Power and polish:Anna Wintour reigns in a gossipy tour of the elite

In a chaotic fashion career I have met every editor ofVogue Australia since its launch in 1959,befriending two of them,working for two and being dealt a near fatal withering glance by one,for accidentally knocking her not-stiff-enough drink at a party. OneGood Weekend article described me as part of one editor’s “obligatory retinue of gay handbags,” but fortunately,my status as an accessory changed.

Some of these relationships lasted years,others mere hours,but all of these women were more engaging,more collaborative and more human than the USVogueeditor Anna Wintour found in the 447-page biographyAnna by Amy Odell. And this includes the spectacularly haughty founder ofVogueAustralia, Sheila Scotter.

The glasses stay on:US Vogue editor Anna Wintour attends the Burberry show during London Fashion Week 2017.

The glasses stay on:US Vogue editor Anna Wintour attends the Burberry show during London Fashion Week 2017.Getty Images

With her signature bob and sunglasses,Wintour has forged the image of a Chanel-coated android,with limited emotions and absolute power in the world of fashion.

Through more than 250 interviews,with people as diverse as designer Tom Ford and tennis champion Serena Williams,Odell attempts to find the flesh and blood beneath the polished exterior of the 72-year-old editor,but fails to reveal more than the book’s striking cover.

Anna - The Biography by Amy Odell.

Anna - The Biography by Amy Odell.Supplied

Once you accept that references to Wintour’s childhood,growing up as the daughter of respected British newspaper editor Charles Wintour and her socially conscious mother Eleanor,are less revealing than her bland breakfast order of a Starbucks latte and a blueberry muffin,Anna is an enjoyable frolic through the nosebleed section of the fashion industry.

There are mild jabs at Wintour’s inability to remember the names of underlings,and failed magazine ventures,but Odell is mostly respectful of the woman who has reigned as editor of a formidable USVogue since 1988.

“Finally,for allowing me access into her world,I am grateful to Anna,” Odell writes at the end of her author’s note. This could have been the story of the ruthless rise to the top of a privileged woman with access to a trust fund,but Odell’s gratitude prefers to emphasise the disciplined chief executive and tireless fundraiser.

The book starts with Wintour holding a meeting forVogue staff in 2016 following the election of Donald Trump as US president. During a short speech,Wintour’s voice catches:“former employee Stephanie Winston Wolkoff had a name for it:‘the crackle’.” Upon her departure the staff text one another “Oh my god – Anna just cried in front of everyone.”

The rest ofAnna is spent emphasising fleeting moments of humanity and tear-sightings to balance intimidating office tactics and some tone-deaf editorials. Glimpses of Wintour as an adoring mother and nappy-changing grandmother attempt to soften the woman who insisted on running a story about Asma al-Assad,the wife of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad,because she liked the pictures.

After the story received criticism,Wintour severed ties with its author,former FrenchVogue editor Joan Juliet Buck,despite their 50-year friendship.

Anna Wintour and André Leon Talley attend the presentation of the Oscar de la Renta fall 2007 collection.

Anna Wintour and André Leon Talley attend the presentation of the Oscar de la Renta fall 2007 collection.AP

Any sympathy for Wintour being hurt at former employeeAndré Leon Talley’s description of her on the press tour for his autobiographyThe Chiffon Trenches as “a colonial broad” and “entitled” is softened by the fact the first black woman to work as one of her rotating roster of three assistants was in 2016.

The first black photographer to work on aVogue cover was Tyler Mitchell in 2018 – because his subject,Beyoncé,insisted on it.

Anna is an unauthorised biography,but Wintour gave permission for select friends to speak to Odell. Considering her decisive end to long-standing friendships with Talley and Buck,the measured responses of the chosen ones fuel the contradictions.

Like an issue ofVogue, the biography is at its best when it is gossipy,light and revealing of the fantastical,airbrushed life of the elite.

Whether it’s Wintour’s expense account,with a clothing allowance once quoted at $200,000 (and I’d be surprised if designers actually sent any bills),that extends to $5000 repairs for her home air-conditioner or actor Colin Firth officiating at daughter Bee Shaffer’s wedding to Francesco Carrozzini,this is a fantasy world whereThe KardashiansmeetsSuccession.

Odell’s fast-paced writing style is entertaining and informative,stopping just short of the bite of former Vanity Fair contributor Dominick Dunne but better suited to a time when calling people “gay handbags” has become unfashionable.

Perhaps Odell’s failure to find a pulse inAnnaultimately doesn’t matter. The final word rests with one of those formerVogue Australia editors,who favours the description of Wintour borrowed from Oscar Wilde as “the sphinx without a secret”. But even without a riddle to solve,there is plenty to raise a wry smile inAnna.

AnnabyAmy Odell is published byAllen&Unwin,$34.99.

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Damien Woolnough is the style editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

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