By DYLAN DeMARTINO
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
zzing Friday, as Fordham’s Fashion for Philanthropy held its “Fashion is Art” runway event.
The event served as the organization’s annual spring fundraising initiative to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s Metro and Western New York chapter.
The event was a full-on fashion show featuring 23 student models and showcased a variety of outfits. Many of these outfits were donated by corporate sponsors. Some of the outfits, however, were designed by Fordham students who spent a significant amount of time producing a series of outfits to help contribute to the show.
Fordham Fashion for Philanthropy is a student group that operates with the purpose of helping Fordham students with interests in the fashion industry gain professional insight and experience. Each year, the club partners with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to raise money. Like any large event involving a visual component like a musical or a convention there is a very long amount of time that goes into planning the event. Megan Hynes FCRH ’13, a political science major and current president of the executive board has been involved with the planning of the show since her sophomore year. In terms of group coordination to orchestrate the event, she said “There’s a lot of planning and a lot of contact between executive board members. We start planning in the fall semester but by the week before the event, we’re pretty much in constant contact from 3 p.m. until 1a.m. every day.”
Rose Diaz-Vazquez, FCRH ’15, is a psychology major who modeled three dresses during the show. She previously modeled in her hometown of El Paso, Texas. She agreed that the time commitment becomes greater as the week of the show approaches with a full dress rehearsal taking about three hours. Diaz-Vazquez was not daunted, and expressed that “it definitely motivates me to know that I’m helping others.”Justin Segovia FCRH ’14 a psychology major and marketing minor who designed five of the student- made outfits that were exhibited at the show including one worn by Rose.
“I can’t even count all of the hours I’ve spent this semester designing and sewing the dresses I planned for the show this year. It has been a lot of work, but it’s been great to have the opportunity to improve my skills as a designer while knowing that my work is contributing to help bring the Fordham community together to appreciate the talents of its students. I can say with certainty, though, that it cost me a little sleep in the last week to be sure,” notes Segovia He went on to explain say his general views of the organization, “I like how this organization has really brought together a lot of Fordham students who are interested in different aspects of the fashion industry. From design, to business, to modeling, we’ve all had an opportunity here to allow our common interest to converge in a way that is beneficial to all of us as young professionals as well as to others,”
Segovia’s work contributed to the “Fashion is Art” theme of the event by developing a dress line that was tonally aloof, visually ethereal and featured a thematic application of subdued floral patterns to contribute abstract as well as naturalistic thematic overtones. This showcased the melding of other mediums into the dresses themselves in accordance withthe theme of the event “Fashion is Art”.
Fashion for Philanthropy made notable use of social media as a way of promoting the event and engaging the audience during the show by encouraging attendees to follow Fashion For Philanthropy on Twitter @fordhamffp and to tweet #runwayart during the show.
In addition to using ticket donations as a way to raise money, there were also a large amount of high fashion items up for grabs in a series of raffles. Everything from shoes to sweaters, from bags to wallets and a full suit was donated by a variety of companies including Jeffery Campbell, Black Halo and Michael Kors.
After accounting for raffle donations and outfit pledges, in total over 40 different companies participated financially in one capacity or another in helping Fordham’s Fashion for Philanthropy raise money through the event. The level of sponsorship involvement showcases a phenomenal job on the part of the executive board to cultivate agreements with sponsors. Hynes was excited about the way that the group has been able to develop consistent sponsorship relationships with several of the companies. She expressed her confidence in the financial success of this year’s Fashion Show, saying that “we come closer and closer to the top end of our goal of $10,000.” This year, FFP raised $7,000 toward their cause.
