A Fashion Fundraiser

D.C.-based IKY Clothing showcased its fall 2008 collection of streetwise clothing at the Fashion Forward runway show on Friday. Held at Shadow Room, the sold-out event garnered some 300 attendees (at $50 a pop) and benefited Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit that helps send inner city students to college. The evening featured a performance by the Washington Redskins cheerleaders and a photo opportunity with a wax figure of Tyra Banks (on loan from Madame Tussauds).

Absolute Addiction, the marketing company that organized the 10 p.m. show, worked closely with the venue's staff to make sure that everything was in place before guests lined up at 8 p.m. for entrance to a two-hour open bar and reception, sponsored by p.i.n.k. Vodka, Georgetown Cupcake, and Neyla Mediterranean Grill.

This was the first fashion show held at the 18-month-old Shadow Room, and the club's staff did not learn that there would be a capacity crowd until mid-afternoon on event day. As a result, the original floor plan that called for using the front seating area of the club as a dressing room for the 25 models, was judged impractical. Most of the seating and tables were removed from the area, and a private, screened area for the models was set-up in the lobby of an adjoining office building. "Logistically, we had to make sure there was room for both the crowd and the models. That meant finding another place for dressing," said Shadow Room marketing director Ezra Qassim.

The club's rows of plasma TVs, which are used by patrons on non-event nights to play XBox and PlayStation 3, instead flashed sponsors' logos and videos of past IKY events. When it came time for the 45-minute fashion segment to start, the house D.J. turned up the already high volume and played Michael Jackson's "Beat It" while the crowd whooped, hollered, and danced in place alongside the 20-foot raised runway.

Unexpectedly for the organizers, when the show ended, most in attendance left immediately for the below-freezing city streets instead of staying for the club's after-party, which was not part of the sponsored event. "They were showing that they were there to support the charity," said Absolute Addition's development director, Eddie Fam.