Is Anna Wintour Really Stepping Down at Vogue? Here’s the Truth…

Anna Wintour is looking for someone to fill some of her shoes.

37 long years at the helm of American Vogue as its Editor-in-Chief, I’ve been the guiding force behind the iconic fashion magazine. Now, after countless issues and trends, I’ve decided to pass on the torch for a fresh perspective in editorial leadership, a move confirmed by the company representative to NBC News on June 26th, making my heart skip a beat with anticipation!

The 75-year-old will carry on her position as Global Editorial Director at Vogue and Chief Content Officer at Condé Nast, managing the worldwide markets for each brand such as Vanity Fair, Wired, GQ, Architectural Digest, Glamour, Conde Nast Traveler, Bon Appetit, Tatler, World of Interiors, Allure, and many others.

TopMob News has reached out to Anna for comment.

Anna, who has served as the Editor-in-Chief of “Fashion Bible” since 1988, is currently looking for a candidate to fill a position with responsibilities similar to those held by team members in various international markets such as Japan, China, India, Taiwan, U.K., France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Middle East. This organizational change was implemented in 2021.

Following Grace Mirabella’s tenure, Anna marked a new direction for the magazine, beginning with her inaugural cover showcasing Israeli model Michaela Bercu in a Christian Lacroix haute couture jacket adorned with beads and a cross, paired with Guess jeans.

Furthermore, it’s often whispered that the character portrayed by Meryl Streep in the 2006 movie “The Devil Wears Prada” was based on Anna.

After years of being a subject of discussion, Anna eventually opened up about the cold-hearted character, stating to the BBC in 2024 that it’s up to both the audience and her colleagues to determine whether there are any resemblances between herself and Miranda Priestly.

It was clarified by Anna, who holds the positions of both lead chairperson and co-chair for the Met Gala, that there is no truth to the speculation suggesting she never hears the word “No.

She emphasized that it was entirely false. In fact, hearing ‘no’ is quite positive, as ‘no’ is an empowering word. When questioned about whether people fear her, she expressed the hope that they didn’t.

For more details on the Anna-Miranda connection, keep reading…

Following her stint as one of Anna Wintour’s two assistants from 1999 to 2000, Lauren Weisberger drew upon her experience working for the esteemed editor-in-chief of Vogue to pen her 2003 bestselling novel “The Devil Wears Prada,” which was later transformed into a blockbuster film. Meryl Streep portrayed Miranda Priestly, a character based on Wintour, while Anne Hathaway played the role of her hardworking second assistant.

‘I can’t remember who that girl is,'” recounted Laurie Jones, a former managing editor at Vogue.

Following the book’s publication, Aimee Cho, who was then Wintour’s assistant, commented, “It all seemed incredibly real, yet portrayed through a pessimistic perspective. I always knew Anna would handle it, and she would do so effectively.

As Wintour perused the book, Jones shared with Odell that she found it somewhat amusing and had no issues with it whatsoever. William Norwich, another friend of hers, mentioned that Wintour displayed an uncaring attitude towards the book, even after it gained massive popularity. “I believe Anna is less captivated by the cultural craze surrounding it compared to the rest of us,” Norwich commented in explanation.

While it’s true that not every aspect of the book or film is an exact replication of reality, there are still some elements drawn from actual events.

Throughout her reign as editor-in-chief of Vogue, I’ve been an enraptured onlooker, always eager to dissect her leadership style. In the thrilling decade of the 2010s, Odell shed light on the multifaceted roles of her assistants, drawing from behind-the-scenes sources.

In his writing, it’s stated that the main assistant oversaw the other two, managed her appointments, and was Anna’s primary point of contact. Meanwhile, the second assistant acted as a go-between with the caretakers and chef at her homes in Manhattan and Long Island, organized her movie viewings, and took care of her pets.

I couldn’t help but marvel as I recounted, ‘That diligent aide was always on the move, grabbing theater tickets, managing fashion week logistics, and even ordering my wardrobe straight from the designers – often personalized runway pieces!’

On weekends, when the first assistant was basking in leisure, I found myself perpetually on duty, with the second and third taking turns manning the fort. Anna, ever vigilant, would shower me with a barrage of requests, many lacking even a title to hint at their content.

When a novice assistant joined forces with Anna, they were handed a 21-page manual detailing the general procedures for tasks, yet it emphasized that this guide was not exhaustive. Their workdays commenced at 7 a.m., frequently extending to 12-hour stints. Previous assistant Meredith Asplundh disclosed her initial salary as $25,000, whereas Laurie Schechter, one of Anna’s earliest assistants, admitted she shed eight pounds during the first fortnight.

In 1993, Asplundh initially started as an intern at Condé Nast and was subsequently hired as Anna Wintour’s second assistant just a month later. It transpired that, upon starting work at Vogue, Wintour referred to Asplundh by the name of her first assistant.

According to Asplundh, she was instructed to stay at her desk, without leaving even for bathroom breaks, unless the other assistant was present. This was similar to Andie’s situation in “The Devil Wears Prada,” but it should be noted that this rule wasn’t explicitly from their boss.

Asplundh explained, “It was kind of like lore, passed on from generation to generation.”

Indeed, one of Wintour’s second assistants had a crucial daily responsibility: delivering the magazine prototype, or “The Book,” to her residence, as described in interviews conducted by Odell with several former assistants. The same employee would then welcome Anna at her office entrance each morning, handing over notes and other items from her “AW bag.” This bag was a monogrammed L.L.Bean canvas tote with navy handles that contained the Book, papers she had reviewed the previous evening, and her burgundy crocodile designer planner, which her assistants would replace whenever it was full, as per Odell’s accounts.

Regarding the note-taking process, if a story was approved for publication by Wintour, she would write her initials followed by ‘OK’, which became commonly referred to as an “AWOK” within the office. This is how the editors would express their impatience: “Is it AWOK’d? Is it AWOK’d already?” explained Odell.

However, when Wintour made up her mind to eliminate something – be it an article, a photo session, or a fashion trend – there was no turning back. For instance, an intriguing interview with Uma Thurman after her divorce from Gary Oldman in 1992 never saw the light of day because the original and re-takes did not meet Wintour’s high standards. On the other hand, Gwyneth Paltrow underwent four photoshoots over a three-year period before eventually gracing the cover in 1996.

Ain’t no rest for the fashionable.

Through conversations with multiple informants, Odell managed to outline Anna Wintour’s daily schedule in his book, exposing that the Editor-in-Chief typically rises at 5 a.m. for physical activities like tennis lessons or workouts with her personal trainer. Subsequently, she undergoes hair and makeup preparations before being chauffeured to the Vogue office by 7 a.m., marking the start of a day filled with meetings, reviews, as one former staffer, Gabé Doppelt, remarked, “The sheer fact that they had to roll in clothes for photo shoots into her office beforehand was incredibly different and unheard of.” It wasn’t surprising to find Wintour still at the office past 11 p.m. during her initial years as editor-in-chief.

Each morning, it fell upon one of Wintour’s aides to ensure that her daily breakfast, specifically a whole-milk latte and a blueberry muffin from Starbucks, was already set up on her desk before she arrived.

Similar to Miranda Priestly in the film, Wintour typically enjoys the same meal for lunch when she isn’t dining out for work: A juicy steak with mashed potatoes, which she savors from the Royalton rather than a takeout container. “She would take a few bites and then remark, ‘Clear my plate, I’ve finished,'” Odell noted.

As Miranda Brooks shared, Wintour subsequently followed a diet primarily based on cream, essentially consuming chocolate milkshakes to avoid becoming overly slender.

In a particularly poignant scene from the film, Miranda displays vulnerability by crying before Andie about her divorce, an uncommon display of emotion for the character often portrayed as cold and aloof. Interestingly, this emotional exchange mirrors a real-life incident involving Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, then an event planner for Vogue, who experienced a similar emotional moment with Anna Wintour during her late ’90s separation from husband David Schaffer, in London.

Winston Wolkoff stated, “Indeed, she was feeling sorrowful,” he said to Odell. “Was she often displaying her sadness at work? Not typically. Instead, she continued to persevere.

Even within their professional bond, Winston Wolkoff and Wintour seemed to have no trace of their personal relationship once they were both at work, as if it didn’t exist.

Without explicitly stating a dress code, it was evident that Wintour held specific fashion preferences for her team.

Asplundh shared with Odell an instance where “she’d give me a scrutinizing look at whatever I wore. It wasn’t an approving glare, more like bewilderment. It was as if she were saying, ‘What on earth are you wearing?’, and it was clear when she thought, ‘Those pants don’t match that top!’

Indeed, certain staff members often called it “The Look,” a silent method used by Wintour to evaluate outfits.

According to Maggie Buckle, a previous employee, she had a habit of doing certain things instinctively. Upon entering her office, you would notice that she would scrutinize your shoes first and work her way up. Interestingly, Buckle confessed to wearing Manolo Blahnik heels, Wintour’s preferred brand, each day.

Odell noted that Wintour scrutinized the wardrobe of each candidate interviewing for a position at Vogue, making outfit assessments prior to hiring decisions.

Despite the infamous monikers like “Nuclear Wintour” and “Wintour of Our Discontent,” which portrayed her as icy, terrifying, and fabulous, I’ve uncovered that these descriptions don’t quite align with reality based on conversations I had with several reliable sources.

Emma Soames, one of Anna’s close friends, pointed out that people often mistake Anna’s intense focus for being cold-hearted. However, this isn’t the case; Anna is incredibly generous to a fault. If a topic didn’t relate to her editing work at Vogue, she simply wouldn’t engage with it. As a result, she didn’t participate in small talk much.

Gabé Doppelt, who had been Wintour’s trusted assistant for years, reminisced about the stressful environment Wintour faced when she started at British Vogue in 1985. (Doppelt recalled feeling so drained from the job’s demands and the animosity towards Anna that she would even lie on the cold stone floor to rest while Anna went for lunch.) In her own words, “I was completely worn out by the pressure of the job, the tension, and the hostility directed at Anna, which seemed to be transferred onto me. I can only imagine how much worse it must have been for Anna.

During her initial tenure at Vogue in 1983, when she became the magazine’s first-ever creative director, Anna Wintour was described as calm and collected by junior copywriter Lesley Jane Seymour at that time. “Many women at Vogue were intimidating, but I don’t recall her being frightening. She managed to complete the tasks efficiently and remained pleasant.

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2025-06-26 22:17

Is Anna Wintour Really Stepping Down at Vogue? Here’s the Truth…

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