Date: February 5. Venue: Apple Retail Store – SoHo
Wearing a Spring 2014 Celine dress and signature beaded necklace, Anna Wintour kick-started New York Fashion Week with a philanthropic announcement, bringing awareness to her new charity and sharing clips from her show The Fashion Fund on Ovation TV.
Coming this Mother’s Day is Born Free Africa, an organization launched to end mother-to-child HIV transmission. “A generation born free” is the slogan initiative as Anna Wintour calls upon women designers, including Stella McCartney, Diane Von Furstenberg and Donna Karan, to design collections to raise money for the cause. Fashion collections will be sold via Bop Shop, an Amazon fashion site.
Ovation TV presents The Fashion Fund, a show that follows 10 designers competing for the coveted CFDA/Vogue – Fashion Fund Designer of the Year Award, along with $300K and a one-year fashion mentorship. On the judging panel pyramid is Anna Wintour, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Rag & Bone – Marcus Wainwright & David Neville. New episodes première on Wednesdays, 10 Eastern/ 7 Pacific.
The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund was created from the September 11th terrorist attack, which fell on New York Fashion Week – Spring 2001. Anna witnessed first-hand the disparity among young designers over the loss of six months’ worth of hard work. “The existence of designers in New York is really hand-to-mouth,” she testifies sympathetically. Over a decade in its existence, the fund has propelled design houses Rag & Bone, Altuzarra, Proenza Schouler and Jason Wu, to name a few.
During an interview with fashion commentator Kinvara Balfour, Anna recalls her first Vogue cover (a model wearing a Christian Lacroix top and GUESS blue jeans), and the first Vogue features of Madonna and first lady Michelle Obama. When asked about The Met renaming the Costume Institute in her honor, Anna displayed extreme gratitude, expressing her devotion to in-depth collections and incredible works of art, along with an acknowledgement to the passionate Met employees.
The floor was opened to a brief Q&A, where Parsons New School Design students asked Anna her favorite clothing pieces, to which she replied, “Blue jeans and a camel coat.”
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