Anna: The Biography by Amy Odell

This definitive New York Times bestselling biography of Anna Wintour, now featuring a new afterword, 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.

Thanks for reading Words Like Silver! Subscribe for free to support my work.

Subscribe Now

placeholder

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.

Named one of Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2022, this in-depth and revealing biography is based on extensive interviews with Anna Wintour's closest friends and collaborators. 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.

I bought Anna: The Biography within seconds of learning it existed. Anna Wintour is such an influential figure in both fashion and media; she’s a reference most know even outside of the industry. Since I’m involved in both, it was a natural choice. The timing also could not have been more perfect since I’ve recently spent a lot of time around Condé Nast as an entity. (I'm now technically a journalist.)

The book took me several sittings to go through (I found that when I wasn’t actively reading it, I wasn’t super inclined to pick it up), but I did enjoy it. The word that most comes to mind is iconic.

Anna Wintour embodies the word iconic, and Amy Odell has written her in a way that feels fair, thorough, and thoughtful. The anecdotes are divine, with moments (perhaps sensationalized) that shocked and delighted me in turn. Odell doesn’t shy away from detailing her many mistakes and ways she’s contributed to harmful aspects of the culture, but she does stress the other systemic and societal factors that influenced those occasionally-selfish choices.

Some characterizations felt contradictory. For example, one claim I didn’t love was that “Anna never cried or showed emotion” followed by numerous examples in the text of her bursting into tears throughout the book, both in the office and at public events. While those might be breakaway moments and not a pattern, certain absolutes about her lost their power because of the examples used later. In fairness, Anna Wintour has acted in complex and contradictory ways, but I thought orienting those depictions in time or adding disclaimers to certain moments would have been helpful in “understanding” her personality better. Or at least in not making sweeping claims debunked only a chapter or so later.

Overall, Anna feels foundational to our understanding of her mystique. It’s not only a portrait of her, but a portrait of the publishing landscape as we know it today.