So the other day, I wrote about everything leading up to the AnoOno X Cancerland, The Dangerous Ones NYFW fashion show (which you can watch here) and if you want to check out the backstage hair and makeup details, click here. I also wrote about how it felt to be a breast cancer survivor attending the fashion show on my personal blog, Rants and Musings of a Breast Cancer Survivor, you can read that here.
So now on to the actual event.
Since I have been helping Cancerland recently, I managed to finagle my way into the photographer’s pit, which is right at the end of the runway!! I know, I couldn’t have been more excited about my view. I didn’t get any up close shots since I was videoing the show for Cancerland, but I was able to sneak in some.
What this show was about?
This show was first a fashion show for AnaOno Intimates and a chance for Dana to show off some upcoming items as well as some of her current lingerie. AnaOno creates a line of lingerie and lounge wear for women with mastectomies or breast surgeries. If you have not been through breast cancer you may not understand the importance of this, but I will try and explain a little.
Women who have had mastectomies have lost their breasts. Some choose to have reconstruction, some choose to stay flat, some choose to lose one breast. What this means is lots of scars, lots of numbness and lots of sensitivities. It also means, for some of us, a loss of feeling sexy. It’s hard to feel good when you are covered with scars.
What AnaOno Intimates has done is create bras and lingerie that are pretty, that are sexy, that are fun instead of just those ugly sports bras. They have also created these pretty, sexy, fun bras and lingerie in soft, comfortable fabrics. Some are designed with hidden seams at sensitive spots, like the MakeMerry (my personal favorite). Also, one of the new bras, the Chiara (named after my beautiful friend, Chiara of Beauty Through the Beast), is a a beautiful lacy bra for those who chose to be flat.
Second, this show was about empowering women with breast cancer. I was overwhelmed by the cheering, the love and the camaraderie of all the women present. For more on how I felt watching these amazing women walk down the runway strutting their beautiful bodies and also the amazing volunteers click here.
And third, but not least, the show was about what we can do to stop breast cancer. Mira Sorvino, Champagne Joy’s childhood friends and Academy Award winner, talked and at times was brought to tears while explaining just how important it is to find the cure. 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer. 1 in 3 of those women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer will go metastatic. 99% of deaths from breast cancer are from metastatic breast cancer. There is no cure for Stage IV breast cancer. The proceeds from the event are being donated to METAvivor, who spends 100% of the money donated to them on research for Stage IV. When we find the treatments/cure for Stage IV there will be no reason to fear breast cancer.
I was honored and humbled and completely ecstatic to have been a part of this monumental event. It was truly amazing to see it, to help and even to donate to something so important. HKelly designs will be forever connected with breast cancer and even though it’s a club I never wanted to join, it is a club that I can’t imagine not being a part of now.
Thank you AnaOno and Dana, Champagne Joy and Cancerland, FedEx and Mira Sorvino for putting together The Dangerous Ones, the most important fashion show of NYFW!
HKelly designs 