Models to the Rescue

A fashionable crowd of 500 descended upon the Carnegie Library for the third annual Fashion Fights Poverty runway show on Friday, coming together to check out the wares of nine designers who are morally minded when it comes to manufacturing. “It’s bigger every year,” said Fashion Fights Poverty creative director Michael Dumlao, who’s also a founder of the Style & Image Network, the public relations and event marketing firm that produces the event.  “We’ve increased the number of designers every year, from four to six to nine. We’ve extended to Miami and the Hamptons. The brand is growing beyond D.C.”

The brand is also attracting big-time sponsors. This year, Maserati, Lamborghini, Whole Foods, West Elm, and Peroni all signed on. The mission of the event, however, remains the same: to raise awareness about how fashion can promote economic development and to benefit organizations that use art and design to alleviate poverty, like Aid to Artisans, 2007’s beneficiary. The fashion show ran just under two hours, with mini-presentations between each designer's showcase. Rows of West Elm-donated chairs flanked the stage, which was awash in hues of pink and purple courtesy of John Farr Lighting Design. A champagne reception for V.I.P.s took place prior to the show in the venue's Map Room, and guests could also roam the many vendor booths that lined the hallway.

The Edward Marc chocolate suite—complete with gratis FFP-logoed confections—and swag bags stuffed with Belabumbum underwear and Freixenet sparkling wine had guests talking, as did the male models clad in skimpy ChaCha Boy swimsuit briefs.