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By Kyle, November 7, 2011

Front Row: Anna Wintour, the Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief

by Jerry Oppenhiemer

Coco Chanel said it first: “I don’t do fashion. I am fashion.” Heir to Chanel’s crown is Anna Wintour, the fearsome editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, dubbed ‘Nuclear Wintour’ by her enemies and the alleged inspiration for the movie The Devil Wears Prada.

Jerry Oppenheimer’s glitzy unauthorized biography paints a vivid picture of this brilliant and driven woman. The author doesn’t do a makeover of Wintour’s faults—she is indeed icy, ruthless, and often less tactful than a sledgehammer—but neither does he edit out her unmistakable gifts. As a young fashion editor working for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, New York, Viva, and the British Harper’s & Queen, Anna Wintour displayed a keen visual aesthetic, a knack for discovering talented photographers, and the willingness to do whatever it took (including chipping in her own money) to produce gorgeous fashion layouts.

Nor is Wintour’s personal life left out; Oppenheimer traces her early years as the daughter of a prominent but troubled family to her life in the swinging London of the 1960’s to her various relationships with older, powerful men. This book will enthrall fashionistas and celebrity gossip lovers alike!

- AJ