Bostonista Chats: Bra Talk with Jay Manuel

Last Thursday the fashionably fabulous America’s Next Top Model judge (and stylist to the stars) Jay Manuel revamped the Pru’s Lord & Taylor intimates department into a Calvin Klein underwear runway show brimming with Boston women ready for bra-talk.

Forgiving Bostonians’ four-letter pronunciation (“bra-r”) of the undergarment, Manuel introduced his essential CK picks, modeled by women of all chest sizes. (Manuel’s favorite, the 5-way convertible, an interchangeably strapped bra that he says “can be worn underneath everything in the closet”—will be put to the test by ANTM models on next season’s final episode.)

Post-catwalk, a team of expert bra-fitters went to work on troubled attendees and Manuel agreed to answer any questions—except for the lowdown on his silver spiked hair. Starstruck and giddy off raspberry-laced champagne, the crowd freely voiced their underwear troubles, seeking secrets from the celebrity fashion guru. “You can have a $5,000 dress, but if you don’t have the right undergarments, it doesn’t look cute,” Manuel, sporting CK undies himself, advised the ladies.

The makeup artist-turned-fashion aficionado moved on to scrap Boston’s rap as a hub of fashion-blunders. “The boys will always be frat boys,” Manuel says of our city’s college sweats-fitted schoolboys, “but the women are looking cute. I really like that they go for it,” he said of Newbury-strutting ladies he spotted earlier that day in cotton frocks and beaded sandals.

To keep us on the up-and-up of fall fashion, the 15-year style veteran dished top-three autumn trend tips. Black is boring and color is in, with aubergine purple dominating this fall’s color palate, Manuel says.

Slimming, height-inducing platform heels are hot, too—and add confidence-boosting inches with less discomfort than stilettos. And please, stash your skinny jeans and trash your black leggings. Flair and wide-leg slacks are the new it-pant.

—BRITTANY LYTE