How the Met Was Won

In this exclusive excerpt from “Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America,” Michael Grynbaum explores how Anna Wintour redefined fashion as a pillar of American influence—and transformed the Met Gala into her stage.

That the mainstreaming of fashion also happened to be the mainstreaming of Wintour was a testament to Anna’s unusual combination of editorial and entrepreneurial skills—and, for Condé Nast, a very happy alignment of incentives. Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Michael Grynbaum

July 15, 2025

In the mid-’90s, a decade after he brought aboard Tina Brown at Vanity Fair, Anna Wintour at Vogue, and Art Cooper at GQ, Condé Nast chairman Samuel Irving “Si” Newhouse Jr. presided over an empire that had expanded well beyond expectations. At Vogue, Wintour was also wielding her power to shape the industry her magazine covered. The reach of Condé Nast allowed her to single-handedly determine the fates of many designers—and therefore whose clothes would be coveted by the new class of American strivers.