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The Power Dozen

Illustration by Riccardo Vecchio

Anna Wintour
WHO: Editor-in-chief
WHAT: Vogue
Anna Wintour’s significance to the city is larger than her inscrutable “yes” and “no” verdicts to Vogue editors and fashion designers. At an anxious moment for her magazine and the universe it covers, she is the conductor and champion of an industry that employs 175,000 New Yorkers and generates $10 billion a year in wages, probably the only leading figure in any of the city’s signature businesses who holds such singular power. Yes, cerulean blue matters. Wintour develops and promotes designer talent, having assumed the role of headhunter for fashion houses. And with last month’s Bloomberg-sponsored Fashion’s Night Out, Wintour has become an economic advocate for a depressed city. “Up until that point, there was so much excessive influence on the runway experience,” says Simon Doonan, the creative director at Barneys New York. “And Anna stood up and said wait a minute, none of this really means anything unless retail is healthy and happy.”