Wintour is also global editorial director of Vogue. Wintour is praised for her skill in identifying emerging fashion trends, but has been criticised for her reportedly aloof and demanding personality. Her father, Charles Wintour , who was Editor of the London-based Evening Standard from to , consulted with her on how to make the newspaper relevant to the youth of the era.
She became interested in fashion as a teenager and her career in fashion journalism began at two British magazines.
She returned to London and was the Editor of British Vogue between and A year later, she assumed control of the franchise's magazine in New York, reviving what many saw as a stagnating publication. Her use of the magazine to shape the fashion industry has been the subject of debate within it. Animal rights activists have attacked her for promoting fur, while other critics have charged her with using the magazine to promote elitist and unattainable views of femininity and beauty.
In , Wintour's editorship of Vogue was the original focus of a documentary film, R. Cutler 's The September Issue. The film's focus switched to the creative teams and more senior fashion editors as filming progressed. Through her paternal grandmother, Alice Jane Blanche Foster, Wintour is a great-great-great-granddaughter of the lateth-century novelist Lady Elizabeth Foster , who was later the Duchess of Devonshire , and her first husband, the Irish politician John Thomas Foster. Wintour had four siblings.
Her older brother, Gerald, died in a traffic accident as a child. Wintour attended North London Collegiate School , where she frequently rebelled against the dress code by taking up the hemlines of her skirts. At her parents' behest, she also took fashion classes at a nearby school. Soon she gave them up, saying, "You either know fashion or you don't. Her connections helped her secure locations for innovative shoots by Helmut Newton , Jim Lee [ 26 ] and other trend-setting photographers.
