A Night of Fashion Love and Support with Jeffrey Fashion Cares
Certain issues and topics are more important than the narrower aspects of fashion — the latest trends, looking around for who’s best dressed in the room, and what he/she has on. Although fashion has always had a charitable streak, in recent years the industry has asserted itself as a concentrated voice for diversity, equality, and love.
Monday evening the fashion and beauty world came together for the 14th anniversary of Jeffrey Fashion Cares, which was founded by creator of the renowned store Jeffrey New York, with the purpose of raising awareness for those living with HIV/AIDS, and also LGBT rights.
At The Event
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Entering the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, anticipation for the evening filled the air. Everyone was there for a good cause, and came out in their best to show how important the night was to them.
The attendees were a veritable “who’s who,” with heavyweights such as Anna Wintour, Joseph Altuzarra, Jeffrey Kalinsky (creator of Jeffrey), Chris Salgardo (president of Kiehl’s), and celebrity stylist/tv personality Brad Goreski. They all came with the same purpose: to help raise money for Jeffrey Fashion Cares, which has raised some $15 million to date.
Jeffrey Fashion Cares has raised some $15 million to date.
As the cocktail hour continued before the main event of the runway show, there was a silent auction featuring some amazing rare pieces. As I drooled over some of items and talked with our social media director Chris Lavish about what we might expect for the evening, they announced, “Everyone make your way into the runway portion and please find your seats.”
While everyone was settling in and looking at the program on their seats, there was an opening video by who else but Sir Elton John, welcoming all attendees and thanking them for their continued support of Jeffrey Fashion Cares, his own foundation the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and the other two organizations involved, Hetrick-Martin Institute and Lambda Legal, the nation’s oldest and largest legal organization working for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS.
Directly following the video, the JFC honored Chris Salgardo, president of Kiehl’s, who has done extensive and amazing work to further the rights of the LGBT community and awareness of those living with HIV/AIDS.
the JFC honored Chris Salgardo, president of Kiehl’s.
Under Salgardo’s stewardship, Kiehl’s has created collaborations with top artists, fashion designers, celebrities, athletes, and universities to raise funds and awareness for non-profit organizations within Kiehl’s charitable pillars, which includes HIV/AIDS research. The most impressive charitable initiative created under Salgardo’s leadership is Kiehl’s LifeRide for amfAR, which has raised more than $1,600,000 for amfAR since 2010, funding eight cure-related research projects.
It was almost time for the show to begin when a familiar voice started becoming more distinct from backstage … out appeared Brad Goreski (known for Fashion Police and for being a celebrity stylist, though the true “fashion heads” may have first seen him in Rachel Zoe‘s show). Brad was accompanied by an auctioneer who started taking bids for five amazing experiences featured in our program. 8K here, 10K there … the energy of the auction was great and was accompanied by true bids to help a great cause.
8K here, 10K there … the energy of the auction was great.
Now it was time for the runway show featuring some of the world’s top models … how was that, you ask? We’ll let the images speak for themselves.
Thank you to Jeffrey Fashion Cares for having us and Purple PR for your great communication in materials we needed.
I urge every reader to please look up the charities mentioned in this piece … let’s each help out where we can.
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Learn More
Established in 1992 in Atlanta and 2003 in New York by Jeffrey Kalinsky, Jeffrey Fashion Cares was founded to heighten awareness of people living with HIV/AIDS, support LGBT youth, and challenge discrimination against the LGBTQ community. In 25 years, Jeffrey Fashion Cares has raised nearly $15 million for both New York- and Atlanta-based organizations, donating on average an astonishing 90% of all proceeds. Jeffrey Fashion Cares New York benefits the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, and Lambda Legal. Jeffrey Fashion Cares
The Elton John AIDS Foundation funds frontline programs that help to alleviate the pain – whether physical, emotional or financial – of those living with, affected by or at risk of HIV/AIDS, and to continue the fight against this worldwide pandemic so that no one is left behind. Elton John AIDS Foundation
The Hetrick-Martin Institute believes that all young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential. They do this by creating a safe space for LGBTQ youth and their families, offering direct services and referrals to promote healthy youth development and, they create innovative programs other organizations can use as models. Hetrick-Martin Institute
Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. Lambda Legal
With love,
FWO
