Dare to be Different fashion show: A journey of Passion & Innovation

Hi there my lovelies,

I would like to share with you an experience dear to my heart, it has got to be one of my biggest achievements – organising a whole fashion show independently in aid of breast cancer. As much as it was demanding and full of many challenges – the more rewarding it had felt on the day. 

I loved it all, from the highs, lows and obstacles - as it demonstrated my true strength, motivation, tenacious mindset and passion!

It has been a year today since Dare to be Different fashion show had taken place and I have written a piece on the overall experience to share with you all – from when it began, the process and the success of the event.

Happy Birthday to Dare to be Different fashion show 2014! 

Hope you enjoy this post and become inspired.

Envision it, work hard – make it happen!

Happy Sunday oxo

Dare to be Different.

Daring, glamorous and unique fashion but in a sophisticated sense: the show's signature style.

Dare to be Different, a fashion show that I planned, organised and implemented independently that had taken place a year ago in aid of breast cancer.

I wanted to capture and project my inspired vision of an elegant, dramatic and awe-inspiring fashion show that would captivate the audience and leave them amazed.

There were two exquisite womenswear collections and one dashing menswear collection. The collections represented daring, unique and statement fashion that reflected luxury, class and sophistication.

Garments were in the style of designers', Vivienne Westwood, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Galliano, Emilio Pucci, Balmain, Vera Wang.

 Womenswear collections were from London's fashion designer’s Rochelle Melbourne, who launched her high-end clothing line, Forever Devine shortly after the show and Riny Vaz, an aspiring fashion designer.

 The menswear collection was from Birmingham-based designer, Akshay Vashisht, UK’s youngest Asian designer designing contemporary, on-trend, luxury pieces for his clothing line AV Couture.

MISSION – (IN A NUTSHELL!)

The show was inspired by and its main intention was to make a positive difference, promote diversity through a strong multicultural event and give the audience a spectacular, stylish show through my love for fashion.

How the show was inspired…

"Understanding and taking into account that more than 80% of women affected by breast cancer suffer the trauma of surgery to remove part or all of one or both their breasts, could leave them feeling vulnerable, unfeminine and have such a negative effect on their confidence; had inspired me to help them feel sexy, confident and glamorous again!"

I wanted to inspire, show and prove that post-surgery women are still beautiful and can still feel and look fabulous!

 I was initially hoping to have specially designed, custom-made and beautifully tailored garments for women who face or are already affected by breast cancer. These exquisite creations would have served their tastes, needs and measurements to help them regain that feeling of empowerment and looking sensational when strutting and shining on the catwalk (relishing in the limelight). Every woman deserves to feel beautiful!

 I potentially wanted to raise this awareness along with support Breast Cancer Care in terms of fundraising; to help towards their research and sessions in helping cancer patients deal with their vulnerabilities and the overall unnerving experience.

 

The event was intended to be motivational in the sense of promoting diversity and supporting all the creative professionals involved (whom were from various backgrounds and experience levels - not only from across the West Midlands but also wider parts of the UK), with the opportunity to gain experience, develop their portfolios and be part of an innovative fashion show!

The show also helped London’s emerging fashion designers showcase their collections and enhanced my own professional skills and personal development too (one of the main reasons for planning and executing this fashion event).

 The event also aimed to support and provide entertainment by rising unsigned artists, of which additionally enhanced the night along with the sweet treats, Estee Lauder demonstrations, raffle draw and prizes.

 

HOW IT BEGAN

I strongly believe beauty and fashion have nothing to do with size, height, race or personality and (not to sound too cheesy) is something self-expressive that comes from within. This is something I wanted to highlight, reflect and include in my show, as everyone is beautiful in their own unique way, that is what makes them shine...everyone deserves to feel beautiful!

I have always loved challenging myself and pursuing any project or endeavour that involved creativity, innovative thinking and would help strengthen and diversify my current skillset. So, I combined this with my love for fashion and wanting to make a difference in people’s lives and began planning a show on the basis of this. This show was definitely a journey of challenges, experiences, making connections, inspiration and heart.

It was a journey of passion.

Passion of… bringing together a fusion of cultures, styles and personalities, it was such a beautiful thing that helped the show sparkle that much more. My love for fashion, beauty, creativity, art and making a difference by fundraising for a good cause and helping others was all in one place.

THE PROCESS

It was all an explorative journey that unravelled beautifully, that all began with a mini brainstorm of scribbled ideas to stumbling across an advertisement for an exhibition at the School of Fashion and Design in London, where Fashion graduates would be showcasing their final designs, I immediately booked my place onto the guest-list, my train ticket and pursued the event.

 

It was lovely browsing through the amazing garments and portfolios on display. I introduced myself, handed out business cards and networked with the fashion graduates explaining my intention. The next thing I knew, I had fashion designers on board.

 From this point on, I was glued to my phone and laptop (they were definitely my main, treasured essentials throughout the whole event process!).

I was preoccupied with responding to the overflow of emails and arranging interviews after posting up adverts for models, make-up artists, photographers, graphic designers, singers and dancers. Immediately after hiring all my personnel, I communicated my design concepts across to the graphic designers involved – my logo and flyer designs were then in the making too. I also set up and maintained social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Amidst of all this, I was dealing with one of the main challenges which was trying to negotiate and book a suitable venue.

I organised a professional photo-shoot for promotional purposes that was about innovation and expressing the Dare to be Different signature style via the make-up and visual creativity, instantly after I had executed auditions. I gave my creative direction to the make-up artists and photographers involved, whom I also communicated my photo-shoot concept to and the purpose for it.

 It was a long, manic day but so worth it! When previewing some of the images I was in awe. I could not wait to receive them all. It was nice to know everyone had enjoyed the experience regardless of the demanding day.

 

  I was overjoyed when my venue was booked, the date was officially set! This was the moment my event was set in stone. I finalised flyers, décor arrangements and set up production schedules. A must - I had to incorporate the little touches from the vintage inspired, tasteful décor and place settings to the pink, black and silver colour scheme expressing the Dare to be Different theme.

Jaimal Mistry, a Freelance Creative Director and Celebrity Choreographer that has worked with celebrities on various high profile events around the UK, helped choreograph my fashion show by happily contributing his services too. He is definitely well-crafted and fantastic at what he does. It was such a pleasure working with him.

 On the day of our first rehearsal, when I had returned to the room after liaising with the venue manager, oh my god! I saw my fashion show plan I had spent many months on with such dedication in live action – I was captivated! It was simply beautiful.

Whilst rehearsal days were flying by, I met with the singers and dancers, along with checking in with the designers to see how they were progressing (FYI - their garment illustrations were amazing!).

 

In terms of entertainment, I met with Britain’s Got Talent's prior contestant, Jordan Curley - a disco and freestyle dancer. She had gotten through Britain's Got Talent 2 years running. She performed a beautiful dance routine to Christina Perri’s I Believe. This was a song we both decided on because it was inspiring and perfect for the show’s style and theme.

 

The talented music artists that I had booked and performed live on the night were Bianca Gerald from Leeds and Lushea Taylor from Birmingham. Their performances were outstanding that kept the audience entertained and the songs performed were from the genres of Pop, R&B, Acoustic to Hip-Hop and Soul. Lushea's single, Hip Hop Soul was released earlier this year.

One of the main highlights of the show process had to be securing 2 pairs of tickets to go see John Newman perform live. The tickets were used as the Star-prize for the raffle draw.

I achieved this through contacting agencies, companies and approaching stores for a special appearance or prize contributions and liaising with John's agent.

I still cannot believe I nearly had supermodel, Gabriela Riggon-Allen make a special appearance! Due to a prior commitment she unfortunately could not make it.

It was a delight seeing my prepared press releases published by the Birmingham Press and Grapevine Birmingham. My tweets and Facebook posts were retweeted and shared by followers including companies and professionals. It was a great experience participating in a radio interview at Radio Plus Coventry with Lisa Boyle, who I connected with on LinkedIn. I appreciated sharing my event live on-air.

 

By collaborating effectively with the creative professionals involved and communicating the show’s creative vision, aim and concepts and maintaining that consistency; was a significant part to the success of the fashion event.

 The aspiring and professional models and hair and make-up artists I worked with were very professional, dedicated to their craft and full of personality...qualities I also wanted to bring to the event process. Some of the featured models were from Birmingham fashion week, runner up from Miss Africa and from the national beauty pageant.

Make-up artists involved were from independent business owners, graduates and working professionals including an award winning international artist, photographer and make-up artist, Souren Mousavi who was also my lead MUA. She had recently won the award for the 'Best Vienna Showcase Artist' award.

The host aka Miss Birmingham – Rachael Barker, former Miss B! What a personality to work with! She was great. The spirit, enthusiasm and the support was moving. It was an honour having her host my fashion show event and help making it a success.

“What an honour to have been asked to host and support Jas for her Dare to be Different fashion show. From the second I walked in, the professionalism and hard work immediately shone through, everyone knew their parts to play. It was an incredible event, with guests dressed to the nines, the most beautiful and gracious models and fashion wear, as well the wonderful photographers who caught those magic moments. Jas was an incredible leader and support and had everything planned to the enth degree, even when things went slight awry she dealt with them with a calm and collected manner.

The hosting was a wonderful experience and the audience joined in the enthusiasm of the evening.

On the charity front the team all worked tirelessly to ensure money was raised through ticket sales, entertainment, raffles and donations.

I was so proud to say I was a part of the evening and to have seen such a successful and well-planned event, bring on 2016!”

–Rachael Barker, Miss Birmingham

 

It was such a pleasure and great experience working with such a team of talented, creative professionals. All my production team were fantastic, they took creative direction well and did me proud. It was also fulfilling to know that they enjoyed being part of the show and providing them with material for their portfolios.

The sound and lighting was provided by Renaissance Entertainment and DJ G-Roy, who had also kindly contributed their services.

Oh! When Robin Thicke's Lost Without You song hit the speakers and the models made their entrance one by one on the catwalk...it was something magical to watch, ah the song worked perfectly. It definitely got the audiences all amped up and in the spirit and got them moving in their seats.

 

It was happening!

 It was such a vision and feel-good feeling seeing the show happening live. All those months of hard-work in action, it gave me butterflies, made me smile, and had me in awe! Witnessing the audience captivated by the beautiful show - was nothing but undeniably fulfilling.

OBSTACLES/COMPLICATIONS

I believe if you want something from life, no matter how difficult it is to achieve –you should thrive to get it as I believe anything is possible - if you have enough passion, the right mind-set and that can-do attitude and are willing to work hard for it (even when you hit those little bumps in the road - you dust yourself off and keep going strong with an optimistic perspective and positive outlook).

Rather than focus on the obstacles - it is better to highlight the complications, then research and explore solutions to solve them. Planning and implementing a successful, glamorous fashion show independently is definitely not easy but has proved to be feasible.

The few mishaps on the night were smoothened out by thinking on my toes and logically of how to solve the problems swiftly - rather than panic.

 

I would not give any of it back at all including the challenges and sleepless nights, even though it was very stressful at times - as all the experience made the show and that sense of accomplishment worth it that much more. I loved experiencing all of it, from the going-ons backstage and managing the whole production.

 Some of the key attributes strengthened and learnt from the process of the fashion show event, were marketing, public relations, networking and self-management.

It was an overwhelming but an invaluable experience.

 

 I am very thankful to all that attended in support of my Dare to be Different fashion event and all those who contributed their services through their hard work, dedication and helped make the fashion show event I envisioned a success!

Be inspired!

“When there is a room full of talented, creative professionals ...you know there is a masterpiece in the making...Dare to be Different!” 

#Passion #SupportAGreatCauseTogether #EveryWomanDeservesToFeelBeautiful

https://www.facebook.com/daretobedifferent2014

Twitter: @DTBDFashionShow

Breast Cancer Care No: 1051965

Bringing the New to Contemporary!