The seventh annual Blue Jacket Fashion Show to continue elevating prostate cancer awareness will take place live on Wednesday, February 1, at Moonlight Studios in New York City.
Sponsored by Janssen Oncology, part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, the show benefits nonprofit advocacy group ZERO – The End of Prostate Cancer for its efforts to raise awareness through funding to support the prostate cancer community and to improve early detection and reduce mortality. The show will be streamed live directly from ZeroCancer.org.
The Blue Jacket Fashion Show, founded by fashion designer Frederick Anderson and marketer, Laura Miller, unites the worlds of fashion, entertainment, sports, healthcare, and media to drive open dialogue about the impact of prostate cancer, with an important emphasis on racial disparities and marginalized communities.
This year, for the first time as part of this event, community members, event participants, and guests will be able to be screened for prostate cancer with a quick and easy prostate-specific antigen test provided by Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The screening will be available from 8:00amET – 11:00 pm ET outside of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and then again at the Moonlight Studios at 330 Hudson St, New York, NY from 2:00pmET – 4:30pmET.
Event participants will include actor Mario Cantone; CNN’s Don Lemon, Comedian Bill Nye, chef Marcus Samuelsson; actor Dominic Fumusa; supermodel Clinton Lord; supermodel Don Hood; actor London Brown; actor Eric West; NY1’s Frank DiLella; model Alex Lundqvist; journalist Carlos Greer and more. Stylists/Designers such as Arjona Collection; Thom Browne; Michael Kors; Ben Sherman; Levi’s; Men’s Wearhouse; Stephen F; Bruno Magali; Carlos Campos; and Tommy Hilfiger will reimagine the traditional “blue jacket” that the models will wear down the runway.
Emerging designers through fashion partner Fashion Group International will debut one-of-a-kind blue jackets on the runway. Designers featured include Carlos Campos, Epperson, Peyman Umay, Don Morphy, Niyi Okuboyejo, Loris Diran, and Terry Singh, all former FGI Rising Star Award winners and finalists. Now in its 27th year, Fashion Group’s signature Rising Star Awards ceremony remains a vital and highly visible platform for professional recognition and celebrating emerging talent in fashion, beauty, business, retail, and related categories.
In addition to live streaming the event at FGI.org, FGI will host “viewing parties” across the country hosted by local FGI chapters in Dallas, St. Louis, and Atlanta. The Dallas event will be hosted by FGI Rising Star Don Morphy, Daphne Benzaquen will host the St. Louis event, and Jerry Buckner will host the Atlanta viewing party. Attendees will wear blue jackets in support of the cause.
By Nature Skincare from New Zealand will be the exclusive skincare company joining The Blue Jacket Fashion Show. By Nature will provide 2% Hyaluronic Acid Sheet Masks, as well as some of their best-selling products, for celebrity participants and guests. By Nature Skincare is a clean, natural skincare line that blends powerful, highly-concentrated ingredients with globally sourced plant and fruit actives to create simple and effective everyday skincare at super affordable prices.
Following the show, an afterparty will be held for participants and guests sponsored by Tao Group Hospitality and Loosie’s at the Moxy NYC Lower East Side.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among American men and is the second-leading cause of cancer death. In fact, thirty-seven percent of new cancer cases in Black men will be prostate cancer. Furthermore, Black men in the U.S. remain 2.1 times more likely to die of prostate cancer than white men. The priority is to encourage men to act and start regular prostate cancer screenings and understand the importance of staying healthy to help them be the best version of themselves they can be – for themselves, their families, and their communities. It can take a village to inspire action like annual check-ups and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing.
ZERO – The End of Prostate Cancer is committed to ending racial and health disparities in prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Racial Disparities Task Force helps focus raise awareness of prostate cancer among high-risk men, focusing on education and early detection, clinical trial advocacy, and financial assistance and patient support. For donations made between January 25, 2023 – February 28, 2023, Janssen Oncology will match those donations up to $10,000. The Fashion Group Foundation has set up the FGI Rising Stars and Blue Jacket Fashion Show Support Zero Cancer fund to secure donations.
“Janssen Oncology is proud to participate in the Blue Jacket Fashion show, supporting ZERO, and amplifying efforts to raise awareness and normalize conversations about prostate cancer among families and broader communities, said Tyrone Brewer, President of Janssen Oncology, a pharmaceutical company of Johnson and Johnson. “This is a cornerstone initiative for Janssen Oncology that advances our shared goal of reducing health disparities as part of our larger Johnson & Johnson commitment to health equity.”
“Black men are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with and more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than White men. The sorting of money, knowledge, power and beneficial social connections by race contribute to sustaining these differences over time,” said Dr. Reggie Tucker-Seeley, ZERO’s Vice President of Health Equity. “We cannot end prostate cancer without addressing the root causes to race and place-based disparities in prostate cancer.”
“Fashion Group International is proud to partner with The Blue Jacket Show, showcasing the talent of our FGI RISING STARS while raising awareness and funds for prostate cancer prevention with ZERO and Janssen Oncology with our international network of FGI chapters,” said Maryanne Grisz, Fashion Group International President and CEO.
The latest guidelines from the American Cancer Society Cancer Facts & Figures 2022 indicate that Black men and those with a close relative diagnosed with prostate cancer before the age of 65 should discuss specific prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening with a healthcare provider beginning at age 45, and men at even higher risk (those who have several close relatives diagnosed at an early age and those who are BRCA mutation carriers) should have this discussion beginning at age 40.
Visit ZERO – The End of Prostate Cancer to learn more about – and donate to – the Black Men’s Prostate Cancer Initiative, which provides direct aid to Black and brown communities who are at the highest risk of prostate cancer and are experiencing additional financial and mental distress due to COVID-19.
