The powerful women who wear bangs

By JACQUELINE LEO, The Fiscal Times

She may be the first lady, but Michelle Obama has a lot more impact on national style than her husband. Her chic clothes, her understated accessories, and now her new hairstyle will influence fashionistas throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona is the 4th women to serve in that capacity. Brewer provoked a national controversy when, on April 23, 2010, she signed the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. The act makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an immigrant to be in Arizona without carrying registration documents required by federal law, authorizes state and local law enforcement of federal immigration laws, and cracks down on those sheltering, hiring and transporting illegal aliens.

She's the first woman president of Harvard University, and she wears bangs.  But she's not on the fringe. Her appointment was as much a statement of values on the part of Harvard's governing boards as it was a brilliant choice.  She followed Lawrence Summers whose controversial statements took a swipe at women in science.

The Duchess of Cambridge may have been thinking of her dead mother in law, Princess Diana, when she cut her bangs. Diana's fringe was swept to one side, but it was her signature. Chances are Diana would have been thrilled that Kate is pregnant and that her son is so obviously happy with his new life.

Before the Arizona Congresswoman was shot in an assassination attempt at a supermarket near Tucson, she was one of those rare people in Congress capable of listening to both sides of an issue.  Her heroic recovery efforts have made her an inspiration to many with severe physical challenges.  Today, she has joined the president's campaign for gun control.

Two film legends who are not finished yet.  Goldie Hawn has made 27 movies following her amazing start as the ditzy blonde on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in.  Some of her classics:  Private Benjamin; Bird on a Wire, Cactus Flower and The First Wives Club. Diane Keaton's first major film was the Godfather, where she played Kay, Michael Corleone's wife.  Her classic, of course, was Annie Hall. She had the look and set a new fashion trend. Keaton's films have earned over $1.1 billion in North America.

E. L. James, nee Erica Mitchell, is a publisher's dream--she's the British author of "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Fifty Shades Darker," and "Fifty Shades Freed."  Total sales: over 35 million and still counting.  Last year she was named one of the World's 100 Most Influential People in Time Magazine.  Must have been the bangs.

If you think of Gayle King as simply a protege of Oprah, think again.  She was a news reporter and anchor in two different big city markets for over 20 years before she became editor of O, The Oprah Magazine in 1999.  She later worked as a correspondent for Oprah and Good Morning America.  Today she co-anchors CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell.

Lady Gaga is a nice Catholic girl.  She was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in New York and studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart--a pricey private school on the upper east side.  And OK, she doesn't always wear bangs.  But when she posed for this cover of Vogue, she decided to channel Anna Wintour, the storied editor of the magazine (keep clicking to see Anna). Gaga is the epitome of a superstar entertainer.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, is arguably the most powerful woman in Europe. She holds the cards on how far the IMF will go to forgive Greek debt. The German banking association said a fresh "haircut" or forced reduction in the value of Greek sovereign debt must only happen as a last resort. Meanwhile, Merkel's greatest challenge might be the new president of France, Francoise Hollande. The big-spending socialist has raised taxes dramatically and faces slow growth and high unemployment.