Anna Wintour

The side door to the auditorium opened...

and she walked in.

About 1000 people stopped talking and there was a hushed silence.

It was Her.

I've read about her, seen her in a documentary...and always wondered....was she REALLY that way?

We were about to find out.

Me and the 999 other people who were seated inside Harvard's Burden Auditorium for the public forum Health Matters: Weight and Wellness in the World of Fashion.

The Harris Center for Education and Advocacy in Eating Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital was sponsoring the program. And they invited some very well known fashion experts to sit on the panel.

Michael Kors, Fashion Designer and judge on Project Runway.

Natalia Vodianova, a model who now talks openly about having and beating anorexia.

And...

Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue.

I've never been in a room where ONE person can just walk in and have such a presence.

It was amazing. Breathtaking. It was Anna Wintour.

She spoke openly and candidly about the fashion world and how there has been a "dramatic downward shift" in the size of models over the last ten years. She talked about how Vogue was trying to help those models who are "frighteningly thin".

I hung on her every word.

How could you not?

She dictates what's in and what's out.

She is VOGUE.

But it was Michael Kors who brought tears to my eyes.

He told us about a model who was in his show years ago. She had bruises on her back because she was so thin her backbone was bruising her from the inside out.

Kors made a pledge to never hire models under the age of 16, to only book models who have a natural beauty and a healthy body.

Natalia Vodianova spoke softly, but walked in very tall stilettos.

She was told to "lose a few pounds" so many times she became anorexic. Trying to please editors, designers, photographers....it was a vicious circle. She wanted to be healthy, but she wanted to work. If she gained weight, she said, she wouldn't get hired.

She's one of the lucky ones. She recognized her problem and got help. Now she's happily married and a proud mother of three. She talked about the issue that even Anna Wintour and Michael Kors admit, was a "secret".

Models who starve themselves to be thin.

It's out in the open now and everyone is talking about it. Maybe, hopefully it will help.

What the panelists said spoke volumes about the World of Fashion. About the responsibility they have as editor, designer and model.

Michael Kors had my favorite line of the night:

"Clothes are made to make yourself the very best version of you".

When he said that, everyone clapped and cheered.

Well, not Anna.

She sat stoically at the table, sipping bottled water.

She was all business. She said what she had to say and that seemed to be it.

But ok...I admit...when I open up my new issue of Vogue I will grin with complete satisfaction because I got to see Anna Wintour speak.

Even from five rows back she made an impression on me.

She's just that good.

Afterall...she is Anna Wintour.