Teté Ribeiro
Today, November 3, 2024, may be a date that Anna Wintour prefers to ignore. It is 75 years, after all, a very high number even for normal human beings, when it is no longer possible to deny that life is heading towards that very charmless ending, which makes us equal to all living beings. Charmless and like everyone else are perhaps the two characteristics most hated by this woman.
Brilliant and enigmatic, Wintour has lived all seven and a half decades of her life doing everything in her power to differentiate herself from normal human beings, whatever that may be. How will the impeccable woman who inspired the character Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”, face this milestone?
It could be a big themed party, full of celebrities who spent months thinking about what to wear to decipher the dress code she created, as happens every year at the Met Gala, an event she created as a way to raise funds for the Fashion Institute (Costume Institute) of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Met, for those intimate.
The event, in which the pop world stops everything to watch the arrival of the guests – and that’s it, since photographers and even the participants are prohibited from recording what happens inside the party, so what we see every year are just people leaving from the limousines and climbing the museum’s iconic stairs – marks the opening of the Institute’s annual exhibition.
The Met Gala is one of the most important fashion events in the world, and its date is already on the official calendar both in New York City and in the lives of the ultra famous. It traditionally takes place on the first Monday in May, and brings together celebrities, designers, artists, influencers and public figures, who create outfits inspired by the theme of that year’s exhibition.
But it’s not enough to buy a good outfit or pay a fortune for a bag made from newborn crocodile skin to do well with Anna Wintour at the Met Gala. Guests must create their looks by artistically interpreting, in a bold and elegant way, the theme of each edition. Editoratrix works hard to create the ideal guest list and takes care of every detail of both the exhibition and the party.
The next edition will take place on May 5, 2025, and the theme will be “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”, a play on the term “superfine”, an expression culturally used as a compliment among black men and specifically refers to a style of tailoring that uses high-quality fabrics and finishes to produce fine, culturally significant clothing.
Think, for example, of the character Shell Gordon, played by Wood Harris in the series “The Woman in the Lake”. Or in Django, Jamie Foxx’s character in the film “Django Unchained”, directed by Quentin Tarantino. Or, in a more modern version, T’Challa, actor Chadwick Boseman’s character in “Black Panther”.
The exhibition, as well as guests at the gala, will display their versions of the impact of black culture and aesthetics on men’s tailoring fashion, taking as a starting point “black dandyism”, a style and culture that emphasizes the presentation of black identity, often incorporating elements of sophisticated fashion and behavior that defy stereotypes.
The event is a cultural landmark, as is the seemingly untouchable appearance of its creator, known for her elegance and eccentricity, praised for her efficiency and power of achievement, and feared for her harsh judgments and unexpected behavior.
An especially symbolic coincidence: the date of next year’s Met Gala is the same as the start of the trial of rapper Diddy, who was, for many years, voted the most elegant black man in the USA. On May 5th, unfortunately, he will exchange the bold attire and jewelry, omnipresent in his look since forever, for the orange jumpsuit worn by American prisoners.
But Anna Wintour is never predictable, and she may choose to have dinner in London, New York or some of the richest cities on the planet, which she usually frequents, with her “best friend”, the English actor Bill Nighy. At 74 years old, the discreet and very thin actor, with a remarkable career (and who broke out as the outspoken ex-rocker in “Love Actually”), has been Anna Wintour’s most constant companion in recent years.
They neither confirm nor deny the rumors that they were, in fact, lovers. Neither of them has any impediment to getting involved in a new romance. Wintour was married for 15 years to English psychoanalyst David Shaffer, with whom she has two children, Charlie, 39, and Katherine, 37. The couple separated in 2000.
Afterwards, Wintour married in 2004 with the American businessman Shelby Bryan, with whom she had no children, and from whom she separated in 2020. The English actor, her frequent partner since 2022, Bill Nighy was married to the English costume designer Diana Quick for almost 30 years, but separated in 2008. He has an adult daughter, Mary Nighy.
Perhaps she felt the ill effects of so-called “astral hell,” the month-long period preceding a person’s birthday when they are supposedly most susceptible to challenges and difficulties. This concept comes from astrology, which states that the influences of the planets and the sign itself become more intense during this time, and whoever faces it may feel negative or turbulent energy. It is seen as a time of preparation for the new cycle that begins on the birthday.
And God and all the stars protect us from Anna Wintour in astral hell. Not that she will ever worry about what a Brazilian newspaper will write about her. But when it comes to the legendary editor of American Vogue, the facts, rumors and anecdotes seem stranger than any fiction.
Her assistants, like writer Lauren Weisberger, who worked directly with Wintour for a year, and based herself on her former boss to write the novel “The Devil Wears Prada”, released in 2003, and turned into a feature film in 2006, all In the morning, without exception, they need to buy a coffee with milk and a fresh blueberry muffin at the editor’s desk, who almost always drinks the coffee and throws the muffin in the trash.
Also famous is the story of the day she asked the magazine’s art department to use Photoshop to cut the extra fat on the neck of a baby that would appear in the magazine.
American fashion designer Marc Jacobs, one of those who credit Anna as one of his “professional godmothers”, said in an interview that, when he became addicted to drugs and was struggling to break out of the cycle of addiction, he was invited to a lunch with Wintour, where she asked him “why don’t you learn to play tennis? It’s a great alternative to drugs.” The stylist laughs at the story and at his colleague’s apparent lack of clue, despite her good intentions.
Always wearing designer clothes and high heels, Anna Wintour surprised her co-workers when she wore flat sandals on 9/12/2001. It was the day after the terrorist attack that brought down New York’s twin towers, and the editor didn’t let that affect her schedule, but dressed in what she considered most appropriate in case she needed to leave the newsroom in a hurry.
Even more shocking for her team was when, in 2000, Anna Wintour returned to work the day after a mini lift, plastic surgery, on her face, with bruises still visible. Or the time he cried in the middle of a speech to the newsroom, when his former friend turned rival, Donald Trump, won the election for president of the United States in 2016.
But his life and work should not be turned into just a series of anecdotes. Anna Wintour is one of the most relevant women in journalism and fashion in the second half of the last century and the first 24 years of the 21st century.
Under his leadership, Vogue went from being an inaccessible clothing catalog to a space where fashion trends met pop culture, cinema, politics and even social activism. In the first fashion editorial he did when he took over the magazine, he dressed a model in simple jeans with a designer jacket. Nowadays this may seem banal, but in 1988 it was an anarchic and very symbolic gesture.
That magazine, headed by that icy and impenetrable figure, would reflect the changes in society, and often, point the way to the future. May it continue like this, both Vogue and the Met Gala and the birthday girl of the day.
Source: Folha
I am Frederick Tuttle, who works in 247 News Agency as an author and mostly cover entertainment news. I have worked in this industry for 10 years and have gained a lot of experience. I am a very hard worker and always strive to get the best out of my work. I am also very passionate about my work and always try to keep up with the latest news and trends.
