Anna Wintour

No one questioned her vision.

No committees, no interference, just pure freedom.

The receptionist observed she was always her own person, didn't really listen to any structure because whether she was or not, she was the boss.

Here's what everyone missed.

Working at a disreputable place meant no one was watching.

With no one watching, Anna could do anything.

She could experiment.

She could push the limits.

She could play.

She'd promise boutiques front page placement for lending clothes, promise advertisers their pieces would be shot.

The clothes kept coming.

The ads kept selling.

While her peers fought for assistant positions at respectable magazines, Anna was running her own fashion laboratory at a publication funded by porn.

Sometimes the worst address can have the best classroom.

At Viva, Anna developed her signature aesthetic, photographs that made you want to become the person wearing the clothes, models in country settings with chunky sweaters and inexplicably bows and arrows.

It shouldn't have worked, but it did.

She pushed farther than anyone dared.

One spread featured S&M inspired photography.

It was way out there, a colleague said.

Nobody did anything like that.