Giving the gown off her back
Actress Jane Kaczmarek isn’t going to the Golden Globes ceremony this year. She plans to watch the show on television and, even though she doesn’t particularly like dressing up, the “Malcolm in the Middle” star will covet the gowns worn by the celebrities who walk the red carpet.
She wants them all.
The tuxedos too.
Kaczmarek and her husband, Emmy winner Bradley Whitford of NBC’s “The West Wing,” are asking presenters and nominees to donate their outfits to the couple’s Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, which auctions them to raise money for children’s charities.
They are already counting on Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman, stars of ABC’s hot new “Desperate Housewives”; Blythe Danner of the movie “Meet the Fockers”; William Shatner of ABC’s “Boston Legal” (he’ll donate his shoes); and Charlie Sheen, of the CBS hit “Two and a Half Men,” will give his cuff links. And the commitments are still coming.
This particular auction will benefit the UNICEF Tsunami Relief Fund. Bidding will start Sunday, the night the awards show will be broadcast, so viewers can look for a dress they like, then log on to www.clothesoffourbacks.org to see if it’s on the block. But don’t expect a bargain: The gowns will start at $1,000 and the tuxedos at $500. The auction is scheduled to end the evening of Jan. 30.
“The idea originally came when there was another tragedy, 9/11,” Kaczmarek says in a telephone interview. “My husband and I were going to the Emmys and word came down not to wear your gown because it would be disrespectful ... that everyone should just wear dresses and suits.”
She decided, “If you like my dress, you can buy it. These dresses get so much attention. The celebrity gets so much attention. The designer gets so much attention, and they can never be worn again once you’re photographed,” Kaczmarek says of the view commonly held in Hollywood.
The next year, the couple started “Clothes Off Our Backs” by soliciting donated gowns at the Emmys, the acting community they knew best. They branched out to the Teen Choice Awards and are now seeking donations from the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Grammy Awards and the Academy Awards.
The biggest draw so far? The vintage Christian Dior gown Jennifer Aniston wore when she won an Emmy in 2002 went for $50,000. “The woman who bought it gave it to her niece,” Kaczmarek says.
“We had a Jennifer Garner dress and the woman called and asked if we could possibly get it to her by Saturday because she was going to a wedding,” she adds. The bidder got the gown in time.
Because all couture gowns are made to fit, Kaczmarek says, many must be measured to determine the size.
“You’ll call the publicist and they’ll say [the actress] wears a 1, and you think, ‘I stood next to her, I know she’s not a 1.’ ” Kaczmarek wears size 8-10 and is donating the Escada gown she wore to the 2003 Golden Globes because, “no evening gown or jewelry feels anything as good as raising money for children.”
For an additional $20, the winner can have the item dry-cleaned, but some people prefer keeping any sign of the actor who wore the garment. “Bernie Mac had the best-smelling tuxedo,” Kaczmarek says of the actor’s Haj Designs Chicago tux.
Other celebrities who have participated include: Brad Pitt (his sunglasses went for $3,000); Courteney Cox Arquette (a Carolina Herrera gown); Eric McCormack (a Jon Varvatos tux); Megan Mullally (a Donna Karan gown); Sean Hayes (a Prada shirt); Edie Falco (a Vera Wang gown); Ray Romano (an Armani tux); Patricia Heaton (a Thierry Mugler gown); Martin Sheen (a Brioni tux); Allison Janney (an Erik Gaston gown); Patricia Clarkson (a Halston gown); and Wendie Malick (an Estevan Ramos cocktail dress).
In less than three years, the celebrity auction has raised more than $350,000 for charities such as Cure Autism Now, which was started by friends of Kaczmarek and Whitford; the Children’s Defense Fund, an advocacy group run by Marian Wright Edelman, who taught Kaczmarek that “service is the rent we pay for living. The greater your gift financially or intellectually, the higher your rent is”; Smile Train, which repairs cleft palates of children in developing countries; Heifer International, which provides animals for food or labor; and the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental group based in Boston.
Kaczmarek has walked the red carpet at least 20 times. She has received five Emmy nominations and three Golden Globe nominations. But this time, she’ll stay home with her three young children and when she sees someone glamorous on the red carpet, “I’ll probably be thinking, ‘We’ve got that dress,’ ” she says. “Or ‘Go after her. That’s going to be a hot dress.’ ”
