High fashion usually dents the wallet for selfish purposes. Last Friday at Day and Night, a charity fashion show sponsored by AIDS Services in Asian Communities, wallets were opened but the money went to a good cause.
The conference room in International House began to fill at 7 p.m. as appetizers and drinks were made readily available, and a silent auction for items including bath and beauty aids kicked off the show. According to Ronald Sy, Executive Director of ASIAC, most of the items went for well beyond their appraised value, bringing much needed dollars into the charity fund.
The fashion show featured around 100 designs from up and coming designers, such as ZONK, John Stanton, Liang Zhang, Lele Tran, Ryan Nguyen and Andrew Lee. Most of the designers hail from the Philadelphia area and a few own boutiques in the Old City Area. For them, the show was an opportunity to promote their clothing to a broad audience, while supporting the community efforts of ASIAC.
The outfits came through the curtains in no particular order, creating a montage of satin, tulle and lycra streaming downstage to the very latest in hip hop, pop and trance.
The designs on display were part of the next generation of fashion, where boundaries are unobserved and trends are spontaneously created.
"Everything is so cutting edge," said Annelise Cotter, a recent Drexel graduate. "The presentation looks like something off a New York runway."
The show continued for nearly two hours, and despite a few technical difficulties with the music and lighting, the coordinators deemed the show a success.
"I think everything went really well," Sy said. "It was a good event to invite our supporters and funders to and a great way to connect with the community."
All proceeds from the night, will go to aid ASIAC in their continued progress in furthering their twofold mission. For over five years, this small but formidable group has been providing AIDS education and care to the Asian and Pacific Islander community.
"The numbers of Asian Pacific Islanders with HIV are very underreported," Sy said. "A lot of Asian and Pacific Islanders don't self report and don't go in for primary care until they go to emergency room. Most of this is due to language barriers."
Part of ASIAC's goal is to break down these barriers by providing translation services and removing the stigma associated with HIV that exists in many minority communities.
They also provide case management for individuals with the virus, as well as counseling for the patients and their families, many of whom struggle with the concept that HIV has penetrated their family circle.
An estimated $8000 was collected to help ASIAC in their endeavors to expand their reach throughout the Philadelphia community in the hopes that members of the Asian and Pacific Islander community will no longer live in fear of their disease or their lifestyle.
