Anna Wintour

By Ines Mendoza

If there is one name in fashion to fear and praise in equal parts, it is that of Vogue Magazine editor and inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada - Anna Wintour.

Born in 3rd November 1949, Wintour is the hard-nosed English born fashion editor-in-chief of American Vogue - a position she has not only just held since 1988, but has used to revolutionise the fashion industry and print media.

The daughter of Charles Wintour CBE (who died in 1999, and was the son of Major-General Fitzgerald Wintour - editor of the Evening Standard) and Eleanor Trego Baker (daughter of a Harvard law professor), and step daughter to Audrey Slaughter (also a magazine editor for the British publications Honey and Petticoat), it's almost impossible to image Winters becoming anything OTHER than a cultural phenomenon.

After all, it's not about what you know... but who you know!

Wintour first became interested in fashion as a teenager, with her father often consulting with her on how to make the Evening Standard's coverage relevant to the youth of mid-1960s London. 

In her teens she began dating well-connected older men. At 15, she was involved briefly with Piers Paul Read, and gossip columnist Nigel Dempster (where she became something of a permanent fixture on the London club circuit with him) with many suggesting "She would go to the opening of an envelope".

Anna dropped out of school at only 16, diving head first into a career in fashion journalism, with stints at Viva, Savvy, New York, House & Garden, along with a stint as a junior fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar in New York in 1975. 

However, Winters innovative shoots caused conflict with then-editor Tony Mazzola, and she was fired after only nine months.

However, it wasn't long until the feisty young editor was back on her feed - returning home to England for a year to literally turn around the failing British Vogue. A true innovator of social thinking, Wintour steered the magazine from a "tradition of eccentricity" to a "direction more in tune with the American magazine" and was the first editor to push having celebrities grace the cover of issues.

"There's a new kind of woman out there... She's interested in business and money. She doesn't have time to shop anymore. She wants to know what and why and where and how" Wintour told the Evening Standard in 1980s. 

Who could have guessed that Wintour way of thinking back then would become the standard of our celebrity obessesed, Paris Hilton lovving modern day society?

In July 1988 Anna Wintour took on her current role at American Vogue, which she revived from being a stagnant publication, to earning her worldwide acclaim in the industry. 

It also was the beginning of the "Nuclear Wintour", a phrase coined due to her famously aloof and demanding persona, despite the fact that she has become as much an institution in the fashion world as her magazine - as well as being widely praised for her eye for fashion trends and supporting younger designers.

Most recently, Wintour headed the bold move for the September 2004 issue of Vogue to boast a record 832 pages (the largest issue of a monthly magazine ever published at that time - which has since been exceeded by her own September 2007 issue) as well as overseeing the introduction of three spinoff titles: Teen Vogue, Vogue Living and Men's Vogue.

The brand expansion earned her the coveted title of "Editor of the Year" by the industry trade magazine AdAge - thanks largely to the fact that Teen Vogue published more ad pages and earned more advertiser revenue than either ELLE Girl and Cosmo Girl, and Men's Vogue debuted with 164 ad pages.

However, it wasn't until the release of the book (and subsequent hit movie starring Meryl Streep) The Devil Wears Prada that Anna Wintour place in pop culture history was cemented. 

The "work of fiction" led to the documentary about the making of the magazine's landmark issue in September 2007 called "The September Issue", which many believe was used as a PR excercise to soften Wintour public image.

However, with a salary reported to be in the $2 million a year area, and the fashion world at your feet - who really gives a toss what people think of you?