Anna Wintour is stepping down as the editor in chief of Vogue. These are the moments that turned her into a pop culture icon.
It is, nonetheless, the end of an era — one marked by Met Galas, groundbreaking (and sometimes controversial) magazine covers, and moments that cemented the EIC's place in pop culture history. From being dubbed 'Nuclear Wintour' by tabloids in the '90s for her icy management style to inspiring one of Meryl Streep's most famous roles, Wintour's reign at Vogue has shaped not only fashion but how the world views it.
Prior to her reign as editor in chief of Vogue, Wintour worked across different magazines at Condé Nast, including House & Garden and the U.K. edition of Vogue. It was during her time at the U.K. fashion magazine, where she replaced beloved editor Bea Miller, that British tabloids gave her the titles 'Nuclear Wintour' and 'Wintour of Our Discontent' — nods to her reputation for being cold, demanding and unapologetically tough on her staff.
In 1997, the British-born Wintour pushed back against the nicknames in a piece for the Guardian, writing that while journalists portrayed her as a 'wicked woman of steel,' she only recalled letting go of 'two or three' employees during her time at the magazine.
'There was a cozy but mildly eccentric atmosphere at British Vogue, which, after my time in New York, struck me as out of date,' Wintour recalled. 'It also seemed out of step with the fast developing social and political changes that were thundering through Britain in the eighties, under Margaret Thatcher. I felt the cozy approach was not responsive to intelligent women's changing lives. So I decided to infuse the magazine with a bit of American worldliness, even toughness.'
While Wintour may not have appreciated the nicknames nor agreed with their accuracy, it's clear that her tough-as-nails reputation solidified a certain image of the ice queen fashion editor — an image that Wintour would carry with her throughout her career.
In 1988, Wintour debuted her first cover of Vogue — and it shocked the fashion world. Model Michaela Bercu wore a $10,000 Christian Lacroix couture jacket with a bejeweled cross along with $50 Guess jeans, photographed outside in natural light. The casual tone of the photo was a stark change for the magazine; even Wintour herself didn't initially expect to run the photo on the cover.
'It was so unlike the studied and elegant close-ups that were typical of Vogue's covers back then, with tons of makeup and major jewelry,' Wintour wrote of the cover in a 2012 Vogue piece, adding that the photo 'broke all the rules.'
The model 'wasn't looking at you, and worse, she had her eyes almost closed,' Wintour explained. 'Her hair was blowing across her face. It looked easy, casual, a moment that had been snapped on the street, which it had been, and which was the whole point.'
Wintour said that the cover led to all sorts of incorrect interpretations, including that it was some sort of 'religious statement.' None were true. Instead, she wrote, 'I had just looked at that picture and sensed the winds of change. And you can't ask for more from a cover image than that.'
In 2006, The Devil Wears Prada, a novel written by former Wintour assistant Lauren Weisberger, was adapted into a movie starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. Immediately, people assumed that Streep's character Miranda Priestly — EIC of the fictional Runway magazine — was a thinly veiled caricature of Wintour.
Wintour has not said much publicly about the portrayal of Priestly, an icy, calculating and wildly demanding boss. In fact, Anna: The Biography author Amy Odell wrote that when the EIC learned that Weisberger had sold The Devil Wears Prada, 'she said to [managing editor Laurie] Jones, 'I cannot remember who that girl is,'' per Entertainment Weekly.
Recently, the film — for which a sequel is in the works — received a West End musical adaptation, which Wintour attended in December 2024. Speaking to the BBC after the show, she said it is 'for the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly.'
The Devil Wears Prada is not the only piece of pop culture to apparently pay tribute to the famed fashionista. She was also parodied on the show Ugly Betty with the character Fey Sommers. Interpretations of Wintour, always with her signature giant sunglasses, have also been seen on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons.
Wintour also appeared as herself in 2018's Ocean's 8, which was about a group of women pulling off a heist at the Met Gala.
In 2009, R.J. Cutler's documentary The September Issue followed Wintour as she and her team crafted the September 2007 edition of Vogue — at the time, the largest issue to date. It peeled back the curtain on working for Wintour, revealing her exacting standards and intense leadership style at the center of the high-pressure world of fashion publishing.
In a review of the documentary by Roger Ebert, the late film critic wrote, 'There cannot have been a page she wasn't involved with. This seems to be a woman who is concerned with one thing above all: The implementation of her opinion.'
Fashion's biggest night wouldn't be quite the same without the influence of Wintour. In 1995, she took over as chair of the Met Gala, transforming the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute from a modest society dinner into a global pop culture phenomenon.
Wintour revamped the guest list, inviting A-list celebrities, designers, models and entertainment industry power players. This coincided with the rise of the celebrity stylist, putting these behind-the-scenes fashion players on display just as much as the stars wearing their outfits. Wintour helped elevate pop culture icons like Rihanna, whose outfit choices have become among the most anticipated on the red carpet.
In 2015, Wintour made headlines with the Met Gala once again. 'China: Through the Looking Glass' was one of the most attended exhibitions — but also a highly controversial one, as Wintour and her team were accused of promoting appropriation and showing Eastern culture through a Western lens.
Still, the Met Gala has continued to push cultural conversation forward, as it did this year with its theme 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,' which spotlighted Black designers and Black identity. In May, Wintour told E! News of the exhibit, 'It's about optimism and hope and community. I hope that many, many people come and see it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
A relic of the 90s and early 2000s, AOL ending its dial-up internet service
A relic of the 90s and early 2000s, AOL ending its dial-up internet service AOL, an internet pioneer that brought millions of Americans online for the first time, is discontinuing its dial-up service next month. AOL posted a statement saying it 'routinely evaluates its products and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet' on September 30, ending more than three decades of operations. 00:33 - Source: CNN Vertical Trending Now 15 videos A relic of the 90s and early 2000s, AOL ending its dial-up internet service AOL, an internet pioneer that brought millions of Americans online for the first time, is discontinuing its dial-up service next month. AOL posted a statement saying it 'routinely evaluates its products and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet' on September 30, ending more than three decades of operations. 00:33 - Source: CNN Insect crawls on during European tour Singer, dancer and actress Jennifer Lopez was performing in Almaty, Kazakhstan when an uninvited guest joined her on stage. She casually dismissed the intruder, a long-legged insect, and thanked her fans. 00:28 - Source: CNN Meet the winner of 2025's World's Ugliest Dog Contest The World's Ugliest Dog Contest named Petunia, a hairless bulldog, the winner of this year's competition in California on Friday. The prize was $5,000 and a merchandise deal with Mug Root Beer. 00:30 - Source: CNN Masked thieves steal $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls Masked thieves stole about $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls from a Los Angeles-area store on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are investigating the incident. 00:44 - Source: CNN Intense storm rips roof off prison Hundreds of prisoners from the Nebraska State Penitentiary were displaced after a violent storm damaged two housing units on Saturday, according to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. No injuries were reported, the department said. 00:27 - Source: CNN Paris locals say tourism surge is 'an invasion' Paris is no stranger to tourists taking photos of its historic landmarks. Tourists taking photos of themselves in front of the landmarks for social media? Well, that's changed the game. As the French capital sees a surge in international tourism, CNN's Melissa Bell spoke with locals in Montmartre who told CNN they worry that the large crowds are leading to the 'Disney-fication' of their neighborhood. 01:27 - Source: CNN Meet the oldest panda living outside of China At 35 years old, Xin Xin is a legend as the oldest giant panda living outside of China. CNN's Valeria León visited Mexico City's Chapultepec Park Zoo – where Xin Xin lives – to see why thousands of people visit the panda each day. 01:14 - Source: CNN See what happens when a robot competes with courting fiddler crabs Researchers test fiddler crab mating strategies by introducing a robot with a waving claw, dubbed 'Wavy Dave.' CNN speaks to one of the scientists about the study and some surprising moments caught on camera. 01:50 - Source: CNN Harry Enten samples new ketchup smoothie CNN's Harry Enten gives a taste test for the ketchup smoothie collaboration between Heinz Ketchup and Smoothie King. 00:52 - Source: CNN See statue unveiling for Tom Brady at Gillette Stadium The New England Patriots unveil a statue for seven-time Super Bowl champion and retired quarterback Tom Brady at Gillette Stadium. 00:32 - Source: CNN Dinosaur footprints found after Texas floods Videos and photos show dinosaur footprints uncovered in the Sandy Creek area in Travis County, Texas following the catastrophic July 4th floods. Experts say the creek where the prints were found is usually dry but rose to 20 feet during the floods, and that the prints are approximately 110 to 115 million years old. 00:51 - Source: CNN Water slide malfunction on Royal Caribbean cruise Videos show a hole in a broken water slide on the Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas cruise ship. Acrylic glass broke as a guest passed through the slide. A spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that the guest is being treated for injuries. 00:26 - Source: CNN CNN contributor sounds off on the big issue of sex toys thrown at WNBA games CNN Contributor Cari Champion says that WNBA players deserve respect in the wake of sex toys being thrown on the court during games. 01:21 - Source: CNN Iconic astronaut of Apollo 13 dies at 97 Famed NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, who commanded the harrowing Apollo 13 mission that was forced to abandon a lunar landing attempt in 1970, has died. He was 97. 00:45 - Source: CNN Kelly Clarkson's ex-husband Brandon Blackstock dead at 48 Brandon Blackstock, a talent manager and former husband of singer Kelly Clarkson, has died following a battle with cancer. He was 48. 01:11 - Source: CNN
Epoch Times
2 hours ago
- Epoch Times
‘Robert Shaw': Wobbly Biography of the ‘Jaws' Star
In Chapter 7 of Christopher Shaw Myers's new book, 'Robert Shaw: An Actor's Life on the Set of Jaws and Beyond,' Nelson Mandela pays a visit to an apartheid-era South African school during the mid-1950s. What does this have to do with Robert Shaw, who played Quint in the 1975 film 'Jaws'? Well, Mandela engaged in conversation with the actor's sister Joanna, who was teaching at a blacks-only school in South Africa at the time. That's the big problem with this new biography. While the title suggests an in-depth consideration of the great British actor and writer's work on the landmark film, the book is a bait and switch. It places a very heavy emphasis on Joanna Shaw, who is the author's mother, and on Doreen Shaw, the family matriarch. The making of 'Jaws' becomes a tenuous hook that holds this work together, and Robert Shaw comes across like a supporting player in what is supposed to be the story of his life and his greatest career achievement.
3 hours ago
Madonna calls on Pope Leo to visit Gaza 'before it's too late'
The singer shared the impassioned post to Instagram on Monday. By 1:04 The musical artist Madonna has called on Pope Leo to travel to Gaza amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis, asking him to "bring your light to the children before it's too late." "As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering. The children of the world belong to everyone. You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry," Madonna wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. The Vatican has yet to comment on Madonna's post. Pope Leo XIV, who began his papacy in May, is the first American-born pope and the 267th pope of the Catholic Church. He has been outspoken about the ongoing hunger crisis in Gaza. Last week, during a Mass for the Jubilee of Young People in Rome, Pope Leo expressed solidarity for the children who are suffering as a result of Israel's war with Hamas. "In communion with Christ, our peace and hope for the world, we are closer than ever to young people who suffer the most serious evils which are caused by other human beings. We are with the young people of Gaza," he said.
