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Fug Girls: Kristin Chenoweth Cheers Up Stanley Tucci at Nanette Lepore

Occasionally, especially by this late point in Fashion Week, it starts to feel like the omnipresent celebrity guests get a little blasé about the privilege and experience of sitting front-row. At Nanette Lepore today, though, the awesome Aida Turturro was anything but: She beamed, she greeted interviewers warmly, she hugged and cuddled with her former Sopranos co-star Jamie-Lynn Sigler (who adoringly returned the squeezes and even rested her head on Turturro’s shoulder after the show), and she practically vibrated with joy in her seat. It was so refreshing, we almost wanted to ask for her address so we could write her a thank-you note. Hopefully this is not an indecorous alternative.

Turturro sang the praises of Lepore and her family (“They’re great dancers!”) and said she’s a longtime fan of the line. “It feels like every time I see somebody in something cute and I ask what it is, they say it’s Nanette,” she said. “I don’t always fit into all her clothes, but I do have this shirt today.” She lovingly touched her animal-print top and then smoothed it. “Look at it! Look at my shirt!” she said happily. “It’s so cute, I’m just so glad it fits!” At that point, a friend pulled her away from Sigler and into the crowd to mingle. “Look at Jamie. She’s so pretty,” Turturro said fondly. “Hey, do you think it’s safe to leave my purse on my seat?” Oh, hell yes. For one thing, we’re all friends here, but for another, anyone dumb enough to steal from one Soprano in front of another one deserves to get whacked.

NBC’s Today show was represented in the front row by Natalie Morales and their style guru, Bobbie Thomas. Singer Natasha Bedingfield emerged from backstage wearing leather pants and a slouchy off-the-shoulder gray tee that revealed black bra straps. We imagine she’s sort of relieved that The Hills is over so that the world can start enjoying her song “Unwritten” again. And Stanley Tucci, in jeans and what looked like a velour jacket, made what seemed to be — from the little we could hear — his first fashion-show appearance. He may not have anticipated the high attendance and media angle, though. “It’s a very cramped space. It’s a fire trap,” he said to one reporter of the (comparatively speaking) rather comfortable venue, and otherwise he stuck mostly to one-word or wry — or both — answers, in one case telling an Elle reporter who asked what he likes to wear, “Shirts, pants, socks, and shoes,” with a blink and a shrug. Maybe he should’ve sat next to Turturro for some good cheer.

He did perk up when Kristin Chenoweth appeared, sharing enough laughs with her that right as the show started, she doubled over in a guffaw and grabbed Tucci’s leg. We can’t blame him: Cheno is seriously kind of a treat. A teeny-tiny size-double-zero treat who graciously talked to just about everybody about just about everything. We overheard her chat at length about her favorite charity (The Heart Truth, which is the American Heart Association’s campaign to raise awareness about heart disease in women); about Nanette Lepore (she loves Nanette’s use of color); about Glee (“I don’t know why they cast me as a has-been,” she faux-complained); and, finally, we heard her say, with her arms flung wide, “I’m proud to call myself a New Yorker and to be here during this time of year.” We have to imagine that New York is awfully glad to have her, too.

See more: Nanette Lepore’s Spring 2011 Collection

Fug Girls: Kristin Chenoweth Cheers Up Stanley Tucci at Nanette Lepore