It's mid-February and I always get excited around this time of the year. While some look forward to Valentine's Day, it's NY Fashion Week that gets me giddy. I eagerly anticipate next season's trends, and while they change from year to year, there's one thing that always remains in style: the color red! As the symbolic color of American Heart Month, red will once again be in fashion in order to raise awareness about heart disease.
Throughout the month of February, there are a number of promotions to encourage women to take action to protect their heart health, since cardiovascular diseases are #1 killer of American women. As I did in my Valentine's Day post last year, I've listed my favorites below.
The Red Dress Collection
Today, February 11, is the opening day of NY Fashion Week, More than 20 celebrities will walk down the runway in designer red dresses as part of The Heart Truth's awareness program. The celebrity lineup includes Felicity Huffman, Kim Kardashian, and Rose McGowan, who will appear in dresses by some of America's top designers. Afterward, several of these dresses will be auctioned off to the public through Clothes Off Our Back and all proceeds will go to benefit heart health research.
adDRESS Your Heart
And the red dresses don't end there. Campbell's Soup's adDRESS Your Heart program asked people to tell their personal story about heart disease and design a dress for their "heart hero". Three finalists were chosen and then the public voted for their favorite. Escorted by Project Runway's Tim Gunn, the winner will model her dress during the Woman's Day Red Dress Awards, where several honorees will be recognized for their contributions to heart health research and disease prevention. To get involved, you can click here and Campbell's will donate $1 (up to $625,000) to the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women's movement through March 31, 2010.
ShoeDazzle
Of course, no dress would be complete without the right pair of shoes. Kim Kardashian, who is one of the celebs participating in the Red Dress Collection, is also the founder of ShoeDazzle, a shoe membership society. In support of American Heart Month, ShoeDazzle has partnered with WomenHeart to design a limited-edition red pump, where 10% of proceeds will be donated to further heart disease awareness and prevention. The shoes are available for preorder now and are up for general sale beginning February 19.
Take Action
Red dresses and shoes are fashionable reminders of the importance of women's heart health, but the most important way to stay in style during American Heart Month is to take the Go Red Heart CheckUp to make sure you're doing everything you can to prevent heart disease.
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