to American women'.

  19. 1999

  20. The Metropolitan Museum elects her an Honorary Trustee at the board meeting, thanking her for the benefits she chaired in 1995 and 1997, which raised more than $2 million; in 2014 the Met describes her as a Trustee since January 1999.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995
  21. 2003

  22. Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America launch the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which backs young American designers with money and advice; its first winner, Proenza Schouler, follows in 2004.

  23. Her former assistant Lauren Weisberger publishes the novel 'The Devil Wears Prada', about a tyrannical magazine editor, Miranda Priestly; readers take Priestly for Wintour, although Weisberger says she drew on other people's experiences too; Wintour says she has not decided whether to read it.

  24. 2006

  25. The film of 'The Devil Wears Prada', with Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, opens in the United States; Wintour attends the premiere in Prada and later calls the film 'really entertaining'; it earns about $326 million worldwide.

  26. 2008

    Queen Elizabeth II's government makes her an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), in the 2008 Birthday Honours, for services to British journalism and fashion in the United States.

  27. 2009

  28. 'The September Issue', R. J. Cutler's documentary about the making of Vogue's September 2007 issue and about Wintour's tense, close working partnership with the creative director Grace Coddington, opens in New York after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

  29. 2011

  30. As co-chair, with Colin Firth and Stella McCartney, of the Costume Institute Benefit for 'Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty', she helps open the show; McQueen, who died in 2010, was one of the designers she had backed in his early career.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995
  31. 2013

  32. Condé Nast announces that Wintour, already editor of Vogue, will also be the company's artistic director, a new job made in part to keep her, advising its other editors and taking on some of S. I. Newhouse's role.

  33. 2014

  34. The Metropolitan Museum announces that the Costume Institute's space, being rebuilt, will be named the Anna Wintour Costume Center; the Met says she has raised about $125 million for the department and chaired 15 benefits since 1995.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995

  35. First Lady Michelle Obama cuts the ribbon on the Anna Wintour Costume Center, which opens to the public on 8 May with the exhibition 'Charles James: Beyond Fashion'; the benefit that night, co-chaired by Wintour, opens the show.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995
  36. 2015

  37. The Costume Institute Gala for 'China: Through the Looking Glass' draws the crowd to the Met steps; Rihanna's trailing yellow Guo Pei gown becomes the image of the night; the exhibition opens on 7 May.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995

  38. 'China: Through the Looking Glass', the Costume Institute's show of Chinese-inspired haute couture beside Chinese art, opens to the public, with Guo Pei's gowns among its stars.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995
  39. 2017

  40. Queen Elizabeth II makes her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) at Buckingham Palace, an honour announced in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to fashion and journalism.

    Buckingham Palace, London: where she was made a Dame on 5 May 2017 and a Companion of Honour on 4 February 2025
  41. 2018

  42. Queen Elizabeth II, 91, visits London Fashion Week for the first time, sitting in the front row of the Richard Quinn show beside Wintour and presenting Quinn with the first Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design.

  43. 2019

  44. Wintour co-chairs the Costume Institute Benefit for 'Camp: Notes on Fashion' with Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Serena Williams and Alessandro Michele; the show, from 9 May to 8 September, includes Moschino's fast-food-inspired fall 2014 dress.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995
  45. 2020

  46. In an internal email to Vogue staff she apologises for 'mistakes' in her 32 years: for not doing more to elevate Black editors, writers, photographers and designers, and for publishing images and stories that were 'hurtful or intolerant'; reports date the email 4 June or 9 June.

  47. Condé Nast names her its worldwide chief content officer, overseeing its magazines everywhere except The New Yorker, and Vogue's global editorial director, in a restructuring announced on a Tuesday.

  48. 2022

  49. The first 'Vogue World' is held on a closed-off block of the Meatpacking District in New York, a runway and street fair for Vogue's 130th anniversary; Wintour calls it a symbol that 'New York fashion is back'.

  50. 2023

  51. Vogue World: London, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, opens London Fashion Week and raises money for arts groups including the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House, Rambert and the Royal Ballet; the supermodels Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington close it.

  52. 2024

  53. Vogue reveals its May 2024 cover, the Met Gala issue: Zendaya, a co-chair of the gala, in a red Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda rose dress, photographed by Annie Leibovitz and styled by Law Roach; coverlines name the Costume Institute's 'Sleeping Beauties' and John Galliano.

  54. Vogue World: Paris takes over the Place Vendôme in the evening with a show of French fashion and sport a month before the Paris Olympics.

  55. Wintour speaks at a British government honours evening in New York for Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute's curator, who has been made OBE.

  56. 2025

  57. President Joe Biden awards her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American civilian honour, in the East Room of the White House, among nineteen recipients that day.

  58. At Buckingham Palace King Charles III invests her as a Companion of Honour, an honour of the 2023 King's Birthday Honours (Gazette, 17 June 2023); she takes off her sunglasses and tells him she will not stop working.

    Buckingham Palace, London: where she was made a Dame on 5 May 2017 and a Companion of Honour on 4 February 2025

  59. She tells staff she will step down as American Vogue's editor in chief after 37 years, to be replaced by a 'head of editorial content' who will report to her; she remains Vogue's global editorial director and Condé Nast's chief content officer and jokes that she remains 'Vogue's tennis and theater editor in perpetuity'.

  60. Vogue names Chloe Malle, editor of Vogue.com, as the first head of editorial content of American Vogue, retiring the title of editor in chief; Malle says she is 'incredibly fortunate to still have Anna just down the hall as my mentor'.

  61. 2026

  62. Vogue's May 2026 issue puts Wintour on its cover with Meryl Streep, photographed by Annie Leibovitz and styled by Grace Coddington, in a conversation moderated by Greta Gerwig; it appears ahead of the film sequel and is reported as Wintour's first Vogue cover as its subject.

  63. 'The Devil Wears Prada 2', with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, opens in cinemas and earns an estimated $233.6 million worldwide in its first weekend, nearly three times the original's opening in the United States.

  64. Wintour, with Beyonce, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams, co-chairs the Met Gala for 'Costume Art', the opening of the Museum's new Condé M. Nast Galleries beside the Great Hall; the exhibition opens to the public on 10 May.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York: the Costume Institute, the Anna Wintour Costume Center (2014) and the Met Gala she has co-chaired since 1995

  65. The Met cancels 'John Galliano: Horizons', the Costume Institute show planned for May 2027, announced at the end of July, after a backlash over Galliano's 2011 antisemitic and racist remarks; Wintour, a longtime supporter, says his decision to withdraw is 'very courageous' and that she believes it 'the right decision'.

  66. Vogue World: Milano fills the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, with Alicia Keys, Roberto Bolle and Gigi Hadid, the fifth Vogue World after New York, London, Paris and Los Angeles.