0
Votes

Fashion show benefits environment

Proceeds donated to help preserve lakes and rivers

By Joe Hunt

Monday, April 23, 2007

Volunteers of all ages strutted down the runway Saturday night in fashions ranging from metallic silver sweaters and dental headgear to beach attire and throwback swimsuits during the Aveda Earth Day Fashion Show. The show was organized by Lada Salon and Spa, 4931 W. Sixth St., to raise money for the Clean Water Fund, which helps to preserve lakes and rivers.

Roughly 100 volunteers arrived at Liberty Hall at 8 a.m. to model in the show. It took all day for seven Lada stylists to do the models’ hair and makeup.

More than 600 people roared and cheered for friends and family as the models walked down the runway. Some of the models laughed and waved at friends, while others were serious.

Many of the models were KU students, and four talent scouts attended the show to find potential professional models. The four scouts pledged to award $1,400 to one model.

Ryan Mathisen, Highlands Ranch, Colo., senior, said he hoped to be noticed by a scout. Mathisen had modeled before in Kansas City and said he hoped to continue after graduation.

“If I can get paid to wear clothes, that’s awesome,” Mathisen said. “There’s a couple of modeling agencies out here, so we’ll see what happens.”

Other students, such as Natale Collar, blonde-haired Lenexa senior, participated just for fun.

“I was working at Milton’s, and this guy liked my hair and asked me to be in the show,” Collar said. “I would absolutely do it again. It was a lot of fun.”

The show ended with a Hollywood segment that consisted of several models in their late teens and early twenties passing balls back and forth and pretending to have a fun day on the beach in the sun as Red Hot Chili Peppers music blasted from the speakers. Women dressed as movie stars entered the stage in a mock limousine and men wearing button-down shirts and large-framed sunglasses took their pictures.

Lada owner Mark Chapman has put the show on for three years. Shani Andersen, one of 120 volunteers not modeling in the show, said that the goal was to raise $5,000 for the Clean Water Fund. The show surpassed the goal and raised about $8,000, Andersen said.

pullquote

This is East Coast — West Coast, the hair is over the top, the makeup is over the top, the fashion is over the top.

-Shani Andersen, volunteer

“Clean water is something you don’t think about every day until you don’t have it,” Andersen said.

During the show, a silent auction was held with about 100 donated items up for sale. Items ranged from paintings and jewelry to a voucher for one free personal concert from a local emo band.

Andersen said that the show was a bigger event than most would suspect.

“This is East Coast — West Coast, the hair is over the top, the makeup is over the top, the fashion is over the top,” Andersen said.

Kansan staff writer Joe Hunt can be contacted at jhunt@kansan.com.

— Edited by Carissa Pedigo

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Advertisement