Ice queen

ANNA: THE BIOGRAPHY, by Amy Odell (A&U, $39.99)

n the cover of Amy Odell’s new book is a photograph of a woman of an uncertain age smiling into the camera. Her hair is styled in a precise, prim bob. She wears very large sunglasses. Her arms are defiantly crossed. The book is boldly titled and just about. When Odell, a journalist and author of a collection of essays about being a young woman in the fashion industry, was assigned to write an unauthorised biography on Wintour, she reached out to her many contacts in the industry and discovered a distinct chill in the air. No one was willing to put a foot wrong or find themselves misconstrued in a book that might annoy one of the most powerful figures in fashion media. It wasn’t worth their job or the Manolo Blahnik heels they stood up in.