That women sell, is no state secret. The media mantra of the moment is “Stick a pretty woman on the cover”. Heck, for the longest time, advertisers have been featuring a girl in a tight suit, when it’s really about the car. But, what of the pretty woman with power? The greatest non-alcoholic intoxicant of all time, power is, we discovered while drawing up our Women ’08 list, not the by-product of good acting, good singing or good deeds. Today’s power is defined by the ability to make news. To sell.
Let the drum-roll begin.
To the 21st century celebrity Angelina Jolie made motherhood a fashion statement and the baby became the season’s must-have accessory. Her photographs with Maddox or is it Pax? in the toy-store and wiping Shiloh’s runny nose give weekly magazines the shelf-life of a fortnight.
Angelina’s power quotient is greatly enhanced by the fact that she’s got the attention of Brad Pitt, already has one Oscar somewhere at home, and continues to make her own career decisions about movies and humanitarian work.
When Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama late last year, people were already talking of the US Presidential race as over. Obama is yet to win the Democratic nomination, but that’s how much the Oprah vote matters. She has the power to influence change.
As we recalled while drawing up our list, forget the entertainment industry and business leader lists that she already features in, Winfrey got America to read again with Oprah’s Book Club. Her TV show alone has a captive audience of about 49 million viewers per show.
On her own, Carla Bruni doesn’t quite make our list, but with a certain hyper-active Frenchman as her husband … Now that’s a story. At least that’s what the world thought when all of us were talking about how they’d marry, where they’d marry, when they’d marry and if they’d marry.
As France’s First Lady, Mrs Nicolas Sarkozy, has been pretty low profile. But, no one can discount the fact that this former supermodel still has the ear of the French President. And wonder how the French feel about the fact that it took an Italian to put France back in the spotlight.
Madonna may not have the pull and appeal she had in her peak years, but she’s probably the only soon-to-be-50-year old international entertainer who can manage one page write-ups in the regional Indian press. It would be unwise to think the queen of reinvention is on the shelf as this songstress/author/designer has proved again and again to have her finger on the pulse during the last three decades. With a new album, Hard Candy, out next month Madonna continues to be one to watch.
Melinda Gates is the Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She plays an active role in the running of one of the largest charitable foundations.
According to numerous accounts and profiles on her, she and her husband Bill approach philanthropy analytically — with a mathematical twist. Charity for Gates isn’t malnourished jargon, but number crunching.
If sources and reports are to be believed then the Gates family apparently is aware of every dollar spent by their foundation.
It’s probably little surprise that when Warren Buffet made his grand gesture of donating about $31 billion (Dh113.8 billion), one of his three conditions was that “Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in its administration.”
Oprah may have got America to read, but J.K. Rowling made kids pick up books again. A much harder task in today’s times, particularly when you’re competing against all those computer toys and TV shows and virtual worlds.
But, Rowling did it. She created a fantasy world that was far too compelling for any child, and many adults, to ignore. The virtual world came to a standstill as real boys and girls were glued to the pages of their Harry Potter books.
Launches of the latest Harry Potter were the only time parents willingly allowed their children to stay up late and queue up.
Will she or won’t she? Doesn’t really matter. In truth, her moves as a yet-to-make-it-president make more news than women who are already in power. Think about it: news about Angela Merkel vs Hillary Clinton. No contest.
Unfortunately for Hillary, a lot of us have forgotten what she really represents. Her approaches have ranged from “I Can Cry,” to “I’m As Tough As A Man” and it’s probably unfair to blame it on her alone. The nature of the campaign, its expectations and the undeniably charismatic Barack Obama, have forced her to reinvent herself repeatedly resulting in Hillary-bashing.
Every time someone throws a pie at her or anti-fur protesters curse her, we’re reminded that Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, is without a doubt the most powerful individual in the fashion industry.
Known for her ability to make or break a designer’s fortunes, Anna has been described as cold, elitist and difficult. However, a historical look-back at Vogue shows how she resurrected fashion from losing out to lifestyle and reinvented the fashion magazine giving everybody responsible for its splendid photo shoots equal credit.
When 3 billion of the world’s population know of you, it’s enough to place you on a list of rich, powerful, beautiful newsmakers.
Aishwarya Rai may not have managed to crossover into Hollywood, but by marrying into the first family of Bollywood, her power quotient rose dramatically.
People in the West may not be able to say her name right, or even remember it, but whether they like it or not, her face they cannot forget.
All the tragedy in the world cannot remove Britney Spears from our minds. It’s so easy to lose track of the order of her miseries, but Britney continues to fascinate with her antics.
She’s become a delightful case study for celebrity pundits and pop culture. In an over-charged politically correct world, anybody can say anything about Britney. Sadly for Britney, her life isn’t getting much better. And it’s probably very unlikely that celebrity magazines are saying a little prayer for her either.
