Edeline Lee Invites Mary Beard to Her ‘Women and Power’ Speaker Series
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LONDON — Dame Mary Beard has a lot of powerful things to say.
London-based, Canadian British fashion designer Edeline Lee invited Beard to her quarterly “Women and Power” speaker series at Fenwick of Bond Street.
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The event made a triumphant return after being canceled due to the pandemic. Previous speakers have included Dame Helena Morrissey and Clarissa Farr on the topic of “Beauty Versus Brains” and Anne Sebba and Virginia Nicholson on “Women Writing Women.”
The audience included Lee’s loyal clients and influential friends, including Soma Sara, founder and chief executive officer of Everyone’s Invited; Reni Eddo-Lodge, author of “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race”; “Luxor” film director Zeina Durra; Anne Sebba, biographer and lecturer; Sigrid Kirk, cultural strategist art adviser, and others.
“I’m so happy because I’ve had so many of my clients here tonight and women that have supported me throughout wearing my clothes. I’m just so chuffed to be able to do this again,” Lee said.
“Five years ago, I read ‘Women & Power: A Manifesto.’ As I read Beard’s eloquent descriptions of the many ways that women’s voices have been silenced, from ancient history onward, I was struck by the realization that in my profession of fashion, women are still always seen and never heard.”
Beard’s book inspired Lee’s fall 2019 fashion show — a two-hour marathon of 34 powerful female orators across all disciplines.
“Mary continues to inspire my practice as I seek to dress women with both femininity and power,” Lee added.
Beard chronicled that for the first 20 years in her academic career, she was silent and didn’t speak. However, with the few women she was surrounded by, they would often regroup at the pub to discuss how to make it better.
“Maybe fashion will help. There was one woman who sometimes did speak in the seminars, and she wore a fantastic gold bomber jacket. We thought maybe that’s the answer.”
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