Anna: The Biography

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'Fascinating' - Sunday Times
'Deeply sourced and rich with anecdotes' - The Times
'Like a nonfiction version of The Devil Wears Prada' - Elizabeth Day
'Odell's extensive reporting dredges up a wealth of delightful details' - New York Times

As a child, Anna Wintour was a tomboy with no apparent interest in clothing but, seduced by the miniskirts and bob haircuts of swinging 1960s London, she grew into a fashion-obsessed teenager. Her father, the influential editor of the Evening Standard, loomed large in her life, and once he decided she should become editor in chief of Vogue, she never looked back.

Impatient to start her career, she left high school and got a job at a fashionable boutique in London - an experience that would be the first of many defeats. Undeterred, she found work in the competitive world of magazines, eventually moving to New York. Before long, Anna's journey to Vogue became a battle to ascend, no matter who or what stood in her way. Once she was crowned editor in chief - in one of the stormiest transitions in fashion magazine history- she continued the fight to retain her enviable position, ultimately rising to dominate all of Conde Nast.

Based on extensive interviews with Anna Wintour's closest friends and collaborators, including some of the biggest names in fashion, journalist Amy Odell has crafted the most revealing portrait of Wintour ever published. Weaving Anna's personal story into a larger narrative about the hierarchical dynamics of the fashion industry and the complex world of Conde Nast, Anna charts the relentless ambition of the woman who would become an icon.

Reviews

'The details of Anna Wintour's life have been kept as tantalizingly hidden as her eyes behind her trademark sunglasses. This book tells her stunning story. Extraordinarily sweeping, astute and unputdownable.' - Sheila Weller, New York Times bestselling author of CARRIE FISHER: A LIFE ON THE EDGE and GIRLS LIKE US

'Anna is brilliantly written and well-researched, full of the kinds of details you've always wanted to know about Wintour's early life, and the ways in which she used her considerable gifts to amass astonishing, and enduring, power and influence.' - Laurie THE DEFINITIVE ORAL BIOGRAPHY


'Like a nonfiction version of The Devil Wears Prada' - Elizabeth Day


'An impressively detailed portrait that reveals much about Wintour's management style and early career' - Financial Times, Books of the Year


'Fascinating' - Sunday Times


'Odell's book is deeply sourced and rich with anecdotes. Although she's clearly sympathetic to her subject, she's direct in addressing Wintour's missteps.' - The Times

Author Bio

Amy Odell is a fashion journalist. Her work has appeared in New York magazine, The Economist's 1843, Bloomberg Businessweek and numerous other publications. She is the author of Anna and Tales from the Back Row. Find out more at AmyOdell.com.