Jerry Oppenheimer - Front Row: Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogues Editor in Chief

S ome two hundred people on three continents who have known Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintourpresent and former friends, lovers, colleagues, employees, and associatesagreed to be interviewed for this book. Others kindly opened doors for me, steered me in the right direction, or agreed to verify or back up controversial facts and anecdotes.

The writing of a book such as this is a collaborative effort, and I could not have succeeded, inasmuch as I did, without their candid insights, observations, and critical assessments.

Wintour, the daughter of a prominent British journalist, refused to be interviewed for this book and declined in any way to help. Moreover, she instructed others not to cooperate. Some abided by her directive, others didnt.

Wintours response was odd, since over the years she has offered up numerous, though mostly self-serving, interviews and even permitted a British television crew to follow her, in a limited way, for a documentary. At the same time she has been quoted as saying she resents the press. It was clear she did not want a book over which she had no control written about her life.

Most everyone I contacted agreed to talk on the record and without any ground rules. A minority, for personal, professional, or financial reasonstheir livelihoods depend on Wintourrequested and were granted anonymity. Not everyone was willing to put his or her career on the line, or to jeopardize relationships. You know who you are.

My goal from the beginning was to portray Wintour in the truest and most objective light, and I believe my sources aided me in fulfilling that end. Id like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all those who took the time to answer my many questions:

Patti Gilkyson Agnew, Shig Akida, Moriah Allen, Judy Bachrach, Curt Bass, Julie Baumgold, Dianne Benson, Frances Bentley, A. Scott Berg, Robin Blackburn, Chris Blackwell, Andrea Blanche, Peter Bloch, Isabella Blow, Stephen Bobroff, Patricia Bosworth, Sheila Botein, Catherine Jay Boyd, Jimmy Brad-shaw, Peter Braunstein, Joe Brooks, Stephanie Brush, Gay Bryant, Paul Callan, Jeremy Campbell, Jenny Capitain, Carol Carson, Anne Carter, George Carter, Maureen Cleave, Alex Cockburn, Nik Cohn, Dana Cowan, Toni Cunliffe, Elen Curran, Judith Daniels, Marie Davis, Emma de Bendern Galitizen, Jacques Dehornois, Nigel Dempster, Joanna Dingemann, Byron Dobell, Susan Duff, Susan Edmiston, Tony Elliott, Richard Ely, Edward Jay Epstein, Michel Esteban, Diane Lokey Farb, Nigel Farndale, Clay Felker, Carol Felsenthal, Willie Fielding, Stephanie Fierz, Zandy Forbes, Phillip Frazer, Kathleen Fury, David Gilbert, Eliza Gilkyson, Nancy Gilkyson, Robin Givhan, Adair Gock-ley, Elaine Greene, Sarah Griffiths, Barbara Griggs, Michael Gross, Liz Groves, Valerie Grove, Catherine Guinness, Chris Hall, Sophie Hicks, Felicity Green Hill, Pat Hill, Ian Hislop, Jade Hobson, Jennifer Hocking, Shelby Hodge, Annabel Hodin, Min Hogg, Georgina Howell, Barbara Hulanicki, Richard In-grams, Helen Irwin, Leslie Jay, Liz Jobey, Laurie Jones, Anne Kampman, Mary Kenny, Philip Kingsley, Marilyn Kirschner, Elsa Klensch, Nora Lee Knight, Gini Kopecky, Willie Landels, Jack Langguth, Vivienne Lasky, Guy Le Baube, Stacy Schneer Lee, Zazel Loven, Earle Mack, Dan Matthews, Anthony Mazzola, Joanie McDonell, Angus McGill, Peter McKay, Nancy McKeon, Barbara McKibben, Quita McMath, Richard Meier, Polly Mellen, Sheila Metzner, Carol Mithers, Valerie Monroe, Alma Moore, Jimmy Moore, Alida Morgan, William Mostyn-Owen, Bryan Moynahan, Karen Mullarkey, Jillie Murphy, Tohru Nakamura, Mary Beth Naye, Richard Neville, Nancy Slade Newlove, Helmut Newton, Charlotte Noel, Edna OBrien, Denise Otis, Patricia OToole, Jean Pagliuso, Laura Pank, Betsy Parish, Helen Jay Pennant, Lisa Petersen, Carolyn Pfeiffer, Tom Pocock, Jeffrey Podolski, Virgina Pratt, John Pringle, Der-mot Purgave, Jean Rafferty, Piers Paul Read, Barbara Reilly, Brian Rendall, Susie Rich, Glenys Roberts, Frenelle Rogers, Uli Rose, Pat Rotter, Leslie Russell, Jordan Schaps, Laurie Schechter, Susanna Schindler, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Marian Schlesinger, Joan Schnitzer-Levy, Gaia Servadio, Mort Sheinman, Barbara Shoemaker, Drusilla Beyfus Shulman, Milton Shulman, Paul Sinclaire, Jerold Smokler, Lady Valerie Solti, Davis Sprinkle, Winston Stona, Susan Summers, Dan Taylor, Sara Taylor, Elizabeth Neal Gilkyson Stewart Thorpe, Becca Cason Thrash, Ann Trehearne, Elizabeth Tretter, Deborah Turbeville, Jean Vallely, Helen Vanam, Rosemary Vanamee, Nanette Var-ian, Claire Victor, Brian Vine, Alexander Walker, Liz Walker, Beverly Wardale, Marilyn Warnick, James Wedge, Carol Wheeler, Cristina Zilkha.

Those hundreds of hours of interviews and the huge amount of research that go into a biography of this sort could not have been accomplished without the assistance of seasoned researchers.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to author and journalist Judy Oppen-heimer, whose probing, careful interviewing style, and devotion to fairness and objectivity helped make this book possible, as did Caroline Walton Howes brilliant investigative work and sharp eye for detail.

In London, Elizabeth Fay and Jessica Barrington did important legwork and research. There are many more who assisted on both sides of the Atlantic, and I hold you in great esteem.

An author cannot make it through the many pitfalls of the publishing world without men (and women) who are made of steel: the literary agent. I have been blessed with having the crme de la crmeDan Strone and Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group. A special thanks to Dans assistant, Hilary Rubin.