The Woman Behind The Bob

On Tuesday night I went with a very fashionable friend to see Anna Wintour, long time editor-in-chief of American Vogue, be interviewed at the 92nd Street Y by Jonathan Tisch. For those of you who may not follow fashion, Wintour is quite a character in the fashion world, and was the real life inspiration behind Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly in the movie The Devil Wears Prada.

She, like many high profile female head honchos, has the reputation for being tough, demanding, unreasonable, and unlovable. She doesn't usually grant many requests from the media (perhaps owing to the fact that she controls her own very powerful media platform), so tickets to this interview went fast, and it was a full house.

The house included two fervent PETA protesters who were sitting but feet away from us in the balcony. They stood up, unfurled their banner, and began to shout in earnest about how Wintour has animals skinned alive for fur, until a security team rushed through the doors and whisked them away. A few sycophants tried to drown out the protesters with their own proclamations of undying love and loyalty for the editor. It was quite a show, and it seemed our tickets had just paid for themselves in entertainment, regardless of how the interview went. We felt a bit like extras in The Devil Wears Prada.

Anna picked up right where she left off once the hubbub died down, as if she had just paused for Tisch to sneeze. She acknowledged that everyone has a right to their own opinion, and on the topic of fur, hers is that Vogue reports on the fashion industry, and as long as fur is a part of it, Vogue will report on fur. 

It was then that I began wondering if Wintour would ever turn her face to the crowd, or if we would be looking at the left side of her blonde wall of hair for the entire hour. She sat cross legged, leaning forward into the microphone, and did not once turn to the audience to smile, get a reaction, or preen. (Very different from Martha Stewart, who I suppose is conditioned by her daily television show to make every appearance a performance, even if it is a painfully wooden one.)

It is at this point that I must refer you to a visual aid, if you are not familiar with Wintour's iconic bob. 

It is always the same shape, color, and length. Never a split bang, never a flyaway. I had actually asked my friend over dinner beforehand if she thought it could be a wig, because her hair is so perfect and full. We thought not, but whatever it is, that baby is impressive. It is the iron curtain of hairdos, used by Wintour to shield herself from prying eyes, or maybe to conceal a pair large, Dopey-like ears?

We learned some interesting tidbits about Wintour and how she works. She didn't go to college. Her personal fashion icons growing up were Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. She always trusts her gut to make decisions, and doesn't believe in market research. Her criteria for a new hire is someone she would want to spend time with, someone with personality (Andre Leon Talley, anyone?), someone who is unafraid to disagree with her.  She has tremendous respect for the fashion industry and its ability to work in unison to achieve a goal, and has spearheaded several projects that prove this conviction: 7th on Sale, a benefit for HIV/AIDS, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which fosters promising up-and-coming American designers, and the Met Costume Institute Gala, which is pretty much the best party ticket in New York.

She was extremely poised and well spoken, giving generous, straightforward answers to Tisch's questions. You must know how happy this made me after the Martha incident -- I wasn't expecting much. Wintour continues her mini media blitz this Sunday, when 60 Minutes airs a bio piece on her. All this has me wondering: what's her agenda? Am I so alienated from the high fashion industry that I don't realize it's dying in this recession and needs Wintour to go out there and drum up some sales and enthusiasm? Doubtful. I may be cheap, but I can still recognize Thakoon when I see him on the subway. Would that really do the trick anyway? A Wintour press tour is not putting spending money back into people's pockets. 

Things to ponder as I stroll through the racks of H&M, TopShop, Zara, and Uniqlo on my lunch break. 

Merely Martha

Last Thursday my parents and I went to see Martha Stewart at the 92nd St. Y for their Captains of Industry series. She was being interviewed by the EIC of Business Week. (He was forgettable, so he shall go nameless.)

The highlight of the night was the table of free magazines outside the auditorium.

It was the blandest display of two adults interacting in front of a paying audience since... I don't know, you'll have to fill in the blank for me in the comment section. You know I usually make an effort to keep my posts upbeat, but a week later, I still feel insulted by the the experience. A whole lot of nothing with a price tag, and two hours of our lives we'll never get back.

If I sound bitter, it's because it was all my idea. I am fascinated by Martha, and completely envious of her career. She has built an empire on entertaining, home cooking, the floral arts, decorating, and crafts. I admire her as much for her ability to tie a perfect bow as her serious credentials as a business woman. You'd think that dynamic would make for a very interesting person, and an interesting Q&A. Not so, my friend, not so. She basically evaded every question with a watered down, coached non-answer. And these questions were soft balls to begin with.

For instance:

Q: "Martha, you have so much going on. How do you manage your time?"

A: "Well, I know what I have to do. It's all up here [pointing to her head]. I go to bed very late and wake up very early. Sleep is tertiary."

Gee, thanks for that illuminating insight into the inner workings of your universe.

I scribbled down notes of anything that I thought my dear readers might find interesting. I'm not going to dress them up, so here they are:

-She spoke with conviction about the Martha Stewart Center for Living at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. After watching her mother navigate old age and deteriorating health, she was inspired to create a place devoted to geriatric care and living, since she feels it is a greatly overlooked area of medicine. 

-Recently MSLO acquired Pingg.com, an online party planning and invitations service. Papyrus also made a move like this recently. Both empires are looking to gain a foothold in the online universe, but I don't see how this is A) a good idea for Martha considering her brand is premised on quality, handmade goods, and B) profitable. Actually, I happen to know for a fact that it's not profitable for Papyrus.

-In case you missed it, MSLO also acquired all of the Emeril brand with the exception of his restaurants.

-She is developing blogs for her pets.

-She wouldn't admit to grooming any one person in particular to be the face of the brand after she steps out. All she would say is that they are training the various editors of her magazines to be in the limelight more and more. 

-She plans on writing an autobiography, and perhaps even a novel. Autobiography, yes. Novel, please God spare us.

She got really excited twice. First, when she talked about the Valentine's dinner she hosted at her house. She must have gone on for 8 minutes about all the different cookies she made, the menu, the guest list. Then she really got going when asked about the move of her corporate offices. She actually brought up the Gawker incident about sanctioned pens. (It's too long to go into here, just click the link for the full story.) She was very feisty. It may be a ridiculous topic, but that's the woman I want to hear. Give us the good stuff, the real stuff. Give us who you are -- your opinions, your smarts, your edge, your joy. Save the evasive, reserved saleswoman for your board meetings, or your television show, if you must. 

She mentioned that she has long ago given up trying to keep Martha the brand separate from Martha the woman. She said she just has to know who she is and be okay with it. That sounds like great advice, but I can't help but think it's a delusion. We showed up to hear Martha, the woman, and all we got was the brand.

If she wants pointers on livening things up a bit, I suggest she seek advice from Jamie Dimon, CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase. His 2008 interview with Charlie Rose transported him from some banker I had never heard of to a man that I instantly admired for his wit, honesty, intelligence, and attitude. 

Just in time too, since as a former Washington Mutual customer, he's my guy now.

Listening to Malcolm Gladwell...

Involves a lot of laughing. The man is a firecracker. A really calm, cool, collected firecracker. I guess, more specifically, Gladwell's wit is the firecracker. He knows how to tell a story, connect that story to another one, succinctly explain the academic research that fits the two together, throw in a streetwise parenthetic anecdote, coin the perfect analogy to make sure that you really get it, and -- just when you think he's rambled off topic -- he ties it all together with a perfect Martha bow to answer the original question. Anyone who's ever hobnobbed with overachievers at a fancy college or watched too much PBS can really appreciate how awesome it is to find a person with such a gigantic intellect who is also accessible, unpretentious, funny, and quick on his feet. 

Gladwell was at the 92nd Street Y to answer questions about his new book, The Outliers. Since this is the same guy who wrote The Tipping Point and Blink, odds are this book is going to be huge. When there's throwaway exposition in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" about a tipping point, you know the man's idea has really hit the main stream.

Megan Wheeler: The one-five's overwhelmed. There's too many clubs, too much crime. The mayor is worried Chelsea's reached a tipping point.
Mike Logan: Tipping point?
Megan Wheeler: The last moment before an outbreak turns into an epidemic. 

Like I was saying, the world finds this guy's ideas pretty useful.

He talked about a lot of fascinating things in the new book, some of which are on his website. I won't presume to sum up his thesis, except to say that the book is an attempt to find more contributing factors to success beyond the mysterious label of genius, and the magical story of the self-made man. He posits that both of these are not useful ways to think about achievement. They're non-starters. 

I think the most useful thing he said to our particular audience of New Yorkers was his advice New York City parents that drive themselves crazy trying to get their unborn children into the top pre-K private schools (2 more points for the move to the suburbs). His recommendation? Throw a dart at a board. All the private schools in New York are great -- the difference between the best and worst private schools in Manhattan is statistically negligible. 

Which sort of tied into another point he made about how kids are sorted and selected into the fast and slow tracks in their single digits, in education and in sports.  So your kid is an early reader. It makes you feel good about yourself and your child's future, but so what? As he put it, once you can read, you can read! "We're done!" There is no body of literature that kids are reading between the ages of 3 and 6 that will make or break their future effectiveness in society. That point elicited a lot of chuckles from the crowd, and maybe even a few sighs of relief.

The moral of the story, as I see it? The heroes we annoint -- the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the Armstrongs, even the Obamas -- they all arrived at their position in life as a result of hard work and ingenuity, and a complicated matrix of circumstances. We should be careful not to be seduced by their creation myths. It is a testament to Gladwell that, with Outliers, he is able to give those myths a run for their money.