Fashion Targets Breast Cancer

With one in nine women developing breast cancer, many of us have been touched by this terrible disease. This year alone it is predicted that approximately 14,000 women in Australia will be diagnosed with breast cancer. In order to reduce this saddening statistic, the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC) campaign has once again gathered support from retailers to raise money to fight this disease.

In 1994 Ralph Lauren launched the first FTBC collection at New York Fashion Week to honour his dear friend Nina Hyde, the Fashion Editor of the Washington Post who passed away from breast cancer. Four years later, Australia joined the cause with model Sarah Murdoch, currently still an ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, modelling a t-shirt with the FTBC logo. Now the FTBC campaign in celebrated in over 10 countries with more and more companies joining the cause every year.

Since 1997, the campaign has raised over $2 million to fund invaluable research and support women suffering from breast cancer and their families.

This year, an amazing 7 retail partners have come on board to support the campaign with a minimum of 25% of purchases going towards the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

FTBC is aiming for a future with zero deaths by 2030. Help FTBC achieve this goal by purchasing one of the specially produced products or donating to the National Breast Cancer Foundation here.

Fashionistas also have a chance to win great prizes such a subscriptions to Vogue and a Pandora bracelet by uploading pictures of their own black and white styled outfits on to FTCB's Facebook page. 

Show your support for FTBC so one day we can beat this terrible disease.

Check out the great retailers getting on board to support FTBC:

Images courtesy of http://www.fashiontargetsbreastcancer.org.au/

Cast-Off Couture Campaign

Marie claire have engaged six of Australia's top designers to create one-off couture pieces to auction off to raise money for the St Vincent de Paul Society. Designers selected pre-loved items from St Vincent de Paul op shops to create their garments.

Sass & bide designers Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke stayed true to their love for embellishments creating a beautiful black gown with cotton neck detail and a silk-taffeta skirt.

Romance Was Born designers Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett were inspired by a Bolshoi ballet themed table runner they found, to create a folksy Russian styled dress.

A stack of yellow and white striped curtains inspired camilla & marc designers Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman to create a tailored wide-legged suit. The shirt they paired with the suit was made from a handful of other shirts they found.

Designer Therese Rawsthorne was unexpectedly inspired to combine a trench coat and wetsuit to create a dress detailed with mohair panelling, beaded neck strap and cotton/polyester skirt.

Easton Pearson designers Pamela Easton and Lydia Person only work with natural fibres so they were lucky enough to find a beautiful batik pure silk skirt and a lovely lurex knit to create an contrasting look with punk style skull and cross bones top with oriental print skirt.

Carl Kapp used vintage winter tweed to create his stunning custom drape dress.

The auctions end at midday Saturday 13 August so don't forget to bid and help the tireless work of St Vincent de Paul Society!

Check out the beautiful designs below and click on the links to bid:

sass & bide

Romance Was Born

camilla & marc

Therese Rawsthorn

Easton Pearson

Carl Kapp

Information sourced from http://yahoo.com and http://ebay.com.au

Images courtesy of http://ebay.com.au

Want To Wear A Celebrity's Clothes?

Sami Lukas, Miranda Otto,
Tom Williams and Samantha Wills

Westfield are giving shoppers a chance to buy pre-loved clothes from some of Australia's most well-known fashion identities and entertainers all in the name of charity. Celebrities have donated pre-loved garments from their own wardrobes to pop-up Giveability stores which will be open at Westfield Bondi Junction on July 19 - 24 and Westfield Doncaster on 19 - 31 July. All proceeds will be donated to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Scope to assist people with cerebral palsy and their families.

Celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, Rose Byrne, Anthony La Paglia, Melissa George, Naomi Watts, Liev Schrieber, Bambi Northwood-Blythe, Erin McNaught, Rachel Taylor, Alex Perry, Fernando Frisoni, Marnie Skillings, Garance Dore, Charlotte Dawson, Samantha Wills, Sass & Bide, Ksubi, Bettina Liano, Wayne Cooper and Cheyenne Tozzi have all committed to donating garments. Actress Miranda Otto will be fronting the campaign as ambassador for the initiative.

Some of the fantastic things available to purchase are Alexander McQueen red diamonte shoes from Charlotte Dawson, a Yeojin Bae dress from Yeojin Bae, a Collette Dinnigan dress donated by Miranda Otto and an Eileen Kirby dress donated by Sami Lukas.  Some exclusive pieces are also available to bid on in an online auction.

The two pop-up stores will trade for the two weeks before National Cerebral palsy Awareness week which runs from 31 July to 6 August 2011. Celebrities will be working in the stores to support the initiative. Westfield general marketing manager John Batistich said "By having Australia's leading fashion designers and celebrities participating in the Giveability store, we feel it sends a strong message that the fashion community is prepared to mobilise and raise awareness and funds to support an often overlooked cause."

Now's your chance to do a bit of guilt-free shopping and help a great cause!

Check out some of the great items for sale modelled by Nicole Warne and photographed by model/photographer Zanita Whittington:

Jacket: Vintage Cropped Leather Jacket donated by Sass & Bide $150 

Dress: Arthur Galan dress worn by Jennifer Hawkins $300

Ring: Samantha Wills ring worn by Eva Mendes $60

Dress: Zimmerman $760

Ring: Samantha Wills $60

Earrings: Samantha Wills $60

Dress: Yeojin Bae $350

Clutch: Tan + Brown Snakeskin Clutch $300

Ring: Samantha Wills worn by Drew Barrymore – Auction

Shoes: Alexander McQueen donated by Charlotte Dawson $1500

Sunglasses: Karen Walker Agent Sunglasses $100

Dress: Collette Dinnigan dress donated by Miranda Otto $500

Shoes:Tony Bianco $60

Sunglasses: Karen Walker Escape Sunglasses $100

Ring: Samantha Wills worn by Drew Barrymore – Auction

Shorts: Bec & Bridge $80

Bag: Deadly Ponies $180

Sunglasses: Karen Walker Agent Sunglasses $100

Dress: Collette Dinnigan dress donated by Miranda Otto $500

Shoes: Tony Bianco $60

Information sourced from http://ragtrader.com.au

Images courtesy of http://dailytelegraph.com.au and http://zanitazanita.blogspot.com/

White Fairy Tale Love Ball

Following the excitement and drama of Couture Week in Paris, the fashionable crowd headed to designer Valentino Garavani's 17th century estate for The White Fairy Tale Love Ball. The Ball, hosted by supermodel Natalia Vodianova and Valentino raises money for Vodianova's charity Naked Heart Foundation which provides safe playgrounds for underprivileged children in Russia.

Guests were treated to a fashion show which featured 45 custom-designed dresses from the wold's top international designers including Chanel, Burberry and Yves Saint Laurent. They also spent time in Valentino's perfectly manicured gardens and viewed the current installation of Valentino dresses from a 1990 collection in the Valentino Archives museum.

Many guests wore Valentino and stuck to the white and silver dress code. In keeping with tradition, the host Vodianova wore a custom red design, this year she chose a red riding hood inspired gown by Valentino.

Check out some of the beautiful images at the Ball captured by Tommy Ton:

Olivia Palermo in Valentino

I love the drama of this piece

Anne Hathaway in vintage Valentino

Daphne Guinness in Alexander McQueen

Although not sticking to the dress code these ladies look lovely

Daphne Guinness

Stella Tennant, Riccardo Tisci and Mariacarla Boscono

Vanessa Traina in Louis Vuitton

This shot oozes attitude

Carine Roitfeld in Givenchy Fall Couture

Anna dello Russo in Roverto Cavalli

Margherita Missoni with other guests

Natalia Vodianova

I love the unexpected shoulder detail of this gown

Information sourced from http://fashionetc.com
Images courtesy of http://style.com

Tracky Dacks Fashion Event - Part 2

Part 1 of the Tracky Dacks event post covered the great tracky dacks designs by some of Australia's most talented designers. 


Check out the stylish people from the TLC Track Dacks Fashion Fundraising Event:

My glamourous friends Jess, Suzi and Em who came with me to
support this wonderful event

Celebrity Stylist Philip Boon who styled the event with MC Sarah Gale

Some very stylish ladies

The talented Sarah has her own fashion consultancy
business called Fashionista. Read more about Sarah here

Sarah and Joshua in a Thierry Mugler jacket from Madam Virtue

The lovely Cheryl from Business Chic in her
stylish fingerless leather gloves from her
own range

The fantastic founder of TLC Tim Conolon

Some well-dressed ladies showing their support

A stylish group doing their bit to
support TLC 

The stylish Cecylia Kee from Cecylia Boutique in her stunning 
Roksanda Jacket with talented designer Alexandra Blak wearing her
self designed clutch, bracelet and belt

Tim drawing the raffle. Loving the tracky dacks!

The beautiful Suzi

Belynda and Miriam, glamourous sisters who work
in PR and events management

Two lovely ladies from the fantastic hair and make-up team

Model and TV host Georgia Sinclair DJ-ing for the event

Congratulations to TLC, and all the volunteers and designers who organised this fantastic event. To learn more about how you can dack up and donate and show your support for this fantastic cause click here.

What I wore

Dress: Fleche De Femme Gown by talented Melbourne designer Miss Lyndel Yeo

Shoes: Nude

Ring: Sass & Bide

Images by Stylus Muse