Amy Odell on Anna Wintour and the secrets of The Met Gala.

Fashion's most prominent Substack writer tells me about the importance of tonight's Met Gala and what she learned writing the Vogue editor's biography.

Amy Odell runs fashion and culture Substack, Back Row, which just revealed that that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is helping Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez select her outfit for the Met Gala. An insider told Odell that Sanchez has poor taste. (*The NY Post’s Sara Nathan revealed that Vogue would be entertaining Sanchez at the event.)

Odell is also the author of “Anna,” a biography about the 74 year-old grand dame of fashion who is in charge of the ever expanding event. Here’s the link to tonight’s red carpet livestream.

Odell spoke to The Media Mix by phone in late April. 

Q: What’s the significance of The Met Gala? 

A: I think that the Met Gala at this point supersedes Vogue, in terms of cultural significance. It’s the Super Bowl of red carpets. Globally, I think it’s considered to be one of the most important places to be seen as a celebrity. As a designer, it has superseded the Oscars in terms of cultural significance. It used to be something that Vogue didn’t monetize, it was something that Anna did to raise money for the Met Museum. Now there’s a lot of sponsored content around it so it’s become a big revenue driver as well for Conde Nast. 

Q: Who is going this year and more importantly, who was snubbed?

A: I read a report somewhere that Kendall Jenner is the only Kardashian/Jenner confirmed.  The number of Kardashian/Jenners has always been a source of intrigue to the audience, as has Anna’s acceptance of Kim Kardashian and her family. That really all started with Kanye West. People are always intrigued by Anna accepting them, which ushered them into the fashion world in a much bigger way with significant business implications for Kim Kardashian’s fashion brand Skims.  The wheels for that were all greased by Anna Wintour, Vogue and the Gala and she’s gone every year. So if she’s not there, it will be a big deal.

Co-chairs like Zendaya -people are excited to see her. She’s promoting “Challengers.” She hasn’t been in a long time, which I think is interesting. The gala is still pretty important for these stars to appear at but it makes me wonder if it’s starting to feel optional for some of the AAA list stars.

And then J.Lo (Jennifer Lopez) who’s going through a hard time right now, she’s a co-chair and interestingly, the TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi, is an honorary chair. So that signals that Anna is just as much about business as art right? 

So a lot of people want to know who gets invited and who doesn’t. Basically, the way it has worked is that the planner will make a list of  hundreds of names, and then sit with Anna and start crossing people off.  It’s all based on who and what Anna thinks is in and out.  And that has been the magic of how she built up Vogue, creating this world of like people, who are in and people who are out and it’s really all according to her judgment and her notions of glamor. 

In the book I talked about how she didn’t want the Hilton sisters going to the Met Gala and it was kind of surprising to see Paris Hilton show up last year, that was her first time. Vogue was sponsoring the VH1 Fashion Awards at one point and the Hilton sisters got in and they weren’t supposed to because Anna didn’t want them to be at Vogue events.

She’s a great curator and she changes her mind. I think people think her views are quite fixed. My observation of her is that she is extremely good at staying with the zeitgeist or ahead of it, and making Vogue current and feel like it’s of the moment. 

Q: Critics believe Vogue excluded people of color for the longest time and has only recently been catching up? What’s the truth here?

A: I interviewed more than 250 people to write the book and people who worked closely with her were really surprised that she got caught in that moment because she’d always been so ahead of the curve.  It was clear that diversity and inclusion were really beginning to matter to audiences and I talked about this. Teen Vogue embraced that under her watch, and she supported it.  She wasn’t willing to push politics quite as much in Vogue. People were surprised, like she should have seen that moment in culture coming. I don’t want to sound like I think this was a moment in culture, it shouldn't be a fad; we shouldn’t treat it that way but it definitely became more important. 

Q: Anna is obviously a political animal. There were rumors she wanted to become the Ambassador to the UK under the expected President Hillary Clinton. She elevated many first ladies but not Melania. Can you talk about her advocacy for Democratic issues? 

A: [Anna] put two of Trump’s wives on the cover: [Melania] and Ivana. She worried the Ivana cover would be too tacky, but then it sold really, really well. And she knows that you have to push buttons and she likes to play with the notion of what Vogue should be; not all the time but sometimes. Perhaps Lauren Sanchez is an example of that. 

She’s been a top bundler for the Democrats. She did not directly ask for an appointment, as I was told by people who knew what was going on, but her name came up because she had done a lot for the campaign. But it was never clear to the Obama team that she was really interested in it and then nothing was formally offered to her. She’s working for President Biden now. She’s raising money, she’s already hosted one fundraiser, I believe it was during Paris Fashion Week. 

Q: What’s the secret to Anna’s longevity? Why isn’t she the CEO of Conde Nast? Tell us about what she’s really like?

A: I asked someone who used to work as an executive at Conde Nast how she survived. They said she just kind of managed to bob and weave. I think she’s good at managing corporate politics. What made her a tricky subject for a biography is that she doesn’t talk about herself. 

She doesn’t really let you know what she’s thinking, and that can be a really useful asset of the business world.  Sometimes she sort of throws her weight around. She’s Anna Wintour. I described in the book how she interacts with all these male executives around her and it sounds like they’re kind of afraid of her. 

Q: What’s the biggest revelation about Anna in your book?

A: I came away with the impression that she’s doing so much behind the scenes, not just in fashion, but culturally. That she is relevant, if not more relevant than she ever was. I mean, these powerful people are seeking her advice constantly. I give some examples in the book; Bradley Cooper, when he was working on “A Star is Born,” sent Anna the script and asked for her thoughts on who would be good in the lead role. 

Hugh Jackman, when he was working on “The Greatest Showman,” went to her and got her advice on that, and a whole group of Vogue editors had a meeting with him at the Soho House sharing their ideas on what he should do with this movie.

Q: Given her success, why don’t we think of Anna in terms of a big giant of business?

A: She's editor in chief of Vogue. I think it's because her title is not CEO. That probably affects perception but she’s one of the best business executives working truly. Her success is really extraordinary, like Jeff Bezos ran Amazon for I think it was 27 years and she’s been running Vogue now for 36.

What’s next? I’m headed to the Cannes Film Festival to cover for The Ankler. If you’ve got an social event drop me a note.

Season Three of The Media Mix podcast is returning. Got a guest booking? Try me or executive producer Jamie Maglietta.

If you are looking to create your own podcast, Situation Room Studios Inc. are my production partners. Check out their other podcasts. If you are interested in sponsorship of the podcast, the newsletter and our events please drop us a line at TheMediaMixUS@gmail.com.

Create and distribute press releases on EZ Newswire. You can find partner content that supports this newsletter here. Latest: Diverse-Owned Media Buying and MarTech Holding Company MokaMoto Worldwide Launches with Key Clients, Partners and Talent. Learn more here.