Cole steps up for human rights

"What you stand for is just as important as what you stand in," said last night's Fashion Week keynote speaker Kenneth Cole.

Cole, known for his humanitarian efforts, fashion brand and quirky campaign slogans, discussed the role philanthropy plays in his position as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.

Cole was last at Penn five years ago promoting his biography Footnotes, which was given to the first 200 attendees at the Huntsman Hall address.

As he recounted, Cole began his business 25 years ago at a women's shoe company. As the brand matured, he ran into trouble due to his limited audience.

"I was selling cool ladies shoes, but there weren't so many cool ladies," he said.

Not wanting to dilute his brand, which he describes as "contemporary, accessible, affordable luxury," Cole expanded into the world of accessories, bags and apparel for both men and women.

According to Cole, fashion is "how you say to the world how you want to be considered." He continued, "if you wake up in the morning and you look good, you feel good."

However, he stressed that fashion is not so important if the world is falling apart and said he struggled early on in his career to make it relevant. "If every shoe store closed its door tomorrow, hardly any Americans would go barefoot for 15 years."

It is with this knowledge that Cole engages in his humanitarian campaigns, from AIDS, which "no one was talking about [in the '80s] because if you did you were presumed to be at risk" for homelessness.

Cole is now focusing on a volunteering project. He joined the American Foundation for AIDs Research board where he advocated the needle exchange program and encouraged condom use, even featuring one on an early billboard, which featured the slogan, "Shoes are not the only thing we encourage you to wear."

Cole is now chairman of amfAR's Board of Directors.

"I believe what I do all businesses will do in the future," said Cole, who is now expanding his brand overseas. "The only constant is change."

It is this marriage of fashion and altruism that made Cole an exemplar speaker for this year's Fashion Week, said Dzine2Show president Lea Artis. "It is great to be known for your shoes - it is even better to be known for your soul."

"We all walk in different shoes," is the current Kenneth Cole campaign, and it's specifically apolitical.

Students in attendance were impressed with both his fashion and his message.

"I am a big fan of his designs," said College freshman Christina DiStefano, "and wanted to hear what inspired him."

College freshman Darby Nelson added, "He had a lot of clever one-liners."

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