Strong motion.(Editorial)

Byline: Anna Wintour

In the fall, the business pages of The New York Times led with a story about the growing strength of women in the consumer marketplace. Women are buying their own homes, cars, and vacations in ever greater numbers, and women's values and needs are exerting an ever greater influence on traditionally male industries. Here at Vogue, this didn't come as news; but I did think it was a good prompt to celebrate the new and serious ways in which women are taking charge of their economic lives. So I gave a copy of the Times piece to Edward Enninful, one of our fashion

editors, and he and Steven Meisel came back with a marvelous story in which day dresses-spring's key piece and a symbol

of female officewear-go to work on a construction site.

I hope these images will inspire you to buy a dress, build

your future, and revel in both.

The season's two other key pieces are the anorak and the skinny pant (see "Parka Avenue," page 206, and "Lean & Mean," page 248). Both are staples of the oddball, geeky male, and both have been re_imagined as chic and efficient basics for women. (If taking over their cars wasn't bad enough, we're now wearing their clothes.) These are pieces that go with anything, anywhere, anytime. They reflect one of the great movements in fashion, which is the drift toward flexibility and autonomy.