This past New York Fashion Week played host to a different type of show.
Edie Parker, the accessories label that expanded into cannabis products in 2021, gathered industry insiders including Vogue.com editor Chloe Malle, stylist Kate Young and Carolina Herrera designer Wes Gordon, at Brass in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighbourhood, to celebrate the launch of “Seedies,” its new line of THC gummies. But the night’s real high point came with a performance from Countess Luann de Lesseps, best known for her 13-season run on “Real Housewives of New York.”
Guests gathered around a piano, belting the words to her often-memed tunes, like “Money Can’t Buy You Class,” (changed for the evening to “Money Can Buy You Grass”). The atmosphere, according to Brett Heyman, the brand’s founder, was electric.
“Fashion parties can be pretentious sometimes, but nobody was at all self conscious about it,” she said. “We were all screaming at the top of our lungs. The response was bananas.”
More than that, Heyman said, the brand received the “best press” they’d ever gotten for a fashion week event, and the resulting social impressions were “insane,” some of their best-performing posts ever.
De Lesseps’ performance was just one of several “Housewives” appearances throughout fashion month: Across the East River that same Friday, de Lesseps’ former castmate, Dorinda Medley, DJed The Cut’s fashion week party. Ubah Hassan, Sai de Silva, Jessel Taank and Jenna Lyons, all of whom appear on the reincarnated iteration of “Real Housewives of New York City,” were frequently spotted at shows; Lyons walked the runway for Lingua Franca. Even in Europe, the Housewives’ presence was felt: Bronwyn Newport, the latest addition to “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” sat front row at Dolce & Gabbana and Moschino in Milan, while “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum Lisa Rinna (and mother of model Amelia Gray) went to couture week in Paris earlier this year.
Fashion is always finding new ways to align itself with pop culture, from teaming up with sports leagues to creating branded merchandise for Hollywood blockbusters like “Wicked” or prestige TV shows like “The White Lotus.”
The Real Housewives, which has aired the dramatic lives of wealthy women in American cities (and Dubai) on Bravo for nearly two decades, was until recently something of a third rail. The industry has long had a snobbish attitude when it comes to reality television. Even as the Kardashians started scoring front-row invites, not to mention countless online influencers, the Housewives were seen as too tacky or declassé to associate with. (Fashion’s youth obsession also likely didn’t help — Housewives are predominantly middle aged women.)
That resistance has been worn down. “Real Housewives” — not to mention the wider Bravo universe — gives brands a chance to tap into a wildly passionate fan base: Bravo hosts thousands of viewers for its semi-annual BravoCon event, counts celebrities like Rihanna and Jennifer Lawrence as fans, and it’s the one network that parent company NBC Universal isn’t spinning off amid cost cuts. It also offers a slew of partners that have a personal connection with fans similar to an influencer, but with the profile and visibility of a celebrity.
“You have ‘Housewives’ fans at the highest echelons of culture, media and fashion, so at some point people realise, ‘We want the ladies here,’” said Brian Moylan, a journalist and author of the book “The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives.” Not only that, he added: “The Housewives really move product.”
Unique to “Housewives” in the Bravo-verse is that luxury is baked into the show’s premise of giving viewers a peek at wealthy women’s lives. Despite that, Housewives still hasn’t fully cracked luxury. While they were more present at New York Fashion Week, they’re a rarer sight in Paris and Milan. The most present are those like Lyons and Rinna, who had a public profile before the show (though both have admitted the show has boosted their personal relevance). But there’s positive momentum.
“The long term goal is that luxury brands are going to open their eyes to this,” de Silva said. “We are walking billboards for fashion and beauty brands.”
What Changed
Fashion insiders have always loved “Housewives” in private, but have been more reluctant to embrace them publicly. Case in point: When Heyman brought “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member Erika Jayne as a guest to the CFDA Awards in 2018, people in the room were excited to meet her, but beforehand, someone from the CFDA told her that they didn’t want to have any “Housewives” at the event.
“It was this sort of a running joke in fashion PR, that we would never lend to any of the ‘Real Housewives,’” said Taank, who previously worked as a publicist at Michael Kors and Karla Otto.
As the years have gone on, however, the Housewives have embraced fashion. The arrival of Jayne in 2015 was a turning point, according to Moylan; she wore more elaborate ensembles and normalised getting professional “glam.” Today, they wear Mugler and Givenchy in their confessionals, and there are plot points over the price tag of Dolce & Gabbana dresses.
The show’s fans, too, are more engaged with the clothes: The reveal of “reunion looks” (the outfits they wear to the the post-season rehash, moderated by Bravo boss Andy Cohen) always generates headlines, and there are countless Instagram accounts dedicated to their outfits.
“Fans don’t just see a dress or a lipstick, they see how it fits into their lives, into their drama, their evolution,” said de Silva. “A single outfit on the show can sell out overnight.”
Plus, some true fashion heavyweights have joined: Newport, already a fashion month regular, made her on-screen entrance wearing a three-of-a-kind heart-shaped Saint Laurent coat, while Sutton Stracke of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” describes herself as “addicted to couture.” Other cast members, like Jennifer Tilly of “Beverly Hills” and Heather Dubrow of “Orange County,” are top clients for brands like Louis Vuitton and Dolce & Gabbana.
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The rebooted “Real Housewives in New York,” also upped the industry credibility, casting insiders like Taank; Lyons, J.Crew’s former president and a fashion icon in her own right; de Silva, a longtime content creator who has worked with brands like Alberta Ferretti and Dior; Hassan, who has modelled for Ralph Lauren and Gucci and designer Rebecca Minkoff, who recently appeared as a “friend” of the Housewives (though she won’t be returning).
For its deeply passionate viewer base, though, the Housewives have always been the prototype for wealthy, well-dressed women.
“People love to see Beverly Hills,” said Stracke. “It’s this fantasy.”
Tapping the Power of Bravo
There’s perhaps the most opportunity for brands at a higher price point to engage with Housewives: Just as luxury is built on being aspirational, so is Housewives.
However, luxury brands have also historically been the most reluctant to do so, historically gravitating towards A-list stars as partners. De Silva even said that some brands she worked with prior to the show backed away after she was cast. But unlike typical celebrities, Housewives pay for their own clothes — providing about as authentic an endorsement as you can get.
“I shop a lot at Louis Vuitton, and they’ve invited me to their couture shows, but that’s not because I’m on the show, it’s because I’m a good customer,” said Dubrow. “So many of us on these different franchises now have genuine relationships with these fashion houses, it would be silly for them not to [engage].”
Hair care brand Kérastase saw the Housewives’ impact firsthand after Lisa Barlow of “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” recommended the brand’s Thermique Anti-Frizz Hair Milk to a fellow cast member in the midst of a classic “Housewives” spat. The brand quickly teamed up with Barlow, who has also partnered with Ssense, on an Instagram video.
The partnership led to a “significant” sales increase, according to Sarah Barr Battle, Kérastase’s former VP of marketing. It worked, she added, in large part because the on-screen mention was organic. A bonus was that Barlow is known for her love of luxury (last season, she had a meltdown over flying coach), and Kérastase is looking to cement its luxury positioning in the US.
Brands should view Housewives as a unique marketing lever to pull: “Fans connect with their favourite housewife in a very genuine way, which is completely different to how they interact with a polished red-carpet moment or a curated Instagram,” said Camilla Franks, the founder and creative director of the womenswear brand Camilla, which has been worn on screen by Kyle Richards (“Beverly Hills”) and Nene Leakes (“Atlanta”).
In partnering with Housewives, Heyman recommends leaning into the camp of it, and not “taking themselves too seriously.” Dubrow said that they’ve never been allowed to film inside a luxury boutique, stores they already shop at; doing so would be an easy, authentic way to work with the show, she said. Taank, meanwhile, suggests more openness to dressing the women for filming; she’s already seen a “night and day” difference from her first season on that front, with Oscar De La Renta and more lending her looks.
“Luxury can be so highbrow, where there’s no humanity,” said Barr Battle. “But I am a reality TV person, and I also buy luxury. You need to meet the consumer where they are.”
