Dozens of breast cancer patients and survivors took the runway at New York Fashion Week in a show staged by lingerie brand AnaOno that organizers called an "act of resistance" against the disease and conventional beauty standards.
The event, titled "Cancer Culture," was held Sunday at the Angel Orensanz Foundation and featured models and attendees — many identifying as patients or survivors — walking in lingerie while openly displaying surgical scars, prostheses and other effects of treatment. The presentation blended staged models with what organizers called "average Josephinas," and played to a vocal crowd that cheered, danced and offered sustained ovations.
Sarrah Strimel Bentley, 43, of Williamsburg, who performed on Broadway in productions including "Legally Blonde" and "Cats" before her diagnosis, described walking the runway on the eve of her five-year anniversary of being declared cancer-free as unlike any stage she had been on. She said she paired AnaOno lingerie with Fiorentini and Baker motorcycle boots for the walk and called the event "a celebration" of resilience and ownership of one’s story.
"When I was performing on Broadway, I was playing a part and a character, and now this is my story. So I own it. And there is this power in owning your own story and your own experience," Strimel Bentley said.
Organizers and participants used the show to draw attention to the physical and emotional toll of breast cancer. Producers read statistics during the event and referenced figures from the American Cancer Society projecting that about 317,000 women would be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2025 and about 42,000 would die from the disease.
Brenda Green, 45, an insurance auditor from New Jersey and a nine-year survivor, said the most emotional moment came before models hit the stage, when the audience was shown the statistics. Green, who underwent a bilateral mastectomy, five rounds of chemotherapy and lost her hair during treatment, said she saw her 13-year-old daughter in the front row and felt proud to walk "strong and fierce."
Participants described themselves as members of the "worst club, best members," a phrase used during the show to underscore shared experience. Some walked after double mastectomies without reconstruction; others wore masks or fishnets as part of the presentation. Organizers designated some participants as "warriors," and several speakers and walkers cited the event as a form of protest against narrow cultural standards of beauty that often exclude or marginalize people living with the aftereffects of cancer treatment.
The mood combined celebration and grief: several participants cried before and after their walks, and speakers reflected on how surviving cancer changed their identities and relationships. Green said the experience of treatment left her changed and described the recovery from cancer as not only physical but also psychological, noting the world often expects survivors to return unchanged to their previous lives.
AnaOno, founded to serve women affected by breast cancer with lingerie and adaptive designs, used the runway to highlight garments and a community that its founders say are often overlooked in mainstream fashion. The presentation diverged from the more conventional, quiet runway format typical of high-profile New York Fashion Week shows, instead inviting audience participation and audible displays of emotion.
Advocates and participants said shows like AnaOno’s reflect a larger movement toward inclusivity and visibility for people whose bodies do not conform to traditional fashion norms. By centering survivors, the event aimed to shift conversations about beauty, illness and recovery from private struggle to public recognition. Organizers and attendees said they hoped the visibility would support other patients, destigmatize treatment outcomes and encourage wider industry attention to adaptive clothing.
The AnaOno show added to a growing list of Fashion Week presentations in recent years that foreground lived experience and accessibility, bringing attention to chronic illness, disability and other issues that intersect with clothing and self-presentation. Participants said the show was both a personal milestone and a public statement about survival, community and the right to be seen in all stages of recovery.