Part of Anna’s power was existing at the center of a network of people with public lives, and she maintained her position at that center by always having an agenda.

She has leveraged the names of her powerful allies to raise money for charitable initiatives, most notably the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, which preserves and displays objects of fashion as art, for which she has amassed more than $250 million. She has organized the fashion industry’s efforts to raise money for Democratic

Are you putting an African American girl on the September issue? Are you not concerned about sales?’ And to be completely honest, that had not even crossed my mind. I had felt that Naomi was the right choice for all the right reasons regardless of the color of her skin,”

As soon as the gala finished, work would begin on the next one; in the early fall, 7 a.m. meetings at the Met began taking place every four to six weeks. The planning process was a tug-of-war between Vogue/Anna and the Met. The museum’s team wanted to keep the costs and footprint down, while Vogue wanted the party to be the sort of thing that

Anna’s hours always amazed Bowles. When they attended Paris Fashion Week together in the early 2000s, he had stayed out late at an after party, returning to the Ritz between 4 and 5 a.m. As he swung through the doors, Anna was on her way out to play tennis an hour outside the city. “Good morning,” she said, laughing, as they passed. By 9 a.m.,

To grow her power at the magazine, Anna needed to grow her page count. The logical section for her to take on was New York’s popular Best Bets, which recommended things to buy, see, and do in New York City, everything from banking services to underwear to lamps, and intersected with her fashion beat. The most popular items featured in Best Bets—run

Moore could tell that Anna, unlike many candidates, had looked at the magazine, and liked that her taste seemed edgy. She too had done her research before meeting with Anna and knew she had been fired from Harper’s Bazaar, supposing it had to do with her being a junior editor who wanted to run the whole magazine.

The impact the movie had on her image was incalculable. She was running Big Vogue, her magic touch all the more reason for Condé Nast to put out yet another spinoff, Vogue Living, which would launch before the end of the year. She finished the year 2006 as one of Barbara Walters’s Most Fascinating People, and became a mainstream celebrity, like

Wanda DiBenedetto, a receptionist who sat outside her office, said, “She was always her own person. Didn’t really listen to any structure. Because, whether she was or not, she was the boss.”