02/28/2022
The life and influence of fashion mogul Anna Wintour (b. 1949) gets an engrossing examination in this account from journalist Odell (Tales from the Back Row). The daughter of venerated reporter Charles Wintour, who was deputy editor for the London Evening Standard in the 1950s, Anna was exposed early to the “glamorous and intellectual milieu” of the writing world. This proved advantageous when she began her climb up the magazine ranks in her early 20s, beginning in 1970 at London’s Harpers & Queen, where, as a fashion assistant, she honed her signature “high-low taste.” Following Wintour’s move to New York City in 1975 and her stint of freelance writing gigs that eventually opened the doors to Vogue, Odell’s snappy narrative charts her relentless mission to make the magazine “the biggest, most valuable... in its category” (which she did) by taking the reins as its editor-in-chief in 1988. As Odell relates, “not emotion, not corporate bullshit, and not losing” would stand in Wintour’s way. What scintillates, however, are the intimate details about a famously inscrutable subject—who attributes her signature shades to her “acute light sensitivity” and is a “fiercely devoted” grandmother—as well as the blunt treatment of Wintour’s more problematic sides, including her history of body shaming. This fascinating look at an enigmatic figure will captivate sartorialists and Vogue acolytes. (May)
You’ll walk away knowing every step—and misstep—in Wintour’s famous ascent.”
—The New York Times
“Having interviewed over 250 sources (many of whom are unforgettable and quotable characters themselves)... Odell takes readers through Wintour's lifelong love of fashion, her personal life and romantic relationships, and, primarily, her decades-long career... While Odell's nimble writing moves at a clip, the extent and detail here make this perfect for fashion devotees and fans of publishing industry tales as Anna's career coincides with sea changes in magazine journalism.”
—Booklist, Starred review
“The secret to [Anna’s] longevity is the subject of Odell’s biography, which is drawn from interviews with Wintour’s tightknit inner circle. Given that she’s famously private and notoriously aloof, the participation of intimates in the book’s reporting indicates a green light from Wintour herself. But Odell is unsparing, detailing Wintour’s ambitious rise and ruthless power grabs, dotting the narrative with a healthy amount of gossip and color.”
—Bloomberg Businessweek
“What scintillates...are the intimate details about a famously inscrutable subject...as well as the blunt treatment of Wintour’s more problematic sides.... [a] fascinating look at an enigmatic figure.”
–Publisher’s Weekly
“The most comprehensive biography of the media icon... [Anna] fascinates with Odell’s well-documented account of Wintour’s broad influence.”
—Library Journal
“A fascinating portrait of the secretive queen of fashion. The devil is in the detail.”
–Andrew Morton, New York Times bestselling author of Diana: Her True Story
“The details of Anna Wintour’s life have been kept as tantalizingly hidden as her eyes behind her trademark sunglasses. This book tells her stunning story. Extraordinarily sweeping, astute, and unputdownable.”
—Sheila Weller, New York Times bestselling author of Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge and Girls Like Us
“Anna is brilliantly written and well-researched, full of the kinds of details you've always wanted to know about Wintour's early life, and the ways in which she used her considerable gifts to amass astonishing, and enduring, power and influence.”
—Laurie Woolever, author of Bourdain, The Definitive Oral Biography
“Anna serves up Wintour A to Z, in page-turning detail. A dazzling and exhaustive deep dive into the ruthless, glittering world of fashion media and one of its most iconic empresses.”
—Lisa Napoli, Author of Susan, Linda, Nina, & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR
“Odell takes her readers behind Wintour’s iconic bob and sunglasses in this deeply researched account, delivering a close-up view of the most powerful woman in fashion.”
—Sara Gay Forden, author of House of Gucci: A True Story of Murder, Madness, Glamor and Greed
09/01/2022
Fashion icon Anna Wintour is famous, but beyond her role as editor in chief of Vogue and cochair of the annual Met Gala, her life story is unknown to most. Since Wintour reportedly dislikes talking and writing about herself, Odell's meticulously researched biography, written without Wintour's direct involvement, may be the closest readers will get to knowing what's behind the precise bob and the dark sunglasses. Odell charts Wintour's rise from fashion-mad teen growing up in the Swinging London of the late 1960s through her thirty-plus year tenure as Vogue's editor in chief, where she has weathered massive changes in the magazine business. Listeners will be treated to details about the inner workings of her business, as well as overviews of the controversies she faced while at the magazine. Imogen Church, best known for her skilled narration of suspense fiction, uses her considerable talent to enhance Wintour's story, highlighting the gossipy moments with breathless tension and voicing Wintour with a husky British accent that is remarkably similar to Wintour's actual voice. VERDICT This masterful audiobook, both dishy and elegant, will appeal to listeners interested in fashion, magazine journalism, and the lives and career paths of successful businesswomen. Highly recommended.—Nanette Donohue
04/01/2022
Instantly recognizable for the haircut and sunglasses Anna Wintour is often reduced to the "chilly" caricature of her in Lauren Weisberger's novel The Devil Wears Prada. Odell (Tales from the Back Row) interviewed more than 250 industry and personal contacts to assemble the most comprehensive biography of the media icon, although Wintour herself declined to be interviewed for the book. The biography sometimes reads more like a fashion history than a life story. Wintour held important positions before Vogue, but her 1988 appointment as the magazine's editor in chief was what mattered; in 2013, she ascended to the role of artistic director of Condé Nast, Vogue's parent company. Despite these accomplishments, Wintour has expressed a wish that her legacy be defined not by her editorship but by her philanthropy (including support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute and the CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund). The biography also includes 16 pages of full-color photographs. VERDICT A challenging read for those lacking industry knowledge, but it still fascinates with Odell's well-documented account of Wintour's broad influence.—Jessica A. Bushore
Narrator Imogen Church introduces Anna Wintour to listeners as a soft-spoken, young British socialite. This Anna developed her appetite for beautiful clothes as a teenager in 1960s London, where she caught the fashion bug so completely that she left high school to devote herself to developing her role in this domain. (She later graduated.) Church’s expert performance captures the frenetic pace of the fashion world through Anna’s spicy exploits on her way to the top of the haute couture world as editor-in-chief of VOGUE magazine. Anna had two sides: her ambitious, driven side and her devoted, maternal side. Church delivers both sides of Anna with equal passion and delight in this delicious and masterful presentation. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Narrator Imogen Church introduces Anna Wintour to listeners as a soft-spoken, young British socialite. This Anna developed her appetite for beautiful clothes as a teenager in 1960s London, where she caught the fashion bug so completely that she left high school to devote herself to developing her role in this domain. (She later graduated.) Church’s expert performance captures the frenetic pace of the fashion world through Anna’s spicy exploits on her way to the top of the haute couture world as editor-in-chief of VOGUE magazine. Anna had two sides: her ambitious, driven side and her devoted, maternal side. Church delivers both sides of Anna with equal passion and delight in this delicious and masterful presentation. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
2022-02-09
How the legendary editor of Vogue assembled her extraordinary corporate and personal power.
Though Wintour declined to be interviewed for this book, Odell, a fashion journalist and author of Tales From the Back Row: An Outsider's View From Inside the Fashion Industry, explains that she "blessed the project" so that her friends and colleagues would feel comfortable speaking about her. More than 250 sources did so—Tina Brown even shared her diary—and the author also mined earlier interviews, memoirs by friends and associates, a 2006 biography by Jerry Oppenheimer, and even Wintour's lectures for MasterClass.com. Yet as Odell acknowledges in her introduction, the frustrating fact is that "the many people interviewed for this book had a hard time explaining why she is so powerful and what her power amounts to." This biography could not be any more thorough on the who, what, when, where, and how of Wintour, but without the why, the enigma remains. One notable example is Wintour's long, intense friendship with the recently deceased designer and editor André Leon Talley. Wintour, "as cold and removed as she is said to be," had a connection to Talley unlike any other. Often deferring to him on matters of taste, Wintour gave him a huge salary and nearly unlimited expense account and paid for him to attend a three-month weight-loss program at the Duke Lifestyle and Weight Management Center. Even when Talley was sometimes rude to her—and even when he told an interviewer, "I do not think she will ever let anything get in the way of her white privilege”—she never flinched. Concerning almost everyone else in her life, she "just moved on." Why were these relationships so different? In this recollection, we never learn. More satisfying is the section dealing with the book and movie The Devil Wears Prada.
The book may satisfy fashion industry devotees, but Anna’s iconic sunglasses still don't come off.
