A Love/Hate Relationship
I have very conflicted feelings about Anna Wintour. On the one hand, I think she's kind of awesome. She has one of the world's coolest jobs, being Editor-in-Chief of Vogue (it's up there on my dream job list, along with soap opera headwriter) and she wields loads of power in the fashion world (certain designers were reportedly afraid to provide clothes for the upcoming film version of the The Devil Wears Prada-—based on a barely disguised roman à clef about Anna and working at Vogue-—for fear that they would be banned from the pages of Vogue). But on the other hand, she is said to be totally crazy pants (and mean) and she insists on holding the dreaded Sienna Miller up to the world as a fashion icon (really, the pimping of Sienna that goes on in Vogue lately is totally sick-making).
I always feel sort of bad for her when she is attacked by PETA, like that time they threw a pie in her face. I actually agree with the whole no fur thing, but their tactics are so lame and overused at this point, and she always comes out looking better.
Yes, she has issues with fat people (as Vogue writer Andre Leon Talley said on Oprah, "Miss Anna doesn't like fat people"), but does anyone really expect the world's leading high-fashion magazine to embrace people of all sizes? The designers they feature don't exactly cater to the plus-sized crowd. Besides, Vogue is little more than a paean to the genetically blessed.
Anna reportedly isn't much of an eater. One story told by a former staffer was that every day, she would send her assistant out to get her soup. Anna would then dump a pat of butter in the soup and basically just eat the butter and toss the soup. This is kind of clever; I've never considered the use of soup as a butter delivery system.
Years ago, Anna found a style (the bob, twin sets, and big sunglasses) that worked for her and she's sticking to it. That hairstyle is never going to change. And it's become her trademark, so more power to her (also, it makes for a great Halloween costume—-instant recognition). I do get the feeling that she has spent a lot of time examining herself in the mirror, looking for her best possible angle. In 90% of all pictures of her, she looks exactly the same, suggesting that she has perfected a "look" over the years (it's not quite blue steel, but it works). Check out this video to see what I mean.
So maybe Anna is a crazy bitch who likes to run roughshod over her minions, but I still feel for her. Here she is, bringing the world style and culture every month, and yet all around her are badly dressed, frumpy, overweight people. It must make her die a thousand little deaths every day. (I can relate. DC is hardly a fashionable town, but tourist season is the absolute worst. For the love of Jebus, people, lose the neon, lose the fanny packs, and please please please lose the camel-toe-inducing shorts.)
I always feel sort of bad for her when she is attacked by PETA, like that time they threw a pie in her face. I actually agree with the whole no fur thing, but their tactics are so lame and overused at this point, and she always comes out looking better.
Yes, she has issues with fat people (as Vogue writer Andre Leon Talley said on Oprah, "Miss Anna doesn't like fat people"), but does anyone really expect the world's leading high-fashion magazine to embrace people of all sizes? The designers they feature don't exactly cater to the plus-sized crowd. Besides, Vogue is little more than a paean to the genetically blessed.
Anna reportedly isn't much of an eater. One story told by a former staffer was that every day, she would send her assistant out to get her soup. Anna would then dump a pat of butter in the soup and basically just eat the butter and toss the soup. This is kind of clever; I've never considered the use of soup as a butter delivery system.
Years ago, Anna found a style (the bob, twin sets, and big sunglasses) that worked for her and she's sticking to it. That hairstyle is never going to change. And it's become her trademark, so more power to her (also, it makes for a great Halloween costume—-instant recognition). I do get the feeling that she has spent a lot of time examining herself in the mirror, looking for her best possible angle. In 90% of all pictures of her, she looks exactly the same, suggesting that she has perfected a "look" over the years (it's not quite blue steel, but it works). Check out this video to see what I mean.
So maybe Anna is a crazy bitch who likes to run roughshod over her minions, but I still feel for her. Here she is, bringing the world style and culture every month, and yet all around her are badly dressed, frumpy, overweight people. It must make her die a thousand little deaths every day. (I can relate. DC is hardly a fashionable town, but tourist season is the absolute worst. For the love of Jebus, people, lose the neon, lose the fanny packs, and please please please lose the camel-toe-inducing shorts.)
posted by Lady Tiara @ 12:59 AM
1 Comments:
At 6/12/06, 5:52 PM,
BabsieD said…
It may be a tired argument, but every male hypersuccess story uses words like "driven" and "focused"--and you know they're as nuts as they come, too. I work with a woman like Anna--she's a bigwig in the design industry--and she's wacky, yes, but she's also 100% focused on what she does all the damn time, which is why she's so successful. And as much as I hatehatehate having to wade through her looniness and her nasty psychotic rants, I have to admit, she's a damn genius. I think the same goes for Ms. Wintour.
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