Anna Wintour: Fashion Must Take A Strong Stand For Democratic Party Values + Female Leadership

Anna Wintour attends the 72nd annual Tony Awards in New York City in June 2018 Image by Walter McBride via CNN

CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour interviewed Vogue’s Anna Wintour in New York on Friday April 5, 2019.

Wintour’s 2019 Met Gala is scheduled for May 6, with the theme ‘Camp Notes on Fashion’ , a topic at the heart of Gucci’s brand revival under creative director Alessandro Michele. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the exhibit opens to the public on May 9.

"I like to say that we go from sun kings to drag queens in the show; it's to be hoped that there will be plenty of both, not only at the gala but also coming to see the exhibition," Wintour says about the exhibit.

The organizing committee for the event includes the top names in fashion and especially acting, with Bradley Cooper, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o and Jennifer Lopez with fiance Alex Rodriguez on the list. For a complete rundown, read The Hollywood Reporter.

Last year’s theme focused on the Vatican’s influence on fashion, giving Lena Waithe the opportunity to make a major fashion statement in the time of Trump. Wintour talks politics and values with Amanpour.

Lena Waithe at the 2018 Met Gala wearing a rainbow pride flag cape designed by Carolina Herrera. (Getty Images via The Evening Standard.)

Amanpour writes that Wintour referenced multiple times during the interview the need of “taking a stand”. Both her support of Hillary Clinton and agony over the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency are well documented. Wintour put Michelle Obama on Vogue's cover three times, and the magazine has recently profiled Senator Kamala Harris and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Asked about Vogue's forays into politics, Wintour said: "I don't think it's a moment not to take a stand ... I believe, as I think those of us who work at Condé Nast believe, that you have to stand up for what you believe in and you have to take a point of view."

Asked about the majority of Vogue political figures being Democrats, the editor-in-chief responded: "I think it's very, very important to have a point of view, and we profile women in the magazine that we believe in ... After the defeat of Secretary Clinton in 2016 (in particular), we believe that women should have a leadership position and we intend to support them."

New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who received a staggering amount of praise for her response to the terror attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, is another female politician with major support from Vogue and Wintour herself. "I think that she's an exceptionally direct, articulate person," Wintour said of Ardern. "And there is no sense that she's ever on message.

"She truly brought the country together in such a remarkable way that I haven't seen many other leaders achieve. And she was just so moving, and when she said, 'we are all one country,' it was a message that a lot of other leaders could learn from."

Anna Wintour will celebrate her 70th birthday this year, and Condé Nast insists she’s not going anywhere. Amanpour’s interview happened the day after Condé Nast appointed Roger Lynch, former CEO of the music streaming service Pandora, as its first global chief executive.

"Anna Wintour is an incredibly talented and creative leader whose influence is beyond measure," Sauerberg's statement read. "She is integral to the future of our company's transformation and has agreed to work with me indefinitely in her role as editor-in-chief, Vogue and artistic director of Condé Nast."

WWD quotes insiders as saying that British Vogue editor in chief Edward Enninful, most frequently brought up as Wintour’s future replacement, is not headed Stateside.

"Edward is a brilliant editor," Wintour tells Amanpour. "And I think he's really, in his fearless style of editing, brought a completely different point of view to British Vogue -- with no disrespect to the editor that was there for many years before Edward.

"I think that he's very passionate about race. He's very passionate about politics ... He is taking a stand and he is not trying to please everybody, because you can't in this day and age."