Jenna Lyons didn’t even attend Bravocon 2023, but her DNA was all over it. The J.Crew alum was once dubbed “the woman who dresses America,” and, by taking a look around last weekend’s Las Vegas conference, that brief clearly extends to the Bravoverse.
Lyons’s casting in the Real Housewives of New York City overhaul was a huge surprise for fashionphiles and Bravo fans alike. Why would someone so renowned for her impeccable taste in everything from fur bedspreads to sequin sweaters join a reality TV franchise—not to mention one so notoriously dramatic? But soon enough, she became a fan favorite.
As an already-famous queer woman, Lyons broke the mold of what it means to be a housewife. But with her proclivity for jeans, statement glasses, and open blazers, she’s also changing what it means to dress like a housewife. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she s setting trends in the Bravo universe as well.The franchise is known for casting the living embodiments of the saying (and former RHONY star Luann De Lesseps’s song lyric), “money can’t buy you class.” The typical housewife’s wardrobe is packed with in-your-face labels, audacious colors, and gaudy jewelry. But Lyons’s presence marks a shift. With her high-low dressing and her audacity to wear—gasp—jeans to a reunion (in place of the more expected evening dress), she has caused a serious shakeup in the Bravo world’s fashion.
Just compare the RHONY cast at Bravocon in 2022 and 2023. In their first year, the cast dressed like housewives past, Erin Lichy in a neon pink skirt suit with dramatic shoulder pads; Jessel Taank wore a neon green high-low dress; Brynn Whitfield chose a black gown with a corset bodice. Lyons, on the other hand, wore a crystal mesh top under an open blazer with high-waisted sage green flood pants.
This year, even in Lyons’s absence, it’s clear that her fellow castmates took a page from her book. Lichy ditched her power suit for the pantless look—perhaps her inversion of Lyons’s staple toplessness, or maybe just following the trends—wearing a light blue chambray shirt tucked into a pair of patent leather panties over tights. While we’d be hard pressed to find Lyons wearing it, a neutral, unbuttoned blouse certainly a much bigger step in her direction. Whitfield also looked far more Lyonsian, donning a blue and white striped button-up (which she left largely unbuttoned to reveal a lacy black bra) and a denim maxi skirt. Taank, who was lightly scolded by Lyons early in the season for mixing logos, traded in her loud neon number for a white feathered minidress, reminiscent of the maxi skirt Lyons wore to Solange’s wedding in 2014.
Lyons’s approach to fashion seemed to inspire people outside of her own show as well. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Lisa Barlow took to the carpet in a more understated look, wearing a black denim bomber from Prada, matching black bootcut jeans, and Prada loafers. While Barlow has been known to wear jeans, it s a much more tasteful display coming from a woman who once wore a Dolce Gabbana logomania bodysuit on Watch What Happens Live.
Ariana Madix, star of Vanderpump Rules, who made headlines this year after her partner of nearly a decade, Tom Sandoval, had an affair with a castmate, spent much of the year on a scorched earth revenge dressing tour. But her outfit at Bravocon was distinctly Lyons-inspired. Madix tried out the RHONY star’s signature open white Oxford with a black blazer, though she also opted for the pantless trend, wearing hers with black tights and thigh-high black patent leather boots. Comparisons between the two were instant. “The brief: ‘Make it Jenna Lyons, but Vegas,’” one user posted on X.
Though perhaps the biggest imitator of the weekend was none other than Sandoval himself, because God forbid Madix ever have a moment of peace. “Tom Sandoval wants to be Jenna Lyons so bad,” another person wrote. The Vanderpump villain wore a black blazer buttoned at the waist, sans undershirt, with a knee-length denim A-line skirt, which he cinched with a Gucci belt, and a pair of boots with socks peeking out of the top. And of course it wouldn’t be complete without a pair of statement glasses. We have to ask ourselves though, would Jenna Lyons approve?
