Three local designers will showcase their collections at the Civic Media Center on Friday, and it’s all for charity.
The show, Imagine Utopia: Fashion Affecting Change, will feature fashion, art, music and fine dining. The event celebrates the grand reopening of the Radical Press Coffee Shop and will take place at the CMC Courtyard. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and guests will be able to eat, view live art and mingle before the fashion show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Attendees will witness Carla Coultas’ edgy urban line, Carla Jack Coultas; Bob Coleman’s earthy jewelry collection, Look What The Foxx Dragged In; and Marry Vuong’s ethereal and feminine Lucy Tran Collection.
Vuong said attending this show would create funding for local and global charities and extra funding for the CMC, which she said has served as a space for freedom of speech and a safe haven for many.
“The world is not the best place, but with the right actions, it can be,” Vuong said.
Guests will be allowed to choose which charity their money will go to at the door. The charities tied to the event are Alachua County’s Local Arts Resources, the Civic Media Center, Lucas DeMonte’s Top Surgery for Lucas and Sustainable Cambodia.
General admission tickets are $12 and students can pay a reduced price of $7. Food from Maude’s Classic Cafe, the Citizen’s Co-op and Harvest Thyme Cafe will be included with the purchase of a ticket.
Owner and founder of Bobby Foxx Designs, Bob Coleman, came up with the idea behind the event after working with local fashion designer Carla Coultas last year on a small charity fashion event.
With support from local businesses, Coleman said he has been able to fund the entire event with absolutely no budget.
What started as a simple idea to have one designer and about 20 guests is now an event with an expected attendance of more than 100 guests, three collections, catering, lighting and a DJ.
“Everywhere I go, someone wants to volunteer or contribute in some way. All of the resources are here in our community,” Coleman said. “Maybe all the answers to the world’s problems are just floating around out there, waiting to be answered.”
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 2/19/2015 under the headline “Local fashion show to benefit charities, CMC"]
