DAME WINTOUR MAY HAVE STEPPED DOWN AS THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF AMERICAN VOGUE, BUT NOTHING CAN REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF POWER SHE WIELDS IN THE WORLD OF FASHION. WHILE WE WAIT FOR HER TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT WE CONVENTION IN DUBAI, LET′S GET ACQUAINTED WITH THIS EXTRAORDINARY WOMAN MORE CLOSELY.
I think fashion is always important. It′s a question of self-expression and a statement about yourself. And whether it′s a loud logo you might choose to put on yourself, fashion can say so many different things. How boring would it be if everybody was just wearing a dark suit and a white shirt all the time? People are individuals and they ought to be able to express themselves. And it′s a form of creativity.
I love what I do. I grew up in a family of journalists, where we were always being dragged home from vacation holidays, because some news was happening. In those days, you couldn′t do e-mail or Zooms. You had to be there, in the newsroom. And that was actually exciting in a way. Our house was full of journalists and politicians and interesting people. And I find that today just as exciting and just as interesting. I′m always more interested in looking forward than looking back. I do think sometimes we spend too much time on nostalgia.
The New Yorker, 2025
I don′t make notes, I react very instinctively to everything. I am a great believer in travelling a great deal and I really think that more than two people in the meeting is too many. Also the more you go out, the more you see, the more you experience life, the more you bring back to your day job. The problem with big corporations is that you have a lot of people my age holding on to their jobs, clinging to their pensions and not experiencing new things. They don′t like change and disruption. Either they don′t make a decision or they say no, and as a result they stagnate. It′s terribly important to bring people in from the outside, especially young bright people who can teach you how to think about things differently.
Oxford Union, 2015
I′m an early morning person, not someone that stays up late and goes to the after-parties. After getting up at quarter to 5:00, I look online at all the British newspapers - New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. And if there are any calls I need to make to any of global colleagues, that′s a great calm moment to do that. It′s also a very helpful time for me to figure out the day, the week, the month. I go to the gym. I walk through Washington Square Park, which is always an interesting experience. I try to be in the office by 8:00 - 8:15 to start my day.
Vogue, August 2023
It is very helpful to those you are working with if you are decisive or at least have a clear onset. I worked with a lot of people who are not that way. It′s very frustrating, debilitating and disrespectful - not to be clear in what you are saying or what you are expecting. People can react if someone says ᳓No, I don′t like it, we are not doing it᳓, or ᳓This is fantastic, go ahead᳓, or ᳓I am not sure, give me a couple of days to think᳓. At least it′s clarity. When you are not clear or decisive, you have a lot of people swimming around you, waiting for you to make up your mind. And that is just a waste of everybody′s time. Most importantly, theirs. To me that′s disrespectful.
#ABTalks with Anna Wintour,
February 2025
Maybe it′s not very good way to be but I don′t really follow market research. I respond to my own instincts. Sometimes they are successful and sometimes obviously they are not. But you have to remain true to what you believe in.
CBS News, 2011
What all of us in fashion have to do all the time is to take what′s known and reinvent it, make it new and fresh.
Virgin Radio UK, February 2025
I don′t care for the word brand, to be honest, it makes me feel like I′m in a supermarket.
The Guardian, February 2025
I don′t have any defined talent. I have friends that are athletes, it′s a gift and a skill. I have friends that are amazing writers. People who paint - how wonderful and amazing it is to have that gift! I have no gifts like that. I have an eye, an understanding and an instinct for storytelling but I personally can′t do it. So it squeezes very neatly in a job of being an editor - where you help other people to form their ideas and put them out into the world. But as for myself I am very aware of my lack of creative talent.
#ABTalks with Anna Wintour,
February 2025
Getting older gives you patience. I think you learn that in the end everything will be fine. You just need to think about things calmly and rationally, try and come out making the right decision. And I guess there′s not much left to surprise you.
Vogue, August 2023
A lot of young people tend to make mistakes - maybe it′s because of social media culture we live in today - of wanting everything too fast. I think it′s much more wise to find a mentor, someone whom you admire, whom you can work for a period of time just to learn the ropes. There are so many avenues to take. When you start out, when you leave university or college, you don′t necessarily know exactly what it is you want to do. Use this time to study and understand all the different parts of business rather than to leap in thinking you are going to make it big overnight. It′s highly unlikely to happen - as brilliant as you may be.
Virgin Radio UK, February 2025
