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Anna: The Biography

Anna: The Biography

by Amy Odell

Gallery Books ·2022 ·464 pages
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Bottom of the Pile
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Bottom of the Pile

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About This Book

This definitive biography of Anna Wintour follows the steep climb of an ambitious young woman who would—with singular and legendary focus—become one of the most powerful people in media.As a child, Anna Wintour was a tomboy with no apparent interest in clothing but, seduced by the miniskirts and bob haircuts of swinging 1960s 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, she 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 defeats. Undeterred, she found work in the competitive world of magazines, eventually embarking on a journey to New York and a battle to ascend, no matter who or what stood in her way. Once she was crowned editor-in-chief of Vogue—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 Anna Wintour's closest friends and collaborators, including some of the biggest names in fashion, journalist Amy Odell has crafted the most revealing portrait of Wintour ever published. Weaving Anna's personal story into a larger narrative about the hierarchical dynamics of the fashion industry and the complex world of Condé Nast, Anna charts the relentless ambition of the woman who would become an icon.


Reviews

"In relating Anna's undisputed remarkableness, Odell doesn't gloss over her missteps, either."

Annie Bostrom· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Her book might well be based on 250 sources and come with notes longer than the concordance to Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur."

Rachel Cooke· The Guardian Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"You'll walk away knowing every step — and misstep — in Wintour's famous ascent to the heights of magazinedom, but without a working theory of the case, no conceptual framework to pack it all into and remember it by ..."

Willy Staley· The New York Times Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"Wintour obsessives will no doubt revel in the details of her diet (whole-milk lattes, rare steaks, caprese salads without the tomatoes), and management style."

Lauren Indvik· Financial Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"The biography sometimes reads more like a fashion history than a life story ..."

Jessica A. Bushore· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Odell's workmanlike account, Ms."

Brenda Cronin· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"The life and influence of fashion mogul Anna Wintour gets an engrossing examination in this account ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Although she's clearly sympathetic to her subject, she's direct in addressing Wintour's missteps."

Sarah Ditum· The Times (UK) Read review ↗ Near the Top

"In this recollection, we never learn."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

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