She has been cast as a devil in Prada who eats interns for breakfast and makes or ruins the careers of numberless young designers with a nod or a withering stare.
Now, after 25 years as editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour is apparently being groomed as a bearer of US diplomacy, glad-handing dignitaries no matter how they are dressed and serving as the country’s representative in London or Paris.
Speculation that Ms Wintour, who is English, could be named by President Obama as the next ambassador to either Britain or France following a campaign season in which Ms Wintour raised more than $500,000 (£310,000) to help to secure his re-election to the White House.
Two thirds of America’s ambassadors are generally career diplomats