Known as much for her signature men’s jackets, cowboy boots, and tortoiseshell glasses as for her stunning (and often scathing) social commentary, Fran Lebowitz has spent a lifetime critiquing cultural norms. Lebowitz earned a GED and worked several odd jobs before Andy Warhol hired her as a columnist for Interview Magazine in 1972. She began by covering “Best of the Worst” movies, then renamed her column “I Cover the Waterfront” and started offering cultural commentary on everything from fashion to the AIDS crisis, all with a trademark acid wit that made many consider her a successor to Dorothy Parker. She went on to work at Mademoiselle, and published two collections of her essays, Metropolitan Life (1978) and Social Studies (1981), before a long period of writer’s block set in. With her writing on hold, she turned to acting, playing Judge Janice Goldberg on Law & Order from 2001–2007 and acting in films such as The Wolf of Wall Street. Over time, she began writing again, and is currently working on a new collection of essays, Progress.