201 reviews for:

Anna: The Biography

Amy Odell

3.75 AVERAGE


A comprehensive background on Anna Wintour’s personal life and career that strikes the balance between criticism and reverence. The parts focused on her early career were fascinating, but for most of the other parts of the book we were being thrown random names and events without it coalescing into a cohesive story about Anna’s lIfe.
informative inspiring slow-paced

Anna Wintour isn't just the most powerful person in fashion today; she's one of the most powerful women in the world. And yet, we know so little about the woman behind the blunt bob and dark sunglasses — until now.

When I saw that Amy Odell was working on a biography of Anna Wintour, I knew it was going to be good. Odell has a reputation in the fashion and media industries for having a sharp mind and tough questions, so this was never going to be a puff piece. Indeed, Odell put in the grunt work, accumulating over 250 interviews and a thick index. While Wintour herself declined to be interviewed, Odell got unprecedented access to people around Wintour, from childhood family friends to current industry titans, and assembled it into one biography.

What I was most impressed by was the way Odell manages to humanize Wintour, a figure who has carried the reputation of being an ice queen for over four decades and who is rather famously private. Especially since "The Devil Wears Prada," she's become a kind of pop culture icon about whom we know very little. Odell doesn't shy away from discussing Wintour's many missteps — whether cutting people out of her life with no notice or explanation, or creating racially or politically insensitive content for Vogue, it's all in here — but aims to add context to the system and circumstances surrounding Wintour which might lead to those decisions. That's an incredibly hard line to walk.

If you're looking for something gossip-y (and early reviews seem to indicate this was the case for a lot of people), this probably isn't for you; Odell treats her subject quite seriously and only offers a few kernels of Daily Mail-worthy tidbits. (Though they're always fun to receive, obviously.) But if you're a serious fashion fan, this is a foundational text to understanding the industry's current landscape. And since Wintour never plans to write a memoir, it's guaranteed to become the definitive resource on Wintour's life.

Disclosure: I was given an ARC by Gallery to cover "Anna: The Biography" for my job!

A great read for anyone interested in Anna and the fashion industry. Amy’s Instagram is also excellent. I hadn’t realized-although not surprised-the extent of the privilege that Anna Wintour came from. With no formal education and limited creative talent, she had the ability to recognize talent in others and had a truly amazing ability to understand trends and popular culture. Viewed through a 2023 lens though, there is something unseemly, about using the work of other creative individuals (Edward Enninful, Andre Leon Tally, Grace Coddington) to create something great and becoming famous for it. I suppose that is what it means to be the boss.
informative medium-paced
informative slow-paced

Honestly, I was largely bored by this book.
Kudos to the author for all the research and work. Some might find it insufficiently critical, but I prefer to make my own opinion on things, no need for neon signs.

Even though I'm not anti-fashion, I'm also not a follower. Never read an issue of Vogue. Did see The Devil Wears Prada a few times, watched The September Issue at the time (and again while reading this book). But this world is still far enough for me that I thought this biography would be broadening my horizons a bit. Also I expected some fun.

Well, didn't get that. Some of it was, in fact, interesting (family, youth), but I also found large chunks of it dull. Weirdly enough, even though I read history books all the time, I was a bit more into the book in the second half, or perhaps the final third, when I was on a more familiar ground. Huh.

Anyway. It's solid. Well done. I appreciated that the chapters weren't long and served in bite-sized bits. I suppose that's what helped me get through it.

I came away from the book with my opinion on Wintour pretty much unchanged: ambivalent. Which is interesting.

Thorough biography of an icon
informative inspiring slow-paced
reflective slow-paced