page_title: The Heart Truth
section_title: Events
hierarchical_section_title: The Heart Truth / Events
caption_attribution_description: The Heart Truth® is a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Through the campaign, NHLBI leads the nation in a landmark heart health awareness movement that is being embraced by millions who share the common goal of better heart health for all women. The campaign message is paired with an arresting visual—the Red Dress—designed to warn women that heart disease is their #1 killer. The Heart Truth created and introduced the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness in 2002 to deliver an urgent wake-up call to American women. The Red Dress® reminds women of the need to protect their heart health, and inspires them to take action. Seeking to advance the symbol, The Heart Truth forged a groundbreaking collaboration between the Federal government and the fashion industry, an industry intrinsically tied to female audiences. As a result of this partnership, fashion leaders—including top designers, models, and celebrities—have demonstrated their support for the issue of women and heart disease by participating in The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collections at New York’s Fashion Week annually since 2003. For more information visit, www.hearttruth.gov.
context_page_description: The Heart Truth is a campaign meant to raise awareness of the risk of heart disease in women. The campaign is sponsored in the United States by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, an organization of the United States Department of Health and Human Services; a similar campaign is promoted in Canada by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. It focuses mainly on educating women aged forty to sixty, as that is the time when the risk of heart disease begins to increase.
context_section_description: The Heart Truth has joined with the United States Federal Government and fashion industries, in an attempt to appeal to female audiences. Red dresses have been displayed across the country, primarily at New York's Fashion Week. The first Red Dress Collection Fashion Week took place in 2003 when nineteen designers, including Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta, and Carmen Marc Valvo contributed dresses that were displayed in the Bryant Park Tents. Many fashion shows have been put on in recent years during the Fashion Week festivities; many famous celebrities have participated in walking the aisle, including Jenna Fischer, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Morales, Kelly Ripa, Debbie Harry, Venus Williams, Angela Bassett, Rachael Ray, Valerie Bertinelli, Christie Brinkley, Thalía, Vanessa Williams, Raven-Symoné, Allison Janney, Sara Ramirez, Billie Jean King, Katie Couric, Sarah, Duchess of York, Lindsay Lohan, LeAnn Rimes, Christina Milian, Fergie, Jordin Sparks, Ashanti, Hilary Duff, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Rose McGowan, and Eartha Kitt.
  Laureen Harper, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has been a great supporter and has served as guest of honor at the event at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, Ontario for many consecutive years.
caption: Group shot of the models from the 2005 Red Dress Collection
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