[custom_adv] After a 16-year tenure as Glamour's editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive's last WOTY — she departs the magazine at the end of the year — was an especially emotional one. The 27th annual event, held at the regal Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, featured a range of segments that reflected the myriad ways in which women are spearheading this latest iteration of a movement decades in the making: MeToo spokeswomen Aly Raisman, Cameron Russell. [custom_adv] Anita Hill and former New York Police Department officer Ann Cardenas delivered a series of powerful monologues; Ruby Bridges, Katie Couric, Laverne Cox, Ibtihaj Muhammad and Roe v. Wade attorney Sarah Weddington spearheaded a moving portion called "The Firsts" and mother witches Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama spoke via a mammoth video chat. [custom_adv] The 2017 Women of the Year themselves — Gigi Hadid, Solange, Nicole Kidman, Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, late-night host Samantha Bee, record-breaking astronaut Patty Whitson, Syrian refugee-turned-education activist Muzoon Almellehan, "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins and the organizers of the historic Women's March — touched on the evening's themes, too, but none more emphatically than Waters. Often preceded by her beloved candor, Waters received the first well-deserved standing ovation of the night following her introduction by Zendaya. [custom_adv] After some moving (and yes, hilarious) remarks from host Billy Eichner, and a personal thank-you to the nation's female disaster first responders from Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive, the awards kicked off. And did they ever. [custom_adv] Up first was the novelist, writer of the essay We Should All Be Feminists, and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who introduced honoree Maria Grazia Chiuri. [custom_adv] As the first woman artistic director of Christian Dior in the iconic brand’s 70-year history, Chiuri has made an indelible mark on the fashion world, combining the grace of the fashion house’s past looks with a hypermodern edge. Remember those T-shirts emblazoned with “We Should All Be Feminists” that came down Dior's runway last year? That was Chiuri. [custom_adv] “Putting words on a T-shirt will not change the world, but words do matter,” said Adichie. “Words can begin the process of change." Upon accepting, Chiuri addressed her daughter, telling her to "be proud of who you are." [custom_adv] The 42-year-old was photographed hitting the red carpet for the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. [custom_adv] She had pulled on a flowing white top that featured 'paris' scrawled across it in cursive several times, with a heart dotting the i. [custom_adv] For a couple of hours women had a platform to relish in all there was to celebrate this year, with resilience and courage taking center stage. But it also acted as a stirring group powwow for the next year, and the next year, and the next year after that. Leive's successor, whomever they may be, has quite the legacy to inherit.