Unlike most Fashion Week runway shows, guests at Lane Bryant's fashion shows have come to expect more: more flesh, more entertainment, more celebrities and more overall bang and flash than a run-of-the-mill tent affair at Bryant Park. With each successive year, the plus-sized retailer has upped the ante with successively bigger musical acts interspersed with its sexy runway show. Queen of soul Aretha Franklin brought down Studio 54 two years ago. Last year, Kiss rocked the runway at the Roseland Ballroom. This year, Kelly Osbourne—who's become something of a fashion plate and "big girl" icon herself—ended the fashion show with her rendition of the Madonna hit "Papa Don't Preach."
Produced by Lane Bryant's Catherine Lippincott and Frank Way and executive producer Lynne O'Neill, the cabaret-themed event took over Manhattan Center's seventh-floor Grand Ballroom, where small cabaret tables surrounded the runway and the press pit was packed with photographers jockeying for a good position. An assortment of celebrities, including Tommy Tune, Starr Jones, model Tyson Beckford and Steven Tyler (whose daughter Mia Tyler, half-sister of Liv, was one of the models) settled into their front-row seats and chatted with interviewers before the show started.
The show's theme was based on the Rouge, the New Bohemia cabaret show, created by Patrick Bonomo of Epicurean Productions. Bonano tailored the show for the runway and Lane Bryant's lingerie collection by creating cohesive themes that matched the clothes. The event kicked off with Daniel Isengart's rendition of "History Repeating Itself" with the Rouge Coquette dancers attired with black corsets and top hats. MC Roseanne appeared on the runway similarly dressed, and the runway show followed with four themed collections interspersed with more dancing, music and an enchanting song by French chanteuse Nicole Renaud. Dancer Ami Goodheart—who also choreographed the entire show—performed a seductive Josephine Baker-esque striptease number in a cheetah-skin and feather costume prior to the models' last procession down the runway to a roar of applause.
—Suzanne Ito
Read about Lane Bryant's 2001 fashion show...
Read about Lane Bryant's 2002 fashion show...
Produced by Lane Bryant's Catherine Lippincott and Frank Way and executive producer Lynne O'Neill, the cabaret-themed event took over Manhattan Center's seventh-floor Grand Ballroom, where small cabaret tables surrounded the runway and the press pit was packed with photographers jockeying for a good position. An assortment of celebrities, including Tommy Tune, Starr Jones, model Tyson Beckford and Steven Tyler (whose daughter Mia Tyler, half-sister of Liv, was one of the models) settled into their front-row seats and chatted with interviewers before the show started.
The show's theme was based on the Rouge, the New Bohemia cabaret show, created by Patrick Bonomo of Epicurean Productions. Bonano tailored the show for the runway and Lane Bryant's lingerie collection by creating cohesive themes that matched the clothes. The event kicked off with Daniel Isengart's rendition of "History Repeating Itself" with the Rouge Coquette dancers attired with black corsets and top hats. MC Roseanne appeared on the runway similarly dressed, and the runway show followed with four themed collections interspersed with more dancing, music and an enchanting song by French chanteuse Nicole Renaud. Dancer Ami Goodheart—who also choreographed the entire show—performed a seductive Josephine Baker-esque striptease number in a cheetah-skin and feather costume prior to the models' last procession down the runway to a roar of applause.
—Suzanne Ito
Read about Lane Bryant's 2001 fashion show...
Read about Lane Bryant's 2002 fashion show...