FCC to Celebrate San Diego Fashion at Charity Benefit
Wishes will come true at the 18th annual Golden Hanger Fashion Awards Gala to benefit The Make-A-Wish Foundation. On July 30, the Fashion Careers of California College (FCC) will hold its annual charity event and celebration of the San Diego fashion industry at the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center in Mission Valley, Calif.
The gala, which began as a small party thrown by FCC Founder and current President Pat O’Connor, has become a premier fashion event in San Diego and this year will include an awards ceremony, a fashion show and a silent auction. The gala will honor San Diego–based fashion professionals and companies with awards including San Diego Apparel Designer of the Year, San Diego Manufacturer of the Year, San Diego Retailer of the Year, the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award and a “Special Award” that recognizes a community leader who has influenced and supported the fashion industry.
The fashion event will showcase student designs chosen for their cohesiveness, construction and wearability. Entitled “Fashion Fusion,” the show will feature Jonkeo Ingels’ garments, made with fabric sewn by his mother in Laos; Japanese student Michiko Noda’s designs, highlighting the kimono fabric made especially for her collection; and Olympic bobsledder–turned–fashion design student Kurt Hopke’s gowns, adorned with Swarovski crystals.
As a member of the advisory board and a mentor to many FCC students, British expatriate designer Zandra Rhodes, who founded the Fashion & Textile Museum in London in May 2003, said she believes the fashion show is a unique opportunity for students to display their work. “It gives the students a chance to have their work seen on a professional level and aim toward something,” said Rhodes, who received the 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 1997 San Diego Designer of the Year Award.
“[O’Connor] does very cleverly involve a lot of the top people in San Diego fashion, which is good from the point of view of the students,” said the designer, who now lives in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla.
The fashion show will include a segment featuring local celebrities and children from The Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego, a nonprofit organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Ten children from the foundation, including a little girl who wished to be a model, will walk the runway in student-designed outfits made especially for them from fabric donated by philanthropist and advisory board member Ingrid Hibben.
The fashion show’s coordinator, Tanya McAnear, whose niece was diagnosed with leukemia and granted a wish by the foundation, called FCC’s collaboration with The Make-A-Wish Foundation a “perfect match.” The fashion show, almost entirely student-produced, provides a valuable learning experience for the college students and gives the children from the foundation a “moment to shine and feel beautiful,” she said. “It’s a way to showcase the talent of the students, and it’s a way of doing something nice for the community,” O’Connor elaborated.
All proceeds from the gala will be donated to The Make-AWish Foundation. McAnear said she hopes to raise $20,000. To increase revenue, for the second consecutive year, students are designing and making a commemorative quilt to be auctioned along with products donated by local businesses.
Cable provider Cox Communications will act as FCC’s “Partner in Giving,” matching all proceeds the college donates to The Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Tickets are $40 for the show and $80 for the dinner and the show. Tables of 10 will be sold for $800. For table reservations or more information, call (619) 275-4700 or (888) 322-2999. —Jessica Kantor
