Jeffrey Fashion Cares celebrates fifteen years

"Organizations like Jeffrey Fashion Cares are important to raise awareness and bring everyone together to gather around and help each other out," said New York nightlife fixture and androygnous model Kyle Farmery to FashionUnited.

Last week Jeffrey Fashion Cares celebrated fifteen years in New York City for their charity fashion show, which projected estimates say raised between 700,000 and 800,000 dollars. The event, which was hosted by Tony and Emmy Award winning actress Judith Light, welcomed its crowd of celebrities, fashionistas, top models, and entrepreneurs all committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS and raising awareness around the disease. This year's beneficiaries included The Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, and Lambda Legal.

Light, who has been involved with HIV/AIDS awareness since the early eighties, has been thrilled with the progress she has seen for LGBT rights over the years, including marriage equality finally being on the books, but as she reminds us, "We are still here tonight and the AIDS epidemic is still with us."

Judith Light hosts 15th annual Jeffrey Fashion Cares

When asked how that affects how she uses her platform, she told FashionUnited, "What that does for me is, when there is an opportunity to be a part of something that makes a difference, I join in." She added that, "There's still a lot of homophobia in the world, and culturally we need to be present to the fact that these kinds of judgements and painful ways of thinking are diminishing to human beings. Until we start to really talk about and look at that, we can't rise to the level of the culture we can be at as human beings, and that's important."

In addition to more educational awareness, Light is also hoping to see more international outreach from HIV/AIDS awareness organizations as well. Above all else she believes that culturally we need to work more on relating to each other. "We live in a world where the 'other' is part of our culture. When we remove that and realize we are one humanity, and we are filled with compassion for every single person in our lives, and that means ourselves as well, we will start to relate differently. That's what Jeffrey Fashion Cares is about."

After fifteen years of doing this, you would think Jeffrey Fashion Cares founder Jeffrey Kalinsky would want to start steering the ship in a different direction, but he believes in staying true to the event's DNA. "I want it to keep being what it is," he said to FashionUnited. "We always want to have a program where we talk about what we are trying to do. We always want to give a Community Award. We always want to have a fashion show. It's what we set out to do year one, and here we still are."

While this is the organization's fifteenth event in New York, Kalinsky spent 25 years doing this in Atlanta. His ultimate goal right now is to expand the organizations efforts globally. "What hurts my heart the most is places in the world with rampant HIV infection where there is inability to get drugs," he said. "We still have many struggles around HIV. Although drugs are helping more people manage well, there is still this stigma around the disease. We want a cure a cure, not just to manage, and that's something we should never lose sight of."

While many other HIV/AIDS organizations use traditional galas and dinners to raise money for the cause, Jeffrey Fashion Cares has always preferred their fashion show and auction as part of their non-traditional medium. It's proof that the power of fashion should never be underestimated. "Everybody wears clothes, and everyone has to get dressed," said CFDA president Steven Kolb to FashionUnited. "There's such a way we can express ourselves through the clothes we wear and the designers we like, so events like this really harness the power of creativity and draw people into that creativity. The industry's greatest asset is in talent and creativity. A lot of these bankers and corporate donors often aren't part of fashion, and events like this help them step into it and be part of the industry for a night."

The event was also co-chaired by Brenner Thomas, Andrew Mitchell-Namdar and Phillips Nazro. U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Catherine Schmid, an HIV and trans advocate, was also honored with the Jeffrey Fashion Cares Community Leadership Award on behalf of the all the brave plaintiffs contesting the ban and for the continued movement to protect the rights of LGBT people.

Schmid, a 12-year U.S. army veteran and transwoman herself, joined five current members of the armed services and three hoping to enlist and sued in a lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal banning transgender service members from the military. “I love this job, serving this country and being a soldier,” said the 33-year-old Schmid. “I’m willing to fight for our right to serve.”

Guests participated in a silent auction amid cocktails and music by DJ May Kwok. During the live auction guests got to bid on attending an Elton John Oscar’s Viewing Party, an all inclusive trip to St. Lucia, a tour at the Tesla factory in San Francisco, an NYC date night with the star of TV show Queer Eye, Antoni Porowski amongst other lucrative experiences.

photos 1 and 2: credit Kevin Tachman
photo 3: credit Jeffrey Fashion Cares
photos 4 - 8: courtesy of BFA/Rommel Demano