POSH Icon: Anna Wintour
The Caroline Doll, CEO of POSH PR®, on Anna Wintour. Just how did she get to be so Vogue?!
I’ve been planning on featuring Anna Winter as this month’s POSH Icon. As I was learning more about her, though, I decided to make this feature less of a biography, and more of a takeaway.
One quick Google search for the woman who wears Prada and you quickly learn she’s from a long line of high society, editorial royalty. Her father was the editor of the "Evening Standard", one of London’s daily newspapers. Her father also paved her way for her first job at the Biba boutique, a highly trendy shop. “I think my father really decided for me that I should work in fashion,” she’s shared in the documentary, The September Issue.
From the outside looking in, you might conclude things came to her a little more easily than they would for most; she was practically primed for the reigning position she has now. But I don’t think that’s the case! You can have every door opened for you, but YOU have to walk through it. As the old saying goes, “You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink!” (My Kentucky roots are coming through a’bit.) Instead of delving further into her biography, I wanted to share a few key traits Anna Wintour has that have made her the fashion entrepreneur she is today, the fashion icon she is today.
In order to be an entrepreneur, you can’t be easily discouraged. What marks an entrepreneur is the way they perceive a challenge. Entrepreneurs, risk takers, have an ability to see a challenge for what it is — something to be conquered! In a progressively post-print world, Anna Wintour doesn’t seem in the slightest bit discouraged, “The near-death of magazines has been greatly exaggerated,” she tells Business Insider. Instead, she responds with innovation. Vogue’s growth was completely stagnant when Anna took-over. What did she do? She uprooted the face of the magazine — literally. She took the close-up of faces off the cover. Instead of the same familiar faces framed on the cover, shot in a studio space, Anna chose to use an array of faces, primarily an array of celebrity visages. She brought more life to the photo by choosing to shoot al fresco, capturing the model’s entire body, rather than just their face — putting them in a setting and telling a story through an image. She mastered the art of telling the story through imagery.
She’s also a visionary. She creates what she wants to see, rather than cater to what’s already out there. That’s what makes Vogue the pinnacle of fashion that it is. That’s what keeps people looking UP to Vogue. “I want Vogue to be pacy, sharp, and sexy, I'm not interested in the super-rich or infinitely leisured…I want our readers to be energetic, executive women with…a wide range of interests,” she tells Daily Mail. “There is a new kind of woman out there. She's interested in business and money. She doesn't have time to shop anymore. She wants to know what and why and where and how.”
She’s an investor. She invests in the most valuable resource there is — young talent. I think a genuine entrepreneur knows that the secret to success lies in providing the best platform for young talent to develop. She’s a cultivator. If it weren’t for her, photography galleries would be bereft of the colorful glamour of Mario Testino, the transportive mystique of Annie Leibovitz, the fashion of modernity captured by Craig McDean and David Sims.
Dolls, the fashion world is one of the most competitive industries there is. Anna Wintour is the epitome of what a successful business woman does. She’s a risk taker, a visionary. She has a dream and she sticks to it, relentlessly, regardless if everyone else is doing what everyone else is doing!
At POSH PR®, we’re doing things a little differently. We want to see more woman doing what they love. We’re here to make it happen. Where there’s a will there’s a way. Let’s build your brand, sweet girl — the POSH PR® way. Contact us here!
