On a sunny Tuesday afternoon in September, I arrived at Tribeca’s Locanda Verde restaurant to interview Olivia Wilde with the goal of looking serious. Wilde was one of several jurors participating in Chanel’s ninth annual "Through Her Lens" program with the Tribeca Film Festival, an initiative that selects ten promising women and non-binary filmmakers for mentorship by the industry’s leading directors—and a chance to secure funding for short films that go on to debut at Sundance or stream on Netflix.
One hundred other influential women in entertainment, from director Janicza Bravo to actors Beanie Feldstein and Rosie Perez, were also attending the program’s kick-off power lunch. I’m not often in rooms like that with company like this. So I chose a tailored black waistcoat, khaki trousers, and knife-toe heels, each coming from one of several interchangeable minimalist brands. This, I thought, conveyed purpose. Or at least, it would help me blend in.
