So many times, I've walked the glittering hallways of malls around the world, ogling designer bags or heels or spent an evening putting together stylish outfits on Polyvore, only to feel a guilty superficiality wash over me knowing that my love of all that glitters seems to conflict with my desire to work for social justice and a more equitable global community.
Fortunately for me, a group of my like-minded friends combined their love of fashion and philanthrophy and established the now five-year-old non-profit, Fashion Fighting Famine. Through the years, we have put on annual fashion shows raising money to benefit charities such as the Ilm Foundation, that works to eliminate poverty and homelessness in Southern California, and the Widow's Cooperative Program in Mali, that provides micro-financing for widowed women who wish to support themselves and their families through small entrepreneurial efforts.
Fashion Fighting Famine's annual fashion show and bazaar will be in the Pacific Ballroom at the University of California, Irvine campus on the evening of June 3. The show will feature some of the industry's leading designers as well as upcoming designers, some hailing from as far away as Dubai and Singapore.
This year, the show's proceeds will go to benefit the charity One Laptop Per Child whose mission it is to educate the world's poorest children by providing them with rugged laptops that include Internet access and continually updating software. The collaboration between Fashion Fighting Famine and One Laptop Per Child hopes to empower underprivileged children and open new worlds and new opportunities to them.
If you're anything like me, Fashion Fighting Famine's show will be a perfect opportunity to spend an evening with amazing women, enjoy spectacular global fashions, and contribute to a worthy cause.