when morley safer sat down with her in may of 2009, the recession had already begun, and anna wintouras responding with a call for austerity. >> she's been portrayed as darth vader in a frock or less harshly as nuclear wintour. or is she really just peaches and cream with a touch of arsenic? the blurb on your unauthorized biography reads, "she's ambitious, driven, needy, a perfectionist: an inside look at the competitive, bitch-eat-bitch world of fashion." an accurate... >> well, i'm very driven by what i do. i am certainly very competitive. what else am i, needy? i'm probably very needy, yes. a bitch? >> a perfectionist? >> perfectionist. >> let's try bitch first. >> um, well, i hope i'm not. i try not to be, but i like people who represent the best of what they do, and if that turns you into a perfectionist, then maybe i am. >> high above times square, anna wintour oversees a small army of girls, coiffed, skinny, beautiful, and running scared, the worker bees whose job it is to inspire women to dream. the pages of vogue conjure up a never-never land of beauty, of the sweet life. fan

. >> anna wintour is involved in every detail of vogue: the clothes... >> i like the stripe. >> editing the pictures and articles.

a phenomenon, according to "vogue" magazine's editor in chief, anna wintour.rm. and i like that it's finite. it's such a broad spectrum of ideas. >> reporter: i look at it as maybe an inspiration board? >> yes. it's like one, long pinterest or instagram account. it's what i do for inspiration. >> reporter: to show me where she finds inspiration, she invited me to 10 foot single in brooklyn, new york. >> they say it's effortless or whatever. and they don't realize i spent two hours washing it, and drying it and making it look messy. >> reporter: within off her favorite pop culture references, the spice girls. >> they look like they're having so much fun. and there weren't any rules when it came to getting dressed. to me, it's about expressing yourself and convey your frustrations and things you like through how you dress. we could be in the spice girls. this is it. >> missing our pigtails. >> say ah. >> reporter: our alexa must-have, valley flats, ankle boots, a white shirt, a boyfriend sweater. a canvas tote. and a trench coat. >> the rolling stones with that.