L.A. Designer Hosts Fashion Benefit for Malaria

Los Angeles–based designer M’Backe Seye will host the second annual Defal Sa Walle fashion fund-raiser to raise money and awareness for the fight against malaria in Africa.

The event will feature Seye’s fashions on the runway in his downtown Los Angeles design studio.

The Senegal-born and Paris-trained designer will showcase his creations in silk, linen and wool. The name of the event means “Do your part” in the Senegalese language of Wolof.

The fund-raiser will begin at 7 p.m. on Aug. 11. Tickets will be sold at the door for $120 for VIP admission, $60 for general admission and $30 for students. T-shirts and commemorative CDs will also be sold at the event, and proceeds will be donated to help buy mosquito netting and other supplies to prevent the spread of malaria in Africa. Proceeds from the evening will be given to UNICEF to assist in the organization’s efforts to educate and protect Africans against the disease, which kills 1.3 million people worldwide each year, 85 percent of whom live in Africa.

For information, call (213) 622-6690 or visit www.defalsawalle.com. —Alison A. Nieder