Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss

{{Infobox person

| name = Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss

| image = Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.jpg

| alt = A portrait of Shoshanna Lonstein-Gruss at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

| caption = Lonstein Gruss at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|5|29|mf=yes}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/shoshanna-lonstein-vn16066835|title=Shoshanna Lonstein | Movies and Filmography|website=AllMovie}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.onthisday.com/date/1975/may|title=What Happened in May 1975|date=May 21, 1975|website=OnThisDay.com}}

| birth_place = Manhattan, New York, U.S.

| education = Nightingale-Bamford School

| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|George Washington University|University of California, Los Angeles}}

| occupation = Fashion designer

| years_active = 1998–present

| spouse = {{marriage|Josh Gruss|2003|2014|reason=divorced}}

| children = 3

| website = {{URL|shoshanna.com}}

}}

Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss (born May 29, 1975) is an American writer and fashion designer and the founder and creative director of the fashion label Shoshanna, which was launched in 1998.

Career

With a loan from her father, Zach Lonstein, chief executive officer of Infocrossing, she started her clothing company in 1998 with the mission to design a clothing line that appealed to different body types, specifically, large-breasted young women.{{cite web| title = Shoshanna| publisher = Shoshanna Inc.| url = http://www.shoshanna.com/world-of/about-shoshanna/| accessdate = 2012-08-12| archive-date = January 2, 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130102005617/http://www.shoshanna.com/world-of/about-shoshanna/| url-status = dead}}{{primary source-inline|date=May 2024}}{{cite web | last=Moore | first=Kristina | title=Designer Spotlight: Shoshanna Designs Fit EveryBody | website=Forbes | date=2016-06-02 | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesstylefile/2016/06/02/designer-spotlight-shoshanna-designs-fit-everybody/ | access-date=2025-01-06}}{{cite web | last=Mueffling | first=Dini von | title=Bloomingdale's or Bust! The Rise of Shoshanna Lonstein (Jerry's Ex) | website=Observer | date=1999-01-18 | url=https://observer.com/1999/01/bloomingdales-or-bust-the-rise-of-shoshanna-lonstein-jerrys-ex/ | access-date=2025-01-06}} In 2013, Elizabeth Arden, Inc. named Gruss the brand's first-ever Style Director. In this new role, Gruss served as a spokesperson and adviser for the design label.{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Arden Appoints Shoshanna Gruss as Brand's First-Ever Style Director |publisher=Elizabeth Arden, Inc. |url=http://www.elizabetharden.com/null/beauty-news-article-shoshanna,default,pg.html |access-date=2014-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426202037/http://www.elizabetharden.com/null/beauty-news-article-shoshanna,default,pg.html |archive-date=2014-04-26}}

=Television=

Gruss has appeared in numerous television programs, webcasts, and interviews, including a 2008 episode of America's Next Top Model.{{cite web|url=http://www.designscene.net/2008/04/americas-next-top-model-if-you-cant.html |title=America's Next Top Model: If You Can't Make It Here, You Can't Make It Anywhere |publisher=Design Scene |date=2008-04-08 |accessdate=2014-07-19}}

Personal life

As a 17-year-old high school student, she met then 39-year-old Jerry Seinfeld in Central Park.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lI_qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT53 | title=Seinfeld FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Show About Nothing| isbn=9781495035357| last1=Nigro| first1=Nicholas| date=June 2015 | publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|quote=he met Shoshanna Lonstein in New York City's Central Park in May 1993, Jerry Seinfeld was thirty-eight and she was only seventeen}} At that point, Seinfeld got her phone number.{{cite web |url=https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-game-of-love-vol-41-no-11/ |title=The Game of Love |first=Karen |last=Schneider |date=28 March 1994 |quote=Seinfeld, comedian, TV star and life observer, was strolling through Central Park one day in May 1993 when he spotted a stranger he now calls 'the most wonderful girl in the world.' Seinfeld, then 38, sallied over, made small talk and went away with the telephone number of Shoshanna Lonstein—then 17}} Lonstein later came to public attention by dating Seinfeld, who was at the time starring in his eponymous sitcom. Early in their relationship, Spy magazine referred to her as "a legal voter", since she had turned 18 by then.{{cite magazine |date=February 1994 |title=Party Poop |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXKlThqFFT0C&pg=PA32 |magazine=Spy |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=32}} They dated for approximately four years, from 1993 to 1997. During the relationship, she transferred from George Washington University to UCLA, in part to be with Seinfeld; she cited constant press coverage and missing New York City as reasons for the relationship ending."Shoshanna Lonstein." Biography in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2003. February 10, 2011.{{full citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Lonstein married Josh Gruss on May 10, 2003,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/style/weddings-celebrations-shoshanna-lonstein-joshua-gruss.html |work=The New York Times |title=WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Shoshanna Lonstein, Joshua Gruss |date=2003-05-11}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/05/obituaries/joseph-gruss-91-philanthropist-who-supported-jewish-schools.html |work=The New York Times |title=Joseph Gruss, 91, Philanthropist Who Supported Jewish Schools |first1=Eric |last1=Pace |date=1993-07-05}} and they had three children. They announced their plan to divorce in November 2014 {{Cite web |last=Siegler |first=Mara |date=17 November 2014 |title=Power couple Joshua and Shoshanna Gruss to divorce |url=https://pagesix.com/2014/11/17/power-couple-joshua-and-shoshanna-gruss-to-divorce/ |access-date=21 May 2024 |website=Page Six |language=}} and divorced later that year.

As of 2016, she was living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with their children.{{cite news |last1=Mongelli |first1=Lorena |title=Seinfeld's ex-girlfriend says bandits made her feel 'beyond violated' |url=https://nypost.com/2016/07/20/seinfelds-ex-girlfriend-says-bandits-made-her-feel-beyond-violated/ |accessdate=28 February 2019 |newspaper=New York Post |date=July 20, 2016}}

Philanthropy

Gruss is a trustee of Reform synagogue Temple Emanu-El of New York,{{cite web|url=https://www.emanuelnyc.org/section/about-us/|title=About us|publisher=Temple Emanu-El of New York|access-date=2020-08-17}} and the Nightingale-Bamford School where she is also a member of its Alumnae Board Committee.{{Cite magazine|title=Filling a Gap in the Market |magazine=Leaders Magazine Online |date=July 3, 2011 |url=http://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2011.3_Jul/Defining%20Luxury/LEADERS-Shoshanna-Gruss-Shoshanna.html |accessdate=2012-08-12}} Gruss was Vice Chairman of the associate committee of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and its Children's Committee from 2012 to 2014.{{Cite web |title=Associated Committee |publisher=The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center |url=http://mskcc.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=soc_about_associates |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111174904/http://mskcc.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=soc_about_associates |archivedate=2014-11-11}}