New tell-all book could spell trouble for fashion queen Anna Wintour

She’s been the undisputed queen of fashion for decades, but Anna Wintour’s is under fire after a once-trusted friend started spilling the beans.

In late February, as the couture caravan that biannually makes its stylish way from London to Milan and Paris, the fashion world faced a choice: To head to the French capital for the final European fashion week or head home as the coronavirus marched unbowed through Europe.

While some fashionistas felt the Paris shows were too risky a venture, Anna Wintour, the long-reigning impresario of US Vogue instead reportedly gathered fashion staff in the Paris Vogue office. One attendee later told The New York Times, “The message from Anna was: This is not a big deal.” The Conde Nast staffers stayed in Paris. (A spokesman denied to the Times that Wintour sent that message.)

Wintour at the Tony Awards in 2018. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

For more than 30 years, Wintour, now 70, has exerted a steely grip on the fashion world, with her influence unparalleled and largely unchallenged. With her famous bob and publicly icy demeanour she has reigned over the fashion world.

Perhaps that is, until now.

Earlier this month the first excerpts from longtime Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley’s new autobiography The Chiffon Trenches were published, immediately electrifying the fashion set on both sides of the pond. Talley had been one of Wintour’s longtime lieutenants however after decades of allegiance the 70-year-old has broken ranks to dish on his former boss – and friend.

While the book will not hit shelves later this month, could this juicy tell-all topple the style powerhouse?

Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley were often seen at fashion shows and on the red carpet together. Picture: Michel Dufour/WireImage

‘HUGE EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SCARS’

Like Wintour, Talley has been at the centre of the fashion world since the 70s. When Wintour was named editor of Vogue in 1988, she hired him, making him the magazine’s creative director.

While Talley has previously lauded Wintour, in his new book, he takes aim at his former boss, writing: “She is immune to anyone other than the powerful and famous people who populate the pages of Vogue.

“She has mercilessly made her best friends people who are the highest in their chosen fields. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Mr. and Mrs. George Clooney are, to her, friends. I am no longer of value to her.”

Serena Williams and Wintour at an event in 2018. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

For more than 20 years, Wintour has run the annual fundraising event for the New York Met’s Costume Institute. For years, Talley did red carpet interviews at the event which is perhaps the most exclusive soiree in the world.

In 2018, Talley was replaced in that role by a YouTuber.

In the excerpt from The Chiffon Trenches, Talley writes: “This was clearly a stone-cold business decision. I had suddenly become too old, too overweight, too uncool, I imagined, for Anna Wintour.

“After decades of loyalty and friendships … Anna should have had the decency and kindness to call me or send me an email saying: ‘Andre, I think we have had a wonderful run with your interviews but we are going to try something new’.”

“I would have accepted that … I understand; nothing lasts forever. Simple human kindness. No, she is not capable.”

OPENING THE FLOODGATES

In the wake of the revelation of Talley’s scorching book, designer Ralph Rucci took to Instagram, saying the door is now “wide open” to criticise the high priestess of style.

“My dear friend and man of such vision, intelligence, and hurt [Talley] has spoken forth regarding the British woman who works at Vogue [Wintour],” Rucci posted.

“I am proud of him for taking this step.”

The fashion world is now waiting with bated breath for the release of Talley’s book however this is far from the first controversy that Wintour has been caught up in and she has ruffled feathers far beyond the fashion world over the years.

NUCLEAR WINTOUR

Wintour’s beginnings were far less glamorous and far more bookish. Born in London, her father Charles Wintour was the longtime editor of the London Evening Standard.

She left school at 16 and soon moved into the media with stints at Harpers and Queen in the UK (now Harper’s Bazaar), Harper’s Bazaar US, British Vogue and House and Garden magazine. In 1988 she was tasked with drastically modernising moribund US Vogue. Her first cover was such a wild departure that the printers returned the files they had been sent, confident some mistake had been made.

However, Wintour’s first cover – which is now truly iconic – was no mix up. Instead of the usual model-in-ball gown shot, the editor had instead opted to dress Israeli model Michaela Bercu in a Christian Lacroix Haute Couture top and Guess jeans – a stroke of genius.

Under Wintour’s aegis the power of Vogue as a cultural arbiter grew exponentially, as did her industry sway.

When the 90s rolled around, it was Wintour who presciently saw the rise of celebrity culture and started swapping out supermodels for Hollywood A-listers as cover stars.

Such was her success that her salary in 2009 was rumoured to be $3 million, along with a chauffeur-driven Mercedes S class and $300,000 shopping allowance.

There is no denying that Wintour has a Midas touch but as her celebrity and influence has grown, however so too has her notoriety, earning her nickname ‘Nuclear Wintour.’ She famously arrives early for fashion shows and allegedly has asked designers to not seat other editors near her. Meanwhile her dislikes have been widely chronicled such as small talk, hugs and her disdain for black clothes.

When fashion royalty meets the real thing. Wintour sat next to the Queen during London Fashion Week in 2018. Picture: Yui Mok / POOL / AFP)

‘LOSE A LITTLE WEIGHT’

Wintour is famously rail-thin and is reported to be a US size zero (Australian size four). Over the years her perspective on weight has seen her hit the headlines.

In 2005, Talley told Oprah Winfrey, “Miss Anna doesn’t like fat people.”

The same year, she staged an intervention for Talley in the Vogue boardroom over his obesity. Alongside his pastor and designer Oscar de la Renta, Wintour told Talley his weight was “out of control” and arranged for him to be sent to a diet rehab centre. Later, when Talley gained weight again, his boss intervened, telling him “You’ve got to go to the gym.”

In 2009, an out-take from a 60 Minutes interview with Wintour revealed she had advised talk show supremo Winfrey to slim down before appearing on the cover of the fashion, saying: “I went to Chicago to visit Oprah, and I suggested that it might be an idea that she lose a little bit of weight before she appears in the magazine. I said simply that you might feel more comfortable.” Winfrey lost a reported 9kg by going on a “stringent diet” and the issue became one of the best-selling ever.

The famously thin Wintour at the 2019 Met Gala. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images/AFP

Also in 2009, a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Vogue hit the big screen, and an unsuspecting target came in for Wintour’s body criticism. For one fashion shoot, editor Grace Coddington photograph a model alongside Bob, one of the documentary’s cameramen. Later, Bob tells Coddington that Anna “told me to go to the gym”.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

In 2003, one of Wintour’s former assistants, Lauren Weisberger, broke the unofficial industry wide omerta and published The Devil Wears Prada, roman a clef, set inside the world of a fictional fashion magazine which bore an uncanny resemblance to Vogue. So too did one of the book’s main characters, Miranda Priestly, an imperious fashion editor.

Three years later, a big screen adaptation starring Anne Hathaway landed in cinemas, instantly catapulting Wintour from fashion celebrity to a household name.

While Wintour was a good sport about the situation, drolly wearing Prada to the movie’s premier, the book and movie’s depiction of Priestly as a frosty yet lonely sartorial dictator were a PR blow.

More than 15 years on from the book’s release, The Devil Wears Prada still seems to be a sore point. When a journalist asked her about it during a 2019 interview she replied, “I think we can move beyond that question” at which point “two of her assistants leap up in anguish, windmilling dissent or a follow-up.”

FUR FOR FASHION’S SAKE

One of the ongoing controversies of Wintour’s career has been her pro-fur stance, infuriating animal rights activists. In the 90s, when she had a dead raccoon dropped on her plate while lunching at New York institution the Four Seasons – she calmly asked the waiter to remove it. In 2005 in Paris, she was hit with a tofu custard pie while attending a fashion show. (How do you get tofu out of Prada?)

Sarah Christie, a fashion editor, has said of the moment: “There was Anna, all alone and dripping in cream pie … We all stood there staring, rooted to the spot, until Marie Claire’s executive fashion director Elizabeth Walker marched forward pulling a packet of wet wipes (in a Prada tissue case) from her Gucci handbag. Not a word was said as she helped Anna clean herself up.”

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

It might come as a surprise given her frosty demeanour, but Wintour’s love life is surprisingly colourful. In 1984 she married British psychiatrist David Shaffer, with the couple going on to have son Charlie and daughter Bea. (The editor continued to wear Chanel miniskirts during her pregnancies, using the jackets to cover the slightly unzipped skirts.)

In 1999, according to the New York Post, she met Texan venture capitalist Shelby Bryan, when both were married to other people, with the pair spotted in Paris together.

“When the affair went public, she was embarrassed — but it only added to her allure,” one former Vogue employee told the Post. “They had a very combustible connection.”

While Bryan was Wintour’s longtime boyfriend, in 2013 it was revealed he owed $1.8 million in back taxes. According to the Post, “That was the beginning of the end,” a Wintour source has said. “He started to become a liability. It’s been quite a while since they’ve been seen together.”

Earlier this year, Wintour was linked to Love Actually star Bill Nighy, with the duo spotted dining together and seen taking in plays in London and New York, however it would seem they are just friends.

IS IT CURTAINS?

While Wintour has managed to ride out these PR storms over the years, it remains to be seen how much damage Talley’s upcoming tome will do to her image. Now that not one but two public figures have had the temerity to speak out against her, will others follow suit? It remains to be seen how she will ride out this latest contretemps.

Having hit the big 7-0 last year and with the media industry facing unprecedented upheaval, the question of whether Wintour might step down – or be pushed from her exalted position – have circulated with renewed vigour in recent years.

However, having ascended to the top of the style and business world, Wintour is clearly a formidable figure who shows no signs of wanting to slow down.

In 2017, after being made a Dame, Wintour thanked the Queen for “being an example to me that women can lead as well as men — and often for a good deal longer”.