Few people have the clout to probe Anna Wintour’s pull in a public forum, but Cathy Horyn is one of them. The Times‘ fashion critic puts forth an excellent study on Vogue‘s current ruler, exploring Anna’s influence on major corporations and their fledgling designers (now: Thom Browne for Brooks Brothers, before: Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton).
Cathy also mentions Anna’s sway with socialites. And now it gets interesting:
“… many fashion insiders… feel that by promoting labels of dubious design merit but with an obvious social or power connection, like Georgina Chapman of Marchesa, whose companion is the producer Harvey Weinstein, she leaves herself open to the complaint that her magazine promotes a kind of a pedantry.
This becomes a danger when she attempts to make a match. The chief executive of a top European house, who recently had a spot to fill, said he was surprised by the names she proposed, characterizing one as a socialite. “The woman had designed maybe 10 dresses in her life,