Think Big

This Season ’s Doorway - Defying Silhouettes Weren’t Just A Runway Statement . They Were A Reclamation Of Female Power .

- Dayna Evans

There is a scene in Knock Down the House, the award-winning documentary that tracks four women running for Congress in 2018, in which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is sitting on the couch in her living room, breathing deeply. In only a few hours, the then 28-year-old bartender from the Bronx—and complete newcomer to politics—must go on live TV and debate 10-term Democratic congressman Joe Crowley in an attempt to unseat him from his position. It will not be an easy or necessarily pleasant task. She closes her eyes, extends her arms above her head, and exhales. “I need to take up space, I need to take up space,” she says, waving her arms around her. “I am here.”