May 19th, 2009
Fashion For All: Healthy Families Successful Start from Felicia Sullivan on Vimeo.
Keisha Andrews tells us about Healthy Families Successful Start, a home visitation program that serves Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant community. Over 50 women from her program attended today’s Fashion For All event.
May 16th, 2009
After three months of exhaustive, but gratifying hard work, my burgeoning non profit, Fashion For All, celebrates its inaugural event today! At 2pm, 247 women will enjoy a day of dignified shopping and access to community resources. Representatives from Dress For Success, Ft. Greene Snap, Bedford Stuyvesant’s Successful Start, and Mary Kaye Cosmetics, will be on hand to provide career and personal advice and resources. Over 30 volunteers will help our guests from styling their outfits to guiding them through our virtual store. For me, this is a small event. A test case to see what works, what doesn’t, and how this organization can evolve to launching similar satellite events across the country.
Believe me when I say that I’ve found my passion and I am committed to making this work. For the first time in my life I’m determined to not allow fear - fear of not getting a corporate job and all the uncomfortable comforts that it provides - to make my choices. Because shouldn’t we, I, at least try? It’s noble to have attempted to change one’s life rather than always wondering what if?
While this week has tested the limits of my patience (not to mention my credit card), it was rewarding in ways I can’t quite articulate. I’m learning how to cope with precarious and infuriating situations without freaking out, screaming, or throwing in the towel. I’m being challenged in ways that I need to be, I feel privileged that I’m not simply taking but rather I’m giving back to people who need it most, and I’m learning that the road to self-discovery is baffling and confusing, and beautiful, but it’s worth the chaos to venture on this journey. Because if you asked me five years ago, two years ago, what I wanted to do with my life, never would I have said…this. Now, I couldn’t imagine anything but this.
Anyway, I’ll have a fabulous recap, video interviews from the guests as well as the non profits so that you can learn more about the participating organizations and how you can get involved, as well as snaps from the event! Wish me luck, guys!
this snap is from last night. the first rack we started to prepare with the fabulous wares
May 12th, 2009
“In the candle lit, clothing packed showroom of Jodi Arnold an event was taking place not only for the fashion obsessed but the inner philanthropist as well. On this night, Jodi Arnold was hosting a Fashion For All clothing donation pre-party. All ladies that attended the event were encouraged to bring appropriate donation worthy attire and accessories that would then be contributed to an upcoming Fashion For All Shopping Benefit.
An incentive for all ladies to not only arrive on time but to bring enough clothing was to offer the first 50 that arrived with at least 15 items a luxurious gift bag. I am proud to report that I was number 20 on the donation list and therefore I not only had the chance to support a wonderful cause and empty my obnoxiously packed closet but also walk away with some swanky gifts as well. While I was at the event, I had an opportunity to try on some of Jodi Arnold’s fabulous clothes that were displayed throughout the showroom and offered at wholesale prices throughout the event. Jodi Arnold definitely offers buyer’s clothes that have color, pattern, intricate stitching and compiling; making her clothes wearable fashion and wearable art.”
Click here to read the rest of i’m not obsessed’s fab coverage of the event!
May 6th, 2009
Friday is our fabulous donor party, and I couldn’t be more thrilled! And although it will rain, please don’t let this minor inconvenience take away from you doing something significant for someone else!
Click here for our clothing donation guidelines.
Click here to download our press release (pdf file).
Want to donate but you can’t make the event? Email me at felicia -at- feliciasullivan -dot- com to discuss.
I’d also like to thank our very generous donors & sponsors: AHAVA, Barielle, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Bobbie Brown, Circa Now, Danskin, Degree Fine Fragrance, Decleor, Dex New York, Frederic Fekkai, glōminerals, HarperPerrenial Books, Kerasal, Murad, Pureology, Purple Lab, Ralph Lauren, Red Door, Shobha, Summer Soles, Ted Gibson.
April 6th, 2009
Check us out - we’ve got a fancy splash page, courtesy of the lovely and amazing Lorissa Shepstone of Being Wicked. Also, the charming and whip-smart Termeh Mazhari featured my upcoming auspicious event on New York Buzz. An excerpt from our chat:
Termeh Mazhari: Tell me about Fashion For All.
Felicia Sullivan: For the past few months, I’ve volunteered for New York Cares and it’s changed me in ways I hadn’t imagined. There is something truly gratifying about placing your needs aside and helping someone who really needs a meal, shelter, and companionship. These are basic needs that people have that are not being met in today’s economy. A great deal of my volunteer work has been in meal service, and I was inspired by providing dignified, “white glove” meal service to those who are homeless or simply struggling to make ends meet. Combining my love of fashion and style and need to give back to the community in which I grew up, Fashion For All was born.
The mission of Fashion For All is to provide an annual day of dignified shopping for residents in low-income communities across the country. Our partnerships with local community activist and outreach organizations, as well as prominent fashion and beauty brands, enable us to provide a day of luxury shopping and white-glove, personalized service for residents in low-income communities, as well as access to local organizations and programs, which provide educational, career, and parenting resources.
During these very difficult economic times, regardless of one’s financial situation, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. With the Fashion For All Shopping Experience, women, who, tirelessly struggle to provide for their families will be rewarded with not only a day of indulgence, but convenient access to community outreach programs. So whether she’s seeking career counseling, professional attire, or terrific parenting programs, we hope to offer community residents access to the resources they need.
Click here to read the interview!
UPDATE: Check out our press release! Hot off the presses!!
March 16th, 2009
Call me crazy, but I’m moving ahead, full-throttle with this amazing clothing donor drive/fashion event, which I’m calling Fashion For All. Fashion For All’s mission is to provide an annual day of dignified shopping for residents in low-income communities across the country. Our partnerships with local community activist and outreach organizations, as well as prominent fashion and beauty brands, enable us to provide a day of luxury shopping and white-glove, personalized service for residents in low-income communities. Granted, I’m not saving the world or curing cancer, but it thrills me that I can provide relief, albeit briefly, to struggling families who are having a hard time meeting basic needs. For a mother or wife who spends a great deal of her time wondering how to make ends meet, providing for her family, and working exhaustive hours, it means a lot to me to provide this incredible woman with a day of pampering, a day with other equally wonderful women, and a day where she can be treated like royalty.
Our inaugural event will take place in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn on May 16, 2009. While my initial idea was quite grand (thousands! kids!), I’m scaling it down. We’re slated to host 250 women from low-income areas, and they’ll shop from terrific pieces that come courtesy of generous donors (some of whom will donate at our donator soiree - we’re partnering with MINT Jodi Arnold, while we’re making arrangements for individual pick-ups, mailed shipments). Already, we have Old Navy to Balenciaga. Suits to vintage gowns. Wedding dresses to chandelier earrings (300 pairs courtesy of the supremely generous Nicole Tondre of Circa Now), and I’m already thrilled with the generosity and support.
If you are at all interested in donating gently used women’s clothes/accessories, new & unopened beauty products, or cash to fund our rental fees, please let me know. We can also take donations via mail if you don’t live in New York City. If you’re interested in donating your time to help out with any phase of the event, do let me know. Alternatively, if you volunteer at a community group in Brooklyn where you feel we can get the word out, let me know! And finally, spreading the word is so gratefully appreciated.
For the past two hours, I’ve been hitting the phones pretty hard calling community groups, local activist organizations, and churches, in an effort to raise awareness. And I won’t be blue that I experienced several rude interactions with Target when I attempted to phone and ask for donations for my event. Cold calling is brutal.
Note: the above video is of the space where the drive will be held!
