Are you into fashion? Do you know your Galliano from your Gabbana? Do Gucci, Prada, and Armani sound like fashion designers or Italian waiters? Well, whether you are into it or not, fashion has a big impact on all our lives, even if you don’t realise it. From the clothes that you wear to the colour of the walls in your house, someone, somewhere has decided that those colours and those designs are the ones that you will wear. And – hey presto! – there you are wearing them.
Now, for the most part, the world of high fashion is one apart from ours. London Fashion Week has just taken place in, yes you’ve guessed it, our very own London town. The rich and beautifully coiffeured and styled ones have descended upon our nation’s capital, and have made it gorgeous.
One of these rich and beautiful people is Natalia Vodianova. This Russian model, actress and philanthropist (who, incidentally is a mere 6 days younger than me) is the founder and president of the Naked Heart Foundation. This Foundation is a philanthropic organisation that strives to provide a safe and inspiring environment for children to play in, for every child living in urban Russia. She was inspired to found this charity after she visited her country of birth with her eldest son, Lucas, and found that there were no suitable places for children to play. The organisation built its first play park in 2006, and has now gone on to build 38 more.
During London Fashion Week, Ms Vodianova hosted a ball, to raise funds for her charity. Roughly one thousand guests turned up at this glittering event, at the Camden Roundhouse. About half an hour into the event, the venue began to fill with smoke, and the alarm was raised. The guests, which included Kate Moss, Stella McCartney, Liz Hurley and Mario Testino were evacuated. Oh yes, even for the stellar rich, fire safety comes first. Forced to wait outside in the cold, a Blitz-style spirit broke out, with guests sharing their jackets and drinks in order to fight off the worst of the English February weather. So, for all that appearances may suggest that the fashion elite are an intimidating, cliquey, uber-race, it turns out that in sub-zero temperatures they are just like us – cold, bored and just waiting to get back inside to re-join the fun.
Fortunately, the fire alarm and chilly weather didn’t dampen the guests’ charitable urges – the event raised over $1 million for Natalia’s Naked Heart Foundation, ensuring that more playgrounds will be constructed across Russia and benefitting the youngest people in that society.
