U.S. fashion community organizes online charity auction to benefit Nepal
A scene from the Oscar de la Renta Fall 2015 runay collection. Front row seats at the label’s Fall 2016 show are among the lots up for bid at an online charity auction to help post-earthquake relief efforts in Nepal.
In the aftermath of the recent earthquakes in Nepal, a group called Fashion Girls for Humanity has organized an online auction to fund relief work there.
Hosted through Charity Buzz and supported by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Help Nepal Earthquake Relief Auction kicked off on May 13, with proceeds benefiting two groups: Waves for Water, which will provide ground support and relief work, and fashion designer Prabal Gurung’s charity Shikshaya Foundation Nepal.
A quick survey of the auction at charitybuzz.com reveals that there’s a little bit of everything to be had – with an emphasis on the fashion-focused items and experiences. Among the lots that caught our attention: two front-row tickets to the Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2016 New York Fashion Week runway show in September (which includes an outfit to wear to the show worth up to $5,000), two front-row tickets to the Fall 2016 Oscar de la Renta runway show in February 2016 (which includes meeting creative director Peter Copping), a five-night VIP trip to the Glastonbury Music Festival, a 10-day hiking trip in the Himalayas with explorer Johan Ernst Nilson, and a meet-and-greet with Alice Cooper that includes passes to a concert.
If you’re hungry for face time – or just plain hungry -- there seem to be a whole lot of lunch options up for bid as well. There’s a chance to break bread with CFDA chief executive Steven Kolb (which includes a tour of CFDA headquarters), lunch with Barneys New York creative ambassador Simon Doonan (which includes a consultation with a Barneys makeup artist), and even lunch with two Goldman Sachs directors that includes a tour of that firm’s New York headquarters.
It’s worth noting that not all the lots are scheduled to close at the same time – the earliest ones stop accepting bids around noon PDT May 19, and the latest ones will be up for bid until June 3.
This isn’t the first time Fashion Girls for Humanity has rallied the well-heeled troops; the New York City-based charitable organization was created after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and to date has helped raise approximately $1 million for relief and rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of that disaster and others including Hurricane Sandy and Typhoon Haiyan.
For the latest in fashion and style news, follow me @ARTschorn
