Feature

Betts Intentions

After Vogue poached her from Fairchild eight years ago, Betts ascended just as quickly through the ranks at Condé Nast. Smart and incredibly hardworking, she quickly became Wintour's darling, and in an office where the boss's iciness struck fear in the staff, Betts's brassy confidence was an asset. She set about improving the magazine's fashion news coverage, and editing the magazine's fashion features. In time, she became Wintour's most valuable lieutenant.

Her stock at Condé Nast rose even higher after she created the "Vogue Index" in 1995, a user-friendly compendium of health, beauty, and style tips that became one of the magazine's most popular sections.

Betts's entry into Harper's Bazaar wasn't entirely smooth. First, a blind item in "Page Six" reported that Betts had insisted that both her nanny and her baby be allowed to take the Concorde to the European shows. (Betts denies this.) She also denies a story that recently appeared in the press that had her chastising Bazaar staff members for posting family photographs in their cubicles, complaining that the office had started to resemble a sorority. In private, disgruntled staff members began referring to her as "Anna Junior."

But while detractors complain that she can be arrogant and officious, her friends say her brisk single-mindedness is often misunderstood. "I think people are intimidated by the idea of her, but you can totally bond and joke with her," says Richard Sinnott, the former accessories director at Bazaar who just left for a position at Michael Kors. Sinnott says he is in awe of Betts's ability "to suck up information. Kate always wants to know what the newest, coolest thing is out there. And she is really welcoming and responsive to new ideas. She creates a really comfortable and open environment."

Others add that beneath her occasionally brittle, smartest-girl-in-the-class demeanor, Betts is self-deprecating, generous, and very funny -- a fashion insider who likes to send up the shallow world in which she travels. "She'll moan about how silly it all is, rolling her eyes about the latest slashed-T-shirt look," says a colleague. "But she also adores the whimsical aspect of all this. She says, 'What would I rather be doing, the police beat?' "

But making venerable books fresher and more provocative has undone many an ambitious makeover editor, who learns too late that hip is not necessarily a hit with readers and advertisers. Though sources say Vogue's Anna Wintour has mandated that her magazine get "fresher," she still seems queasy about foraying too deeply into pop culture. Last month, the magazine was scheduled to feature a special music issue, with pieces on Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Chrissie Hynde, Missy Elliott, and Busta Rhymes. In the end, Wintour ruled that the mix was too young and funky for Vogue. The special section, which was to have taken up 25 pages in the feature well, was replaced by leftover fashion photographs.

For Betts, says one fashion-world insider, "the danger in turning a high-end fashion magazine into this young, pop-culture thing is that she'll come up with Jane. And there already is a Jane. Her challenge is to make Harper's young and hip without making it cheap."

"I think it's exciting to have new blood in a magazine which hasn't been doing well for a very long time," says Oscar de la Renta, who happens to be both a fan of Betts and a close friend of Wintour's. "The fact is that Harper's Bazaar hasn't come into its own, so I think Kate has a great opportunity to make something different. In the end, competition is good for everyone."

Additional reporting by Kevin Gray.