Last night, The Blue Jacket Fashion Show united a slew of men, ranging from the fashion to entertainment to sports industries, who came out to support The Prostate Cancer Foundation during New York Fashion Week: Men’s. On the guest list? CNN’s Don Lemon, Mario Cantone, Ian Mellencamp—who performed at the show—Victor Cruz, Simon Doonan, CC Sabathia, Alex Lundqvist, Bill Nye, Carson Kressley, and the New York Post‘s Richard Johnson, who made his runway debut at the event. “I’ve been studying Zoolander and have been asking for tips,” Johnson told us while getting his makeup done. The best piece of advice he was given? “Walk in a straight line, and don’t fall down. I’ll be happy when it’s all over.”
Nye, who’s been making a splash in the fashion world these days—at least on the menswear front—seemed to have the biggest benefit of them all. “[Karlie Kloss] is on my new Netflix show as a correspondent. She gave the crew lessons on how to walk in a fashion show. She said, ‘Walk with your chin down and stay focused.’ She’s very funny and charming!”
Kressley hosted the evening, announcing the looks of each “mod,” which included jackets made by designers like John Varvatos, Nick Graham, Joseph Abboud, Rag and Bone, Thom Browne, and more. “I’ve walked in some [fashion shows] before, but in my former life I worked for Ralph Lauren, so I’d be backstage dressing models and getting them ready, which is equally fun. I mean, male models with their shirts off? It’s a pretty good gig,” Kressley, who wore custom Nicole Miller, told us. The TV personality just got off of the Celebrity Apprentice, where he was fired this week by host Arnold Schwarzenegger. As for whether he’s ever gotten the boot before? “In college I had a summer job with a company called RGIS. I didn’t know what the company was, but the job description said ‘exciting retail-based work.’ It was actually doing inventory, and this was before computers, so we had to use this giant calculator on a belt. We had to count clothes at department stores and frozen peas in supermarkets. It was miserable, and since I can’t do math I stopped counting and just sort of eyeballed it. When my numbers got checked, I was wildly off. The job wasn’t for me. Everyone was happy once I got fired, including me.”
Post-show, we spotted Beyonce’s stylist Ty Hunter. In light of Queen Bey’s internet-breaking baby news yesterday, we had to grab a moment with him. Sadly, he was off the record for the evening. “I know what you’re going to ask!” he told us. We tried—no hard feelings, Ty!
The evening was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, who in addition to partnering with the Blue Jacket campaign, has committed to donating $1 to the Prostate Cancer Foundation for every photo shared using the free Johnson & Johnson ‘Donate a Photo’ app. For every 30 photos that are shared, one hour of research and development for breakthrough cancer treatments will be funded. Start posing and sharing!