Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week NY Spring '12: Celebs In The Front Row. Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Whitney Port, Renee Zellweger and More!

New York Fashion Week is known for models, designers, and new clothes, but it’s also known for the celebs that watch it all happen. Pluck a celeb into the front row and that show could get twice as much publicity, whether or not the designer itself is a credible one.  (Take Abbey Dawn for instance.  When Avril Lavigne‘s line was “enhanced” by Kylie Jenner’s walk, the entire Kardashian clan showed up to support and the paparazzi went wild.)
This New York Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2012 has not gone without its celebs.  With those celebs, come celeb fashion statements (Nicki Minaj at Betsey Johnson, Carolina Herrera and Prabal Gurung for instance.)
Here’s how the VIPs packed into the front row.

Charlotte Ronson
Charlotte Ronson always brings in a stellar group of celebs, which often include members of her famous family like Mark Ronson and Samantha.  This time, she brought a whole lot more–packing the front row with Russell Simmons‘ daughter Angela, Joy Bryant, Kelly Osbourne, Nicky Hilton, and Whitney Port.

Vera Wang
We were all in for a bit of a treat when Solange Knowles showed up to the J.Crew show with mega-watt star sister Beyonce in tow.  Later, Beyonce and her little sis caught Vera Wang’s runway extravaganza, which also brought reality star/socialite Kim Kardashian (after all, Vera had designed her wedding dress and is known to be a close Kardashian family friend), Kim’s pal Lala Vasquez, and designer Rachel Roy. Kim also caught Rachel’s presentation.

Tracey Reese
Tracey Reese’s show has a good amount of African-American favorites like Gabrielle Union, but this time, she brought the house down with Aisha Tyler (l), Selita Ebanks, (second from right), and Angela Bassett. To add to the mix, reality star Louise Roe, who’s made her presence felt at Fashion Week with shows like Marchesa, sat with the stars.

Lela Rose
Eva Amurri, daughter of actress Susan Sarandon, made it known that her wedding dress was plucked from the racks of Lela Rose, so it was nice of her to show support for the designer at her Spring/Summer 2011 collection.  Mariska Hargitay, a noted Lela Rose fan, was also in attendance.

Luca Luca

Rebecca Minkoff
The TV stars are always out with a vengeance for New York Fashion Week and “repeat offenders” like Michelle Trachtenberg (Gossip Girl) and Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) made sure that Rebecca Minkoff saved them a spot.  Above, at Luca Luca, the front row was enhanced by fashion followers Shantel VanSanten (One Tree Hill), Joanna Garcia-Swisher (Reba) and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos, Entourage) below at Rebecca Minkoff, former Gossip Girl cast member Katie Cassidy surprised the crowd with her dark hairdo.  Throw in a little Disney (Ashley Tisdale, above at Luca Luca) and you’re good to go!

Tommy Hilfiger
While Tommy Hilfiger had a grand front row at his men’s show (Ed Westwick, Kellan Lutz, and James Marsden, natch,) he had an even grander front row for his women’s show which included stars like Abbie Cornish, Malin Akerman, Petra Nemcova, and model Chrissy Teigen.

ELLE Fashion/NEXT
The Elle Fashion/NEXT event is Elle magazine’s second annual design awards. Elle teamed up with the Savannah School of Art & Design to show some talented designers and they brought with them some eager celebs, as well.  In the front row for the show, the iconic Iman, Elle Creative Director Joe Zee, Dancing with The Stars pro Julianne Hough, reality star Whitney Port, and beautiful model Karolina Kurkova.

Edun
Ali Hewson, activist wife of U2 singer Bono founded Edun with her husband in 2005 to promote “ethical” fashion.  The clothes are made in Africa and support artisans in Uganda, Kenya, and Mali.  Bono and his wife brought friends with them to support Sharon Wauchob‘s third season with the label and those friends were big names like Michael Stipe, Courtney Love, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington (not pictured), and Sting.

Tommy Hilfiger
Russell Simmons and daughter Angela Simmons also caught Tommy Hilfiger for women.  Russell Simmons brought surprise date Melissa George.

Carolina Herrera
Caroline Herrera always creates some of the most gorgeous, red-carpet worthy gowns but her collection was upped a notch by the presence of noted fan Renee Zellweger, who hadn’t been to a show in a while.  Renee often wears Carolina to her gala events, so we’re glad her support gives Carolina even more prowess (she sooo deserves it!)

Carolina Herrera
Besides Renee, though, the thought that crossed everyone’s minds at Carolina Herrera was, “What in the world did rapper Nicki Minaj and fashion bible editrix Anna Wintour talk about?” Could it have been that raucous outfit that Nicki was wearing? Or perhaps the other question on everyone’s mind. What in the world was Nicky doing at Carolina Herrera?

Rodarte
Elle Fanning has been turning up at a number of runways, including Marc by Marc Jacobs, but at Rodarte, she tagged along with sister Dakota Fanning, who at such a young age is already a fashion muse to many, like Marc Jacobs, himself. Taylor Swift came , too.


Alexander Wang
Both Alicia Keys and Lea Michele added their star power to the Alexander Wang runway.  Lea Michele was also seen at Jason Wu.
And this is just the beginning. Since this blog post, we’ve had double the celeb sightings including Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Szohr, Camille Belle, and Molly Sims.  It seems the A-list celebs picked today to start attending in full force (and why not, we’ve got Oscar de la Renta, Herve Leger and Marchesa today, among others.  We’ll bring you all the best celebrity fashion trends, including the most recognizable stars at the end of this busy week. Stay tuned!
Photos: Wireimage
–Simona Kogan
 

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