Anna Wintour’s latest editor’s letter has been released ahead of Vogue‘s May issue. In it, she writes: “Donatella and I have known each other for more years than either of us likely care to remember, and she is and always has been one of my favourite people in the fashion industry, as much for her humour and loyalty as for her sizable talent. When our children were younger, we’d often vacation together—at a dude ranch one year, if you can imagine.”
Placing the two Ministers of high fashion in a country and western setting is quite a difficult image for anyone to conjure up. So many questions come to mind: Were there cowboy hats and boots worn? Will this breed couture western wear? What kind of accommodations did this “dude ranch” have that they could host the likes of Anna Wintour and Donatella Versace? Truly mind boggling!
Wintour goes on speaking of Versace who is serving as her co-chair for this year’s Met Ball: “Each day when we’d go riding, Donatella would be atop a horse, blowing smoke rings, huskily declaring, ‘This is Marlboro country.’” Again, the idea that anyone would have the gall to billow cigarette smoke in Anna Wintour’s direction seems highly implausible.
Later, she adds a stipulation, “I’m thrilled she and I get to collaborate on the Met—though I have expressly told her, even if she has finally given up smoking, that the Met has a strict no-vaping rule!” Clearly, Wintour hasn’t seen the pictures of designers and celebs huddling in the museum’s bathroom chain-smoking cigarettes every year. Rita Ora documented the rule-breaking tradition on her Snapchat last year, catching Bella Hadid, Rami Malek, and Dakota Johnson lighting up.
Wintour’s editor’s letter does feel particularly poignant as it may be one of the last she will pen for the magazine. It’s rumoured she will be leaving Vogue at the end of this summer after closing the magazine’s September issue. Then she can saddle up and ride off into the sunset!
