Maureen McCormick, Jessie James Decker, more turn out for the Go Red For Women fashion show
From left, Maureen McCormick, Lauren Holly, Bonnie Somerville, Juliette Lewis, Veronica Webb and Bridget Moynahan attend the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women Red Dress Collection 2017 presented by Macy's during Fashion Week in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan on Feb. 9, 2017. Credit: Getty Images for AHA / Jamie McCarthy
Maureen McCormick, Jessie James Decker, Juliette Lewis and more celebrities slipped into top designer dresses for New York Fashion Week’s American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women Red Dress Collection Fashion Show, Presented by Macy’s on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017.
The show, hosted this year by Katie Holmes, seeks to raise awareness for women’s heart health. One woman succumbs to cardiovascular diseases every 80 seconds, according to statistics from the American Heart Association.
“Going red to me is all about the heart,” said Maureen McCormick, Marcia from “The Brady Bunch.” “It’s what keeps us going, right? It’s about educating women, getting things out there that women can do to take better care of themselves... . I knew nothing about heart disease until Florence [Henderson] passed,” she admitted. “It blows my mind that this is the No. 1 killer of women, more than every combined kind of cancer, and if women just take steps and get things checked out and their body mass index, and eat better and exercise, then those numbers can go down."
And, speaking of eating better and exercising to lower those numbers, McCormick, who walked the runway in an Emilio Sosa pantsuit, said she is “all over the map” when it comes to eating vegetables — from broccoli and Brussels sprouts to asparagus and carrots — to help promote a healthy heart. “I’m actually gluten free, [too]. Totally gluten free for three years and it’s changed my life,” she added.
Despite a “Dancing With the Stars” back injury that has McCormick in physical therapy, she said she tries to get her exercise in anyway. “I love jogging, but right now am doing Pilates. I am going to start swimming again, soon, too.”
Also walking in this year’s show, held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, was country singer Jessie James Decker in a slim-fitting low cut Jay Godfrey silhouette. The petite beauty divulged her favorite eats and exercises, in addition to her new not-yet-aired cooking show.
The singer, who goes red in support of her grandmother who had congestive heart failure, says she tries to keep a healthy heart by eating chicken, arugula with lemon and olive oil and by eating peaches, especially those from Georgia, although she also admitted she “doesn’t love fruit that much.” And to get her blood pumping? She does lunges. “I can do a ton of those. [It] feels good to me after that burn. It feels amazing after your done.”
Decker, who often shares her recipes and dishes on social media, went on to share some of her favorite foods, which include a Cajun dish from Louisiana and a meaty sauce. “My favorite food to make is gumbo,” which is “roux based, so all it is is flour and oil stirred around with a wooden spoon until it gets the perfect color brown,” and Bolognese sauce.
Perhaps we will see Decker cook either of the two (or maybe both!) on her new cooking show which should hit airwaves sooner rather than later. “I’ve already done a sizzle for it, so now it’s just deciding on what network we want to go with. But we do have it (the show). We know what it’s going to be. The whole concept is there. Everything is done. We just have to pick our network,” she said Thursday. “I’m actually taking meetings tomorrow so we will see what happens!”
Also on hand to help kick off New York Fashion Week at the Go Red For Women event was model Bridget Moynahan, Diane Guerrero (“Orange is the New Black”), Bonnie Somerville (“NYPD Blue”), CCH Pounder (Carol Christine Hilaria, “Orphan”), LGBTQ rights activist Jazz Jennings, fashion expert Jeannie Mai, Juliette Lewis (“Cape Fear”), Lauren Holly (“All My Children”), Lorraine Toussaint (“Orange is the New Black”), Lucy Lawless (“Xena: Warrior Princess”), Disney’s Peyton List, model Veronica Webb and “Fight Song” singer Rachel Platten,” who before taking the stage, shared with us a sweet encounter she had backstage.
“I just met 7-year-old Sophia backstage," Platten said. "She’s a survivor of cardiac arrest who listened to ‘Fight Song’ for hours before going into surgery. She burst into tears in my arms, which is pretty incredible and someone I will never forget.”
To learn more or get involved, visit goredforwomen.org.
