Front Row : Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor-in-Chief

Rating:
Summary: A Chilling Account of an Ice Queen -- BUT FAIR!
Review: I am in the fashion world so I thought Anna Wintour was no stranger. I see her in the Conde Nast cafeteria every so often, I see her on the front row of the shows. And I've read all the gossip items. She's a boldface celebrity. But after reading Jerry Oppenheimer's wonderfully documented biography, I must say I have a new view of her -- she's even more demanding, ambitious, manipulative, and bitchy than the stories that have circulaterd in the press and among the fashionistas who dine. There were so many revelations about her personal life -- and most of them from named sources that I have to give the book and the author enormous credibility. Especiallyt interesting was her neediness, especially with men, and how she used men in her climb up the ladder. She's a very complex woman, but Oppenheimer doesn't play arnchair shrink...he lets the scores he interviwed tell the story, but he also gives Anna tyhe credit she deserves as an incredibly creative editor. It's a page turner. The Publisher should have brought out this summer because it's definitely what the press likes to call a juicy beach read. But snuggle up under the covers with Front Row. It's steaminess will keep you warmer than a mink coat. Uh, Oh, here comes PETA!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Lack Lust Stuff
Review: I have always been a bit intrigued by Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue. So my interest was peaked when I heard there was going to be a biography released this year, especially after reports that Ms. Wintour forbade any of her associates, friends, and family to speak or cooperate with the writer. I was sure it would be at least an interesting read.
Unfortunatly, it is boring. The writer spends too much time on the men she dated in her teens and yearly twenties. He attempted to insinuate her teenage years where spent wildly, explaining she spent most of her evenings in clubs and at parties. (a teenager partying til dawn in clubs during the 70's?? What a shock!) Then he goes on to say she did not drink much and did not do drugs. Not exactly the wild and crazy life the writer claimed.
The book's accounts of Anna Wintour from her first day at Vogue to the present is really just rehashing stories out of Page Six. I am glad I borrowed the book from the library and did not buy it. After reading, it immediatly came off my Amazon wish list.
In all, Anna Wintour may be a horrid boss and an incredibly creative editor but Oppenheimer amnaged to grind what could have been an interesting book into boring pulp.
I would reccomend someone interested in this book just read The Devil Wears Prada. Although it is fiction, it is rumoured to be based on Anna Wintour(it was written by a former assistant) and is far more entertaining than Front Row.

Rating:
Summary: A MESMERIZING, SCINTILLATING READ!!!!!
Review: I picked this book up during Fashion Week in NYC and could not put it down until I came to the back cover. The author has captured the Queen of fashion in exquisite detail, giving the reader an immaculate portrait of Wintour's rise to the pinnacle of power from her childhood in London, her wild&crazy teenage years during the swinging sixties, her climb up through the fashion magazines over fellow aspirants with her 4" Manolos and lovers&friends lost and won along the way. This biography is so well researched and well sourced. Kudos to the author for not only giving us those details so that we have an accurate portrayal of the woman who determines what's hot and what's not in fashion but also for recognizing that she certainly deserves to be on the top rung of the ladder. It is only by detailing her early years that we fully understand how she ascended to this throne.
I don't think previous reviewers read the same book. You don't have to be a fashionista to want to read about one of the most powerful women in business today in the world.
I also read Oppenheimer's book on Martha Stewart, the first and last biography on the doyenne of domesticity. As a lover of biographies, I think he interviews hundreds of subjects and lets those who know the subject well tell the story -- unlike other popular biographers who write only from news clips. This is the real deal. If you are remotely interested in who decides what's in or out in fashion and how she acquired this extraordinary power, you'll love this page-turner on Anna Wintour.

Rating:
Summary: HARD-HITTING AND POIGNANT
Review: Oppenheimer bills himself as an investigative biographer and if Anna Wintour is Watergate, Oppenheimer is Bernstein and Woodward. He does an incredible job of tracing her life from the Swinging '60s in London to the most powerful job in fashion magazines. I read the Devil wears Prada, but this is the REAL story. A fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable read. I posted a review earlier but a note popped up saying Amazon had a problem. So I may be posted twice.

Rating:
Summary: a fairly graceless and run of the mill celebrity bio
Review: While reading Front Row I got the impression that Jerry Oppenheimer really wants the readers to boo and hiss his subject. I can't say that he gives a good reason to do that. The worst thing he and the Anna Wintour haters he interviewed can come up with is that she's terribly driven. Well gosh! Walk into the executive offices of any successful company you'll find driven people. Super achievers are not like the rest of us.

The book tries to make Anna Wintour into Cruella DeVille mixed with the Wicked Witch of the West but you know what? Everyone of her alleged personality traits would be celebrated if she were a man.

The book says over and over again that Wintour is a cold and rude person with a bullying streak(Rudeness in New York? Who'da thunk it?)and I don't doubt that she is, but is that so shocking?You are not going to find a Shirely Temple clone in the upper levels of corporate Manhattan.

The book says that she works extremely hard and expects her subordinates to work just as hard. About a million bosses in this country alone expect the same thing.

The book itself is too long. Anna's childhood is studied in minute and boring detail. Her teen years were interesting but did we really have to read about just about EVERY guy she dated way back in the 60s? One more very, very annoying little quirk the book has is the need to mention Martha Stewart in what felt like every other chapter. Jerry Oppenheimer's last book was on Stewart and he keeps harping on it.


Al in all, this is an unsatisfactory book. I didn't end up hating Wintour and although I wouldn't want to work for the woman, I actually found a lot to admire.