Front Row: Anna Wintour: What Lies Beneath the Chic Exterior of Vogue's Editor in Chief

I have just finished reading Front Row and I must say I was very impressed by it. It is a page-turner extraordinaire, a terrific biography and I congratulate Mr Oppenheimer on it. I never at any stage felt that he was out to character assassinate Ms Wintour, he didn't have to, as Ms Wintour's numerous enemies lined up to be quoted by name about their negative feelings about her. Ouch!! This is a woman who has made enemies of countless people throughout her life due to overarching arrogance,abominably poor people skills and rampant self-promotion.I must say what I found most staggering from my reading of the book was the fact that Ms Wintour has been allowed to get away with treating staff and colleagues like garbage for the better part of four decades now. Not once has a senior executive stepped in to admonish her for her unreasonable, alienating, diva like behaviour. I find this absolutely extraordinary. I understand she is a very valuable asset to Conde Nast, but this sort of indulgence is pathetic. I live in Australia and we have very strict workplace laws here regarding age discrimination (it's illegal, end of story) and bullying and humiliation of employees (again, an illegal practice that an employer can be sued for). If she was editing Vogue here, Ms Wintour would have had her scrawny butt dragged before the Employment Tribunal umpteen times by now. Perhaps workplace laws are less strict in the US? Whatever, I find her management style and attitude towards staff and colleagues to be highly distasteful and a huge black mark against her. I don't care how influential she is in the shallow orbit of world fashion, you do not ever treat those who work for you with such open contempt.Overall, Mr Oppenheimer has written a terrific biography about a fascinating, though polarising personality. It is well-researched, almost exhaustive in the number of people quoted and paints a very compelling portrait of the Vogue supremo. Highly recommended, I give this book five stars.

Delightfully bitchy and often humorous, Oppenheimer's book weaves a fascinating narrative about the cutthroat world of fashion with Wintour at its center.

Great book, documenting the rise of fashions most powerful figure. It is a step by step on how to achieve power in a very tough industry, and although Anna's determination and self belief appear to be iron-clad, there are rare moments of weakness that expose her inner self. The Devil doesn't Wear Prada, she wears fur and sits on a golden throne at Conde Nast!

Flipped through it and returned it. The prose is appalling, akin to a 6th grader's book report with the same sentence structure line after line after line. Don't even care about the details it might have, I can't focus on the content when all I want to do is send back a revision to the editor.

A very interesting tale about this very private, very strong woman. It has been an entertaining read, not at all boring. Now I am looking forward to watching "The September Issue" about the inner working of Vogue USA and Anna Wintour.

This book gives us insight into fashion's most important personage.We read her background, the path she followed in her rise ( which makes it obvious that she reached the top using sharp teeth and sheer guts) and we learn a bit of what to do when one finds oneself in her sights.She is a woman to admire, as this book shows.Not necessarily a woman to like or emulate.The book undoubtedly makes Anna angry, there are some ugly moments in her life.

So very interesting. Read this twice. Never knew this “back story”. Couldn’t put it down. Reread it a few months later. Really enjoyed it.

I love anything Anna wintour. I love memoirs. What’s to not love?!!