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Dance had been part of Annie Osterhout’s life since she started doing ballet at 3 years old. When she stopped dancing in 2012, Osterhout needed another creative outlet: fashion.

“I needed to keep creating. I’ve always been interested in fashion,” Osterhout said. “When we were doing performances, I was always coming up with the costuming. It just carried over into the collection.”

Later this spring, the 57-year-old will bring those clothing sketches to life with the launch of her first clothing brand, Anna Lisa. While there is no set unveiling, Osterhout aims for the brand’s first clothing line to drop by the end of May. Osterhout’s interest in fashion first sparked during the dance classes she taught at Syracuse University from 1992 to 2012, she said. Osterhout said her time at SU gave her the confidence she needed to start the line.

Benjamin Simon, Osterhout’s student in the 1990s, said he noticed her fascination with fashion and dance in the performances she choreographed and the costumes she chose for their dances.

He said he wasn’t surprised to learn that Osterhout would be creating her own clothing line.

“I do remember that she did put a lot of thought into what we were wearing and how it influenced the meaning of the dance,” Simon said.

The dance costume choice that stood out the most to Simon of all Osterhout-choreographed dances he performed in was “Albo Gator.” In the piece, Simon and his peers donned straitjackets as they danced, trying to get up off of the floor without their constrained arms.

Chosen by Osterhout, Simon still remembers the piece “vividly.” It exemplified Osterhout’s sophisticated costuming, he said.

Osterhout’s decision to assign straitjackets to her dancers was an artistic choice that challenged the dancers movements, Simon said. That connection between choreography and costume design was where Osterhout’s artistic vision for fashion and dance shines through, Laurie Deyo, Osterhout’s longtime colleague and friend, said.

Deyo, who taught dance at SU from 1986 to 2015, met Osterhout more than 40 years ago at a local dance studio. In 2011, Deyo and Osterhout founded the School of Education’s dance minor. Since they’ve known each other, Osterhout’s creativity always showed in her sophisticated outfits, Deyo said.

“Her artistic vision blows me away. From her dance and fashion that she’s designing, she has a vision for things,” Deyo said. “She’s doing exactly what she should be doing right now.”

Anna Lisa’s combination of dance as a discipline and the emotions behind rock and roll music — two of Osterhout’s favorite artistic endeavours — Osterhout’s new brand is a different form of artistry, but also continuation of her passions at SU, she said.

“It goes back to just how bodies move and how fabric drapes on a body when they’re moving,” Osterhout said.

Two years ago, Osterhout began drawing the clothing designs. Sketch after sketch — dresses, skirts, shirts — Osterhout said that something changed for her.

After outlining more than 50 clothing pieces in her sketchbook, Osterhout said that she reached the point where she felt like the fabric spoke to her, like music and dance had. Osterhout said she knew something was right.

Annie Osterhout has long been fascinated by how fashion intertwined with dance. Combining her two passions, Osterhout will launch her fashion brand Anna Lisa. Courtesy of Annie Osterhout

Once she started collecting fabrics and experimenting with draping, Osterhout decided to find a studio space for Anna Lisa. She landed on an office building surrounded by other artists at The Velvet Mill in Stonington, CT, where she moved after leaving SU.

If Osterhout is in her office space designing, there is always rock music playing in the background, she said.

When Osterhout designs an item for her fashion line, she said she envisions Keith Richards’ wife, Patti Hansen, at 27 years old as the woman wearing her clothing. She’s a big fan of Richards’ music and sees the fashion’s elegance and sophistication aligned with Hansen.

“I am designing for her,” Osterhout said. “What she would wear, how she would wear it and what would make her look sexy and elegant at the same time.”

Whenever Osterhout plans an outfit for a future client, she wants them to feel like the most confident and happiest woman in the room, she said.

“Dance is too insular when in fact, it’s everywhere, all of the time in everybody’s life,” Deyo said. “Annie shares that kind of idea that every discipline is present in everything.”

The collection — which consists of nearly 20 pieces — are made to order. Out of all of them, Osterhout’s favorite piece is a strapless dress that is form-fitted on top and flows out on the sides. The dress is made of gray flower-printed fabric, has a low back and a purple sash.

In a year from now, Osterhout said she hopes Anna Lisa will be sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales or Neiman Marcus.

Osterhout wants her clothing pieces to last a lifetime and for it to be passed down generations to come.

But that attention to the garment’s quality comes with a price tag, Osterhout said. The made-to-order collection will range in price from $400 to $700, depending on fabric and construction.

Osterhout’s biggest inspiration for her approach to fashion design draws from the dresses that costume designer Edith Head made for movies in the mid 1900s. Osterhout’s fashion line resembles Head’s designs for the dresses worn by Grace Kelly in “To Catch a Thief” and “Rear Window.”

Osterhout’s ambitious personality pushed her to create the brand, Deyo said. Deyo said Osterhout’s known for always trying something different and pushing the edge, which showed up in every costume she chose for her dancers.

“I always wanted to make my dancers look beautiful. As a dancer, you understand the body, you understand where the curves are,” Osterhout said. “You understand how you want something to flow. And it just carried right over into fashion design.”

Published on February 19, 2026 at 1:28 am
Contact Lily: lvzucker@syr.edu