Anna Wintour, Fashion Leaders Boycott Sultan's Hotels

Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue and possibly the most prominent figure in U.S. fashion, has announced she and her editors will not stay in hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who passed extremely harsh antigay and anti-woman laws in his Asian nation.

Wintour and her staff often stay at the sultan's Le Meurice property when in Paris for the fashion shows. “While I am sensitive to the potential impact that this issue may have on the wonderful staff at Le Meurice, I cannot in all good conscience stay there, nor can Vogue’s editors,” Wintour told The New York Times.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah also owns Milan's Principe de Savoia, another favorite of the fashion crowd. Everyone from Esquire's fashion director to the fashion director of Out magazine (Out Traveler's sister publication) will no longer patronize the hotel.

"I have no intention of drinking in the Principe this season," Out's Grant Woolhead told the Times.

On top of all those folks, Francois-Henri Pinault — the CEO of Gucci, Stella McCartney, and Alexander McQueen's parent company — also took a stand against the sultan's Dorchester hotels, officially announcing he would "join the boycott of his hotel properties."

Meanwhile, the sultan's L.A. properties are nearly empty.