21 things you probably didn't know about Anna Wintour

Anna Wintour, American Vogue editrix and the most powerful woman in media, turns 68 today. Here are 21 facts about fashion's queen bee which you may not know...

 1. When in town for London Fashion Week, Wintour maintains her immaculate bob, which she has had since the age of 14,  with two blow-dries a day: one first thing in the morning, and once early evening. In fact, she books a blow dry wherever she is; she even made an appointment at Bangs Hair Salon in York when she was in town to give a talk last year. 

2. Wintour has three siblings: Patrick, James, and Nora. Her third brother, Gerald, died in a car crash as a child. Patrick Wintour's byline appears in The Guardian, where he serves as the newspaper's diplomatic editor.

3. In 'The Devil Wears Prada', the novel written by former personal assistant Lauren Weisberger said to be based on Wintour, protagonist Miranda Priestly eats a freshly cooked steak from a top restaurant for lunch in her office every day.

4. The slender editor has had a love affair spanning 20 years - with the same style of Manolo Blahnik shoes. The cross-front slingbacks feature a delicate kitten-heel and never veer too far from Wintour's skin tone (she is rumoured to have different shades of the style for when she has a suntan, naturally).

5. Wintour started her career at Harpers and Queen in London (now Harper's Bazaar) and had stints at Harper's Bazaar US, British Vogue and House and Garden magazine before being tasked with reviving US Vogue as editor-in-chief in 1988.

6. Print journalism is in Wintour's blood, her father Charles was the editor of the London Evening Standard from 1959 to 1976. In 1955 when he was deputy editor at the paper, he founded the annual Evening Standard Theatre Awards, which still runs today and which Anna still attends.

7. Wintour's first US Vogue cover (below) featured Israeli model Michaela Bercu wearing Guess jeans and a Christian Lacroix Haute Couture top - such a break from the norm that the magazine's printers asked if there had been some sort of mistake. "The jacket was actually part of a suit, but the skirt didn't fit Michaela; she had been on vacation back home in Israel and had gained a little weight," recalled Wintour. "Not that that mattered. In fact, it only served to reinforce the idea to take couture's haughty grandeur and playfully throw it headlong into real life and see what happened."

8. Tennis is Wintour's sport of choice. She is rumoured to rise at 5am everyday to play before work, and is a regular at the US Open, Wimbledon Championships and French Open tournaments. She has a soft spot for Swiss player Roger Federer.

9. Like the Duchess of Cambridge, Wintour is not too posh to recycle her clothes. A big fan of Prada dresses, she is pictured wearing the same items time and time again, including strings of coloured crystal necklaces.

10. If you want to get hired by Wintour, she looks for a strong personality. "I don't like people who'll say yes to everything I might bring up. I want people who can argue, and disagree, and have a point of view that's reflected in the magazine. My dad believed in the cult of personality. He brought great writers and columnists to the Standard. I try to do that here, too."

11. She might have the nickname 'Nuclear Wintour' (owing to her frosty demeanour) but in The September Issue, Wintour cites her children as her 'weaknesses'. As well as a daughter, she has a son, Charles, who is following in his father's psychiatry footsteps

12. Anna is a keen Democrat supporter. She fundraised for both Barack  Obama and Hillary Clinton, with Vogue even taking the unprecedented step of officially endorsing Clinton to become America's first female president.  At one stage, there were even rumours that Wintour's support would be rewarded with a plum ambassasor role.

13. While she might be at the age when most are contemplating retirement, Wintour's workload has only been made heavier by her employer Condé Nast. In 2013 she was made artistic director across the publishing stable, and in July 2014 added the post of editorial director to her business card.

14.The lady is punctual - often early, even. She can often seen alone on front rows at catwalk shows, waiting for the action to start.

Anna Wintour's style over the years

15. Wintour once told The Telegraph that she loves New York because it "is a city for people who want to work. And I love that it is a city where everyone is from somewhere else - so you are not judged by your accent, who your dad was, or any of that Englishness."

16.. According to her daughter Bee Schaffer, Wintour is 'the most generous person you will ever meet and she puts everyone else before her'. Schaffer, who is now engaged to Francesco Carrozzini, the son of late Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani, has also described her mother as 'efficient' and someone who 'gets bored easily'.

17. Wintour was bestowed one of the most fashionable of honours when the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York named its Costume Institute after her in 2014. After helping to raise $125 million for the wing, the institute was renamed The Anna Wintour Costume Center. It plays host to all of the museum's fashion exhibitions, including the annual blockbuster exhibit which launches each May with the star-studded Met Ball Gala. When First Lady Michelle Obama opened the center she said of Wintour: "I'm here because I have such respect and admiration for this woman, who I am proud to call my friend."

18. Wintour was made a Dame in the 2017 New Year's Honours. She wore Chanel Couture to collect her honour from the Queen in May 2017. 

19. Wintour likes fur, a fact that not everyone likes her for. In 2005 she was the unexpected recipient of a custard pie on behalf of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) on the way to a Chloé show during Paris Fashion Week.

20. Anna was born in London in 1949 and attended the independent North London Collegiate School.

21. Wintour has been romantically involved with Shelby Bryan, a Texan venture capitalist, since 2004.