INFLUENTIAL WOMENINFLUENTIAL WOMENINFLUENTIAL WOMENINFLUENTIAL WOMENINFLUENTIAL WOMENINFLUENTIAL WOMEN
INFLUENTIAL WOMEN
Here is our pick of women who we think are influential and noteworthy in the industry. Whether they are a Princess, pop
queen or a fashionista their work and messages are something definitely worth talking about.
Kate Middleton
It’s called the “Kate Middleton Effect”
for a reason. Anything Kate wears will
sell out instantly. Although Kate was
in the public eye for many years as the
girlfriend of Prince William, the effect
began after the announcement of the
couple’s engagement in November
2010. Kate was also seen on Vogue
UK’s May 2016 issue. This was for their
100-year anniversary. This is because
of how influential Kate is in the fashion
industry and how she affects the trends
for each season. She is seen as an icon
and being on this iconic Vogue issue
shows how much she influences what
goes on in fashion.
Grace Coddington
Grace Coddington up until January
2016 when she left American Vogue
was described as the most influential
fashion editor of the past 30 years;
US Vogue creative director Grace
Coddington has produced some of the
fashion’s most memorable imagery.
She was at Vogue for over 25 years.
The 74-year-old started off as a model
herself so understands how important
the magazines work is. She has strong
views when it comes to beauty and
how women are seen in the media.
She strongly expresses her opinion of
beauty not being perfect as well as
having strong views on ageism.
Diane Von Furstenerg
Diane launched her career in 1970.
Creating her iconic wrap dress in
1974. In 2005, following a lifetime
achievement award presented by the
CFDA, von Furstenberg was elected
as president of the influential council.
An active humanitarian, Diane, sits
on the board of Vital Voices. This
is an organisation that empowers
emerging women leaders and social
entrepreneurs. ‘Forbes’ also lists her as
the 68th most powerful woman in the
world.
Emma Watson
Emma is best known for her role
as Hermione Granger in the “Harry
Potter” franchise. She has now turned
her hand to the gender equality
movement. She was highly praised
for her #HeForShe campaign, which
highlighted the rights of women,
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being just as important as the men’s.
The hashtag ignited a 1.2 billion social
media conversation. She encouraged
everyone to get involved in combating
sexism. In this speech, she invited men
to join the fight for gender equality
and how it was impossible to achieve
equality if only one sex participated in
the fight. This is a big impact on the
fashion industry due to it having a lot
of women working in it, meaning her
message impacts the industry more
than ever.
Katie Grand
Katie is a Stylist as well as the editor
of Conde Nast’s Love Magazine. She
is a long-time collaborator with Marc
Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. Whilst
studying at Central Saint Martin’s
she helped create Dazed & Confused
in 1992. She then moved to Pop
Magazine where she was the editor
and chief. Pop was another hugely
successful publication, dominating
the fashion culture of the first decade
of the 21st century. She then moved
to LOVE Magazine in 2008. She now
does everything from runways, window
styling, art direction, filmmaking and
of course advertising. She is also still
big in styling, recently styling Louis
Vuitton ad campaign. In October 2011,
Grand was awarded the ‘Innovator of
the Year’ award, presented by Marc
Jacobs.
films. Her big break came when she
starred in Winter’s Bone. This led to a
role in the new X-Men movies. She then
scored the role of a lifetime playing,
Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games
movie franchise. She won a Golden
Globe her role in The Silver Lining
Playbook, along with Academy award,
Screen Actors Guild, Satellite Award
and the Independent Spirit Award. This
makes her the youngest person ever
to be nominated for Best Actress and
Youngest Best Actress which she won.
She continues to do more films and is
also involved with the fashion world.
Margaret Zhang
Margaret Zhang is one of the brightest
young minds that we should pay
attention to these days. The Australian
born is not only finishing her career in
law but she is also a blogger, published
photographer, creative director and
stylist. Despite the fact she is only 23
years old, Margaret worked for some
of the most prestigious brands such
as Clinique, Guess and Louis Vuitton.
Currently on the cover of Vogue China,
she says: “The youth of today don’t
need to blindly follow the paths and
pressures laid out by generations
beforehand. Be the one in control. And
get a perm.” Margaret is changing the
game of blogging showing us that we
should be more valued for what we
make, and not what we sell.
Beyonce
Anna Wintour
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is an
empowering independent role model.
She is a singer, songwriter, record
producer, actress and has just released
her own clothing line. Beyoncé became
famous through the group Destiny’s
Child. One of the group’s main hits was
‘Independent Women’, which talked
about women owning everything they
have and not relying on anyone. After a
few years, she went on to have her own
solo career. Beyoncé is a part of the
modern day feminist movement. She
has incorporated her vision in her music
by creating ***Flawless and adding
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie feminist
speech into her song.
Anna Wintour is the editor-in-chief
of American Vogue and the artistic
director of Condé Nast. She has been
at Vogue since 1988. She is widely
regarded as the most influential women
in fashion. She has a big involvement
in a number of charities. In 1990, she
played a strategic role in developing
the fashion industry’s AIDS charity,
in which she helped raise over $20m.
From 1995 to now, Wintour has cochaired sixteen fund-raising galas which
together have raised nearly $130m
for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
Costume Institute. In 2014, she had a
big role in getting the fashion industry
involved in Born Free Africa, an
organisation aiming to stop mother-tochild transmission of HIV. She funded
this from a dedicated clothing line by
world-renowned fashion designers.
She has used her influential role at
American Vogue and Conde Nast to
achieve good things not only in the
fashion industry but also in the world.
Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence is an American
actress that started her career in
television, for the TBS sitcom The
Bill Engvall Show in 2007. Jennifer
Lawrence has starred in a variety of
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