An interview with 7 powerful women

They manage, orchestrate, lead and make vital* decisions: Find out what power means to seven influential* women. It may not be what you expected.

*orchestrate - организовать

*vital - важный

*influential - влиятельный

Isabel Marant, Fashion Designer

What does the idea of power mean to you?

"I prefer the term ‘influence’ over ‘power’, as ‘power’ makes me think of a sort of dictatorship*."

*dictatorship - диктаторство

Do you consider yourself to be a powerful woman?

"I see myself more as a woman of strength*!"

*strength - сила

Have you ever been in a situation that made you think that ‘women’ and ‘power’ are two incompatible* concepts?

*incompatible - несовместимый

"No, never! I’ve always been surrounded by supportive and admirable people."

What are you most proud of doing?

"Founding a fashion house that employs over 200 people I love working with."

Lisa Azuelos, Director, Scriptwriter, Producer

What does the idea of power mean to you?

"The word ‘power’ can have more than just one meaning, one of those is an expression of authority, representing the masculine world, not men themselves, but a patriarchy which is scared to lose power. But there’s a more feminine notion* of power, the “possibility of” an almost magical idea like a fairytale. One power suppresses, the other liberates*, and right now everyone is concerned with the first and forgets the second."

*notion - понятие

*suppresses - подавляет

*liberate - освобождает

Have you ever been in a situation where you were made to think that ‘women’ and ‘power’ were two incompatible concepts?

"Every day on the news, around a table with powerful men and even at home, it’s insidious* and is more prevalent* in France than in a lot of other countries. Like a lot of other women, I spent a long time believing that a woman’s only form of power was sexual, an idea which is encouraged by advertising and society, but it’s this type of power comes at the price of a lot of violence towards women."

*insidious - коварный, скрытый

*prevalent - преобладающий

Original article: https://www.vogue.fr/fashion-culture/article/international-womens-day-an-interview-with-7-powerful-women

Vogue

8 March, 2019