She’s the boss: Wax Wintour, center, with a new friend.
Photo: Emilia Petrarca
For two days this week, the most powerful woman in American fashion sat in the middle of a tough mall next to Stuart Weitzman. Suddenly like a haunting, a wax Anna Wintour appeared in one of the marshmallowy bubble seats at the Westfield Oculus, the retail and transportation hub near the former World Trade Center, content – in a way that her flesh counterpart and blood would not be – to submit to selfies.
What gives? The Wintour Wax, it turns out, is part of a partnership between Madame Tussauds, which commissioned Wintour’s likeness, and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the real estate developers who run the mall, to celebrate Fashion Week. “We are thrilled to partner with Madame Tussauds to present visitors to Oculus with a very unique experience,” said Diana Grasso, vice president of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, in a prepared statement.
And how! Twenty-five floors up, at Vogueoffices of ‘One World Trade Center — accessible directly from Oculus — Wintour has been busy at her desk as usual, preparing for Fashion Month and the mysterious debut of Vogue World. Although she approved the creation of a wax figure of herself for Madame Tussauds in 2016, according to a source with knowledge, Wintour was not warned that her likeness would be displayed right outside her door as a kind of “Take Your Efigy to Work Day”. Asked if she has any feelings about her unwanted appearance, Wintour, through her office, declined to comment.
Maybe she hasn’t met her twin. “I’ll bet she’s never set foot in there,” one fashionista told me as an image of Anne of Wax circulated on social media, though that’s not entirely true. Wintour was instrumental in moving Condé Nast’s headquarters to the World Trade Center, and she has written poignantly about the “expressive clearing of the Oculus” near the 9/11 Memorial. And in 2014, while Oculus was under construction, the CFDA and Vogue held an event for their Mutual Fashion Fund there.
Wax Wintour, originally produced in 2016, now wears a replica of Wintour’s couture Chanel feather dress from the 2019 Met Gala (the “Camp” gala, appropriately enough). She was joined at Oculus on September 7 and 8 by wax Kendall Jenner, wax Alessandra Ambrosio and wax Heidi Klum, all of whom appear in the “Walk the Runway” experience at Madame Tussauds Times Square Museum. Brittany Williams, a spokeswoman for Madame Tussauds, told me that each wax figure participates in the process to a different degree. “Most celebrities meet our artists (who fly in from London) for a ‘sitting’ where more than 200 measurements are taken to ensure the exact likeness as their figure is created over the course of the next 6-8 months, she said. via e-mail. “Kendall Jenner, Alessandra Ambrosio and Heidi Klum each attended a session and revealed their figure in person.” And Wintour? “Based on our data, Anna’s figure was created through research, engaging remotely with her team,” she wrote after a conversation with the London home office.
An investigation Friday afternoon revealed that the Wintour wax has already left the post. She will presumably return to Madame Tussauds, although, at some point, Anna could be a useful way for the real Wintour to solve her annual September conundrum and attend NYFW and the US Open at once.
