Will Anna Wintour be forced out of her US$2 million-a-year Vogue editor’s job following Black Lives Matter-inspired racism row and public apology?
She has been shaping styles for 30 years, but has now been forced to apologise for stoking a ‘hurtful and intolerant’ culture; STYLE looks at how Wintour became the most important opinion-maker in fashion – and whether she can handle the industry’s long-overdue reckoning with racism
With a reported annual salary of US$2 million and an estimated net worth of US$35 million, Wintour leads the kind of lifestyle that fashionistas envy – or, envied. Recently, Wintour has been in the news as Vogue and its parent company, Condé Nast, face accusations of racism, discrimination, and classism by former employees.
In a note sent to staff, later obtained by Page Six, Wintour apologised for Vogue's “hurtful and intolerant” behaviour.
“I want to say this especially to the Black members of our team – I can only imagine what these days have been like,” she wrote. “But I also know that the hurt, and violence, and injustice we're seeing and talking about have been around for a long time. Recognising it and doing something about it is overdue.”
Keep reading to find out how Wintour become the most iconic – and controversial – person in fashion.
What’s all the fuss about?
Before this month’s meltdown, Wintour also made headlines in May after her former colleague, André Leon Talley, accused her of ageism and being fatphobic. As reported by Page Six, the former editor-at-large of American Vogue said Wintour stopped answering his phone calls and dumped him as a friend because he was “too old” and “too fat”.
He detailed his now-strained friendship with Wintour in his latest memoir, The Chiffon Trenches. In one instance, Talley said Wintour did not thank him after he wrote a glowing op-ed in The Washington Post about Beyoncé's September 2018 cover – historic because it is the first Vogue cover to have ever been photographed by a Black person.
“Not one quick email from Anna Wintour,” he wrote in his book. “Editors I've worked with for decades didn't understand the immense importance of this occasion simply because they are not capable of understanding. None of my contemporaries have seen the world through black eyes.”
Her family life