New York-based designer Rachel Roy has begun a philanthropy project for flood victims in Pakistan. The designer recently launched a special Pakistan Tote to help raise funds for children affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan. Each $20 tote features the signatures of 83 of Roy’s friends (Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z are amongst them), and all proceeds go to the ‘US Fund for Unicefs disaster relief efforts towards Pakistan’.
In an interview last week, Roy explained her inspiration behind the project. “In July 2010 heavy monsoon rains left one fifth of Pakistan’s land area underwater. Six months later there is still an urgent need for food, clean water and safe shelter. For each tote sold, Rachel Roy will donate $20 to the US Fund for Unicef’s disaster relief and recovery efforts for the victims of the Pakistan floods.”
She said the cause was important to her because it “affects innocent children. Their homes have been destroyed, their schools destroyed, perhaps they lost family members. All that they have ever known changed in an instant.”
Rachel Roy is not the only fashionista campaigning for Pakistan. International supermodel Naomi Campbell collaborated with fashion house Dolce & Gabbana to raise funds for her charity, Fashion for Relief. The campaign is a special edition of 14 t-shirts, each bearing an iconic image from Campbell’s celebrated modelling career. Each t-shirt costs $200.
“All the proceeds are going to the floods in Pakistan,” Campbell told StyleList.com. Campbell said that Fashion for Relief focuses on a helping those in need and “right now Pakistan needs our help.”
“Last year, we benefited Haiti with shows in New York and London , and in April, we did (a fashion show) for Russian children. We work with the White Ribbon Alliance (for Safe Motherhood) and the money went to help women and babies. If you want to help, we have a list of things to buy [on the Fashion for Relief Web site] that go from $10 to $12,000,” said Campbell.
Campbell said that people give for very personal reasons but her own involvement with Hurricane Katrina came from a special connection to the place. “My first modelling job in America was in New Orleans, for British Elle. So when I saw on television what was happening to the people of New Orleans, I said, ‘let’s do something’. That was my connection. I don’t do it for public adulation. I do it because I want to do it.”
Celebrity signatures
Rachel Roy’s tote has been signed by a number of prominent people including:
Bobbi Brown
Estelle
Freida Pinto
Iman
Ivanka Trump
Jay-Z
Jennifer Meyer
Joe Zee
Keanu Reeves
Oprah Winfrey
Rob Thomas
Selma Blair
Vera Wang
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2010.
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