Anna Wintour is the most powerful person in fashion. Even her hair obeys her. The Vogue editor-in-chief has also just released a new online course in creativity and leadership. To be properly transformed you’ll need £29.99 for a month’s Masterclass subscription. As the Guardian’s fashion editor, I had a go, to see if I could bring some Wintouresque efficiency to my own life.

‘Own your decisions and who you are – without apology’



This, says Wintour, is the key message of the course. I try to apply it to Tuesday morning in the Guardian fashion office. Before I start, I warn the team: “I’m about to stop apologising every time I speak to anyone. Sorry. It’s not real, it’s for a piece. Sorry.”

Make feedback fast and direct

Wintour’s leadership style inspired one of fiction’s greatest bosses, Miranda Priestly. (See: “By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me” and: “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking”). The real Wintour, however, believes managers should be clear to be kind: “People work so much better when feedback is fast, direct and honest and they know where they are,” she says. “Nobody works well when the atmosphere feels slow and lazy.”

I put this to the test on Tuesday, when my colleagues, Leah and Helen, noticed a spider brooch Lady Hale was wearing at the supreme court. In other words: breaking fashion news (category: jewellery and accessories). Instead of discussing at length whether we should cover it, I went with my first instinct. Yes! Of course we should! Within two hours it was live on the website.

Wake up between 4am and 5.30am

Now this is something we have in common – thanks to my one-year-old son. Wintour isn’t blearily shoving a bottle in a screaming baby’s mouth and – at best – sticking on the Today programme, however. At 6.30am, she reads all American and British newspapers. At 7am, she plays tennis. She is at her desk with “breakfast” (“which is Starbucks”) at around 8am. Such “hyperorganised” behaviour allows her to “remain responsive and available” to her team. Still, I have questions. How does she read all of the major newspapers from two countries in half an hour? And: when does she sleep?

Have a take-home bag

Wintour’s contains proofs and articles to read, pitches and CVs to consider, and other publications to look at. So she’s working all night because, admirably, she doesn’t want to waste her team’s time when coming back to them with decisions. So. When does she sleep?

Absorb what is happening culturally

Wintour cares more about what prospective employees are reading than what they are wearing. And she ensures she imbibes as much culture and life as possible herself. Theatre? Cinema? Books? So. When does she sleep?

‘Details of your incompetence do not interest me’

OK, she doesn’t really say this – that’s another Priestly quote – but the real Wintour admits that “in-depth conversations and trying to examine things from every possible angle” aren’t really for her. “For me, being clear and decisive has always worked.” This one I can try in the office, so I do, removing all of the “maybes” and “would that be OKs” and “ahs” and other self-deprecating throat-clearing from my work correspondence for a whole morning. If you’ve been up since 5am – like Wintour and me – such energy-saving behaviour is liberating.