Washington Power!

Washington Power!

Photo credit: Paul Morigi-Getty Images

“So I have a little secret,” Elle Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers told a sea of influential Washington women at a lavish dinner at  Georgetown’s Fiola Mare in Washington, DC, co-hosted by Bottega Venata in honor of the Women in Washington Power List. “I was actually a lobbyist for one day, a long time ago.” That experience is why it lasted only one day. It was when she learned how the system worked. A then Senator didn’t support her cause because they weren’t his constituents: She moved on and took her political interests to Elle. “People always ask me, ‘Why does a fashion magazine cover politics?’ I say, ‘Because the definition of fashion is very simply that which is current.’ It’s actually part of my job description.”

Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers

“A few years ago I was standing talking to many of you here tonight,” she added. “I told a little story about my dress. At the end of the night a guest, who shall remain nameless, came up to me, stabbed her finger in my chest, and said, ‘Don’t talk about your dress. Women shouldn’t be talking about their clothes.’ I thought, ‘Well, geez, lady, we are a fashion magazine, and you stayed and ate dinner, if you were so mad about my dress you could have left.’ But more to the point, it is an evening about women’s power, how we get it, and how we use it once we have it, an issue that is far more important. We’ve always said while we love the dress, Elle is about the woman in the dress. Elle is the French word for ‘she.’  The dress or the pantsuit, whatever a woman wears, it’s her armor for the outside world. I can’t help but look around and admire all of the armor in the room.”

Kevin O’Malley, Katy Tur, Rhea Suh, Judy Woodruff, ELLE Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers, Meighan Stone, Maria Trabocchi, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Gerrit Ruetzel 

In between the Burrata di Bufolo and the Poached Norwegian Shrei Cod, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) stopped by to chat. “A wonderful thing happened to me,” she told Hollywood on the Potomac.  “All of a sudden I have Millennials who are following me; they’re tweeting me, they’re retweeting me and they have dubbed me “Auntie Maxine.” Here’s what happened: The first time they made contact with me was because I had come out of a classified briefing and the press was all lined up as they always do when they organize themselves after these meetings, and they wanted to talk to me and I said ‘I can’t talk to you.’  It was a classified briefing and I can’t talk to them but I said if you dig deep you are going to be able to connect the dots. They started saying I could ‘shade’ a little and that’s a millennial word.”  So now, they’re looking for clues in her tweets that have been ‘shaded.’  Of course there aren’t any, but Auntie Maxine is having fun being followed by the Millennials.  Her children are impressed. She now has 250K followers.

Maxine Waters    Photo credit: Janet Donovan

“If you look around, here’s our army: Women from different political parties, industries, disciplines, all of whom have unique and nuanced parts to care about. But I would bet we have two things in common. One, that we wouldn’t have gotten where we are today without the support of the community that surrounds us. And two, that we all believe the world would be a better place with a better level of equality when it comes to gender ratio in the leadership roles. Two years ago, Elle started something called the Agenda. I’ve recruited some of you here to join us on our Agenda board, the mission of which is making the world a more hospitable place for women and girls, to further that mission. Now we have another ask. We’d like you to help us grow our army. We’d like you to help us identify exemplary women who need to have a few doors opened for them to reach their full potential, so they can be like you. Men, we want your votes, too, please.”  Robbie Myers.  Yes, there were a few men including Dr. Gerrit Ruetzel from Bottega Veneta.

Robbie Myers and Bottega Veneta CEO Dr. Gerrit Ruetzel 

“I’m extremely honored and humbled to be here again to celebrate women in Washington who have and who continue to shape the political landscape in various ways,” said Ruetzel. “I’ve been in office 50 days. However one of my first executive orders is actually to join forces with Elle magazine and to sponsor this wonderful event. I’m fortunate and very glad to work for a company and a group which actually uses the mantra of “empowering imagination.” If you read our manifesto, we have basically four pillars. One of them is all about empowering women. Having said that, I would like to congratulate all this year’s honorees as well as past years’ honorees, because not only do you empower imagination, but you’re also the source of inspiration for every woman in this country and I think this deserves a lot of respect and a big thank you. This is pretty much it from my side. I just hope everybody’s having a great night.”

Amy Baier and Cindy Jones

“I’m going to tell you a little bit about tonight’s honorees,” added Myers.  “Or as I’d like to call them, the newest officers in the chicest army of all, the women of power.

 

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