Jill Biden, Sen. Gillibrand honored as Elle and Gucci's 'luminaries'

High fashion met high-powered women Thursday, as Elle magazine and Gucci honored a group of Washington female dynamos.

Dr. Jill Biden stunned in a dramatic black and white gown as she walked down the steps of the Villa Firenze, the official residence of Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero and his wife.

The vice president’s wife was one of 10 “Washington D.C. luminaries” recognized by the magazine and fashion powerhouse. Biden, who teaches English at Northern Virginia Community College, mentioned to ITK that she had to be up early for work the next day.

In a taped segment played ahead of the exclusive dinner, Biden quipped of her teaching job, “A lot of my students don’t know I’m the second lady, which is kind of funny.”

Among the other high-profile women honored at the VIP soiree: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Google vice president of public policy and government relations and former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.), White House deputy chief of staff Alyssa Mastromonaco, political strategist Susan McCue, Olympian Michelle Freeman, Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn, Voto Latino president and CEO Maria Teresa Kumar, NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell and CNN’s Jessica Yellin.

Flanked by Gucci America President Christophe de Pous, Elle Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers joked in remarks to the crowd that her young daughter asked her before the event if the women being celebrated were “as powerful as Taylor Swift?” Myers said she replied, “Yes, honey — these women run the world.”

Spotted among the chic attendees: author Kitty Kelley, noting that the party was made up of an “LBD crowd” (that would be “little black dress” for those who don’t speak style slang); CNN political pundit Gloria Borger calling the minivan she was hopping into with a female companion the “mom car” and then cracking, “Where’s the Juicy Juice?”; Molinari politely requesting an alternative to the sea bass entrée, saying she’s not a fan of fish; former White House social secretary Julianna Smoot, former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.), former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), lobbyist Juleanna Glover, The Raben Group's Malika Saada Saar, Washington Mystics President Sheila Johnson, CNN’s Dana Bash, NBC News’s Luke Russert and Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden.

Photos: Tony Powell 

(top left) Back row: Susan McCue, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Robbie Myers, Dr. Jill Biden, Maria Teresa Kumar, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, Mrs. Laura Denise Bisogniero / Front row: Michelle Freeman, Alyssa Mastromonaco, Susan Molinari, Mignon Clyburn

(bottom left): Susan McCue and Laurie Knight 

(bottom right) Maria Teresa Kumar and Mignon Clyburn

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