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ANNA, UNFAZED: Anna Wintour was just getting warmed up Tuesday night in front of a sold-out audience at the 92 Street Y when PETA attempted to take over. Yelling “Anna Wintour, Fur Shame,” a handful of protestors burst in before being forced to the exits. A nonplussed Wintour, who has been through this a few times before, then picked up where she left off. “As I was saying, fashion means a lot of different things to a lot of different people,” she said. “Vogue is there to report on the fashion industry. Fur is part of fashion and we will continue to report on it as long as that is the case.” The audience applauded.
Wintour spoke with Loews Corp. chairman Jonathan Tisch on everything from her favorite Vogue cover (it was her first, with model Michaela Bercu, wearing Guess jeans and a Christian Lacroix T-shirt), to who she’d like to have at her next dinner party (U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice) to putting Michelle Obama on the cover. She also discussed the economic downturn and how it’s playing out in the pages of Vogue. “We are being as responsible as we can be about expenses,” she said, adding there has been no pressure from above to change anything. “It’s more about a readjustment,” she said. “I don’t think Vogue should turn into ‘Recession Weekly,’” but she added that during run-throughs, she now inspects the price tags of every outfit. “Everyone is welcoming a certain sense of reality,” she noted.
Wintour said she’s been working with Mayor Michael Bloomberg on a plan to get customers back into stores. She wouldn’t divulge details, only adding it will be unveiled next week.
Wintour said editors are “in deep discussions” about Vogue’s future online, and breaking vogue.com away from Style.com, which will happen sometime next year. Wintour has asked some of her regular writers, including André Leon Talley, to contribute online. She likes the fact that Talley, as well as Hamish Bowles, Sally Singer and Grace Coddington, are part of a “star system” at Vogue. “I don’t want doormats,” Wintour noted. “I want someone who will disagree with me.”
And speaking of stars of a different kind, Wintour talked about the Met gala and the theme, “The Model as Muse.” Does this mean Vogue will feature more models on future covers? “Well, tomorrow is another day,” she said. “But we certainly do have a model tied to the next issue, yes.” A spokesman later added there is an upcoming “model” cover in the offing but it’s not June; that issue will feature Cameron Diaz on the cover.
— Amy Wicks
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