After 34 years as US Vogue’s reigning editor, is it time for Anna Wintour to hang up her Manolos?

Iconic, feared and revered; Anna Wintour, the famously inscrutable editor of American Vogue, has always remained an elegant enigma despite being the most powerful woman in fashion. Her signature look, of heavy-fringed bob, dark sunglasses and graphic slenderness, is even recognised by people with negligible interest in fashion. Her consistency suggests that while Wintour may be the arbiter of taste and the one who decides who and what is in or out, she herself doesn’t succumb to transient trends. Her polished froideur is part of her brand, along with her fearsome reputation, formidable work ethic, dedication to micro-managing every aspect of Vogue and her refusal to do small talk. She is a busy career woman making thousands of decisions every week, who simply doesn’t have time to care what the rest of the world thinks. Or does she?

The recently released biography about Anna Wintour by Amy Odell has all eyes focused on her in a manner not seen since the novel The Devil Wears Prada, published by former assistant Lauren Weisberger in 2003. Odell’s book is exhaustively researched, containing over 250 interviews with family, friends and former colleagues of Wintour. But does it reveal the soul of the steely fashionista? Who is Anna? What price is paid in terms of maintaining her position as boss-lady for so long?