‘Fake Heiress’ Anna Delvey Talks Modeling, ‘DWTS’ and Immigration

Shao New York’s runway show Wednesday night closed with a turn by the “fake heiress” Anna Delvey.

“Somewhat nervous” about her first spin on the runway, Delvey said Thursday “that it kind of came naturally,” thanks to dancing every day now. Wearing a long black leather skirt and double-breasted jacket with embellished lapels, she joined the designer Shao Yang for a final bow at the end of the Altorrin McIntyre-styled show.   

On Tuesday night, she will make her debut on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” Reached at Ripley-Grier Studios, where she has been spending four hours a day practicing six days a week, Delvey said, “Sometimes it’s fun, but it’s hard work a lot of the time. It’s half and half. But I don’t hate it yet.” (Studying ballet and modern dance “just a little bit” between the ages of 4 and 12 was her only other experience.)

Her runway spin at the Altman Building got a rise out of the audience. The Russian-born Delvey has been trying to rebuild her life, after being arrested in 2017 in New York and found guilty of attempted grand larceny in the first degree and theft of services among six other charges. She had posed as a well-connected affluent German heiress and scammed more than $275,000 in white-chip indulgences like private jet services and luxury hotel stays. After being released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody more than three years ago, the 33-year-old had been placed under house confinement last year. Her trials and tribulations were the focus of the Netflix series “Inventing Anna.”

Delvey won’t be wearing Shao on “DWTS,” because ABC has costumes designed for contestants. She is more likely to wear Shao for next month’s court appearance about her immigration status. She and Yang first teamed up a year ago, when the pop-up Outlaw Agency that she formed with People’s Revolution’s founder Kelly Cutrone hosted the Shao show last fall. Still under house arrest at that time, Delvey held Shao Yang’s first runway show on the rooftop of her East Village apartment.

Despite “everybody congratulating” her after the runway show, Delvey said it’s “really hard to estimate how it went,” because she was in the middle of it.

“Nobody said anything bad so I guess that’s positive,” she said.

Delvey said she was somewhat hesitant after being approached to do “DWTS,” which requires her going to Los Angeles. Having never done anything of this scale that will be televised in front of a live audience, she does not see herself as a public figure, nor does she have any experience performing in public or performing at all. As for critics who have questioned ABC’s decision to include Delvey, she said, “I didn’t ask for any of this. They have had much worse people on the show. A lot of people are exhibiting such lack of knowledge of the system. I was [allegedly] the only person on house arrest, because of ICE that was known.”

“Anytime someone is under house arrest is because there is a pending criminal investigation or for some punishment. I was under house arrest purely for immigration. I had served my criminal time and I had repaid my restitution even though they keep spreading this false info that I owe so many people so much money. But when you ask who and how much, nobody can come up with anything,” she said.

Delvey claimed that no one is addressing how she “voluntarily chose to stay to sort out my immigration case or that my social media [accounts] were taken away from me for 22 months. That was a violation of the First Amendment. The Constitution applies to everyone in the United States, not just citizens.”

Reminiscent of early collections from Monse or Miguel Adrover, Shao’s spring line featured a relaxed barely buttoned shirt and pin-striped dress under a wool blazer with cashmere stockings, a big-shouldered blazer and pants overlayed with denim accents, a cropped bomber jacket with pin-striped suiting paired with denim hot pants with lambskin pocket bags, a pin-striped bodysuit with black suit trousers and a bejeweled corseted blazer worn with satin hot pants.

Backstage after the show, Yang said the collection was an ode to her senior year at LaGuardia High School. (Her best friend Cindy Huang, a freelance designer, attested they have been talking about fashion for 26 years.) Asked if Delvey’s involvement overshadows her work, Yang said, “No, I think it helps tremendously. The only reason why I was able to do a second show and get the recognition that I did last year was because of Anna Delvey. So I am really grateful for that.”