For Sale? - Hands Up 2008

28 March 2008 -- Wellington -- Article by Cara Wood

Fashion, music and dance met together under the Wellington’s New St Paul’s Cathedral roof last night at Hands Up 2008 with one motive in mind: to stop the sales. Featuring nine fashion designers from around Wellington, three local dance groups and a Karanga saxophonist, the event brought local fashion to the forefront to fight the ongoing battle of human trafficking around the world. ‘The damage [of trafficking] is immeasurable,’ said Salvation Army spokesperson for the cause, Chris Frazer.

‘There has to be a turning of public opinion. We have to grasp the nearest edge; and the nearest edge is awareness.’

Local fashion designers Sophie Voon and Angela Duncan put together the event with help from Frazer after overwhelming success from the first Hands Up in 2007 that raised $13,000 for victims of Lebanon bombings.

This year’s show will donate to a programme in Malawi, Africa that focuses on counselling men, women and children who have been rescued from trafficking. It also works to bring awareness to the local government, business owners and targeted families of trafficking around the country.

‘The goal is to return the child to the childhood that has been lost,’ Frazer said of the programme. ‘We want to enable them to build their lives again and reintegrate back into the community.’

Support for the cause boomed with contributors to the show doing their parts free of charge. This enables 100 percent of the ticket revenue of Hands Up 2008 to go to aid the programme in Malawi, said Voon and Duncan.

Local Wellington designers involved in the show wowed the crowd with a range of fashions catering to a wide audience.

Marvel Men provided a range of classy, practical solutions for every type of modern man. From the classic silk button-down to an ensemble featuring cuffed jeans and a tailored suit coat, Marvel Men made sure that no man would be left wanting.

Voon, a line designed by co-organiser Sophie Voon, featured a slightly younger style of fashion, featuring a range of colourful solutions and introducing a soft and tasteful floral theme.

Other fashion lines in the show include Zantis, Oyl, Mandatory Men, Starfish, Robyn Mathieson, Mariam Gibson and Sophie Voon Bridal. Ultra provided shoes for the models to wear and make up and hair showcased top Wellington hair and make-up artists.

Strike Percussion, Footnote Dance and Warren Maxwell of Little Bushman also performed in the event.

     

This programme helps to meet the educational needs of over 1000 children in poorer countries around the world through donor's sponsorship. more> | e-mail us for info

   

In FY2005/2006 the cost of care provided by The Salvation Army in New Zealand was $44 million, with the demand on existing services and the need for new services increasing. read more>

   

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