When Fashion and Fund-Raising Come Together
Fashion and fund-raising have become such frequent bedfellows, it’s hard to get too worked up about new events. But L.A. designer Alicia Lawhon is a firm believer in F&F.; “It balances out the spiritual and the superficial,” she said. So, she’s hosting a benefit Sunday with friends Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and actress Ione Skye for Friendly House, which helps women in substance abuse recovery.
The afternoon event will include a fashion show of Lawhon’s fall collection, plus a new line based on an old idea.
“When I was working for Fred Segal, the first collection I ever did was recycled clothing,” said Lawhon, a former buyer for the store. “I took vintage cashmere sweaters, washed and dyed them, then added ornamentation like fake fur or other cashmere pieces.”
She abandoned that idea to design new pieces in 1996, but now she’s revived it and is calling the line AL Recycled Clothing. The men’s and women’s separates ($150 and up) are designed to work with her primary collection. The new line will be carried this fall at Fred Segal and Curve.
She is dedicating Sunday’s event to the memory of her friend Joan Ashby, who recently died of AIDS. Ashby was the founder of Friendly House, a residence at Normandie Avenue and 3rd Street.
“The house just embraces you,” Lawhon said. “You’ll find everyone from your favorite celeb to a woman from Compton living there together. It’s awesome.”
The Friendly House benefit, Sunday, 1-3 p.m., at the 360 restaurant in Hollywood. Tickets: $25. Information: (323) 666-5031.
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had to be the most glamorous creature of the 20th century, bar none. And come spring, visitors to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will be able to get up close and personal with her pillbox hats.
Clothes worn by the former first lady to state and campaign functions will be displayed at the museum’s Costume Institute from May 1 to Aug. 12, 2001, the museum announced this week.
Jackie’s trademark fawn coat, the ivory satin inaugural gown, the red dress from her Feb. 14, 1962, televised tour of the White House, and a beaded number that dazzled Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1961 will be among the 80 pieces in the exhibit. Video clips of Jackie wearing the clothes on display will be shown.
“No one synthesized the glamour of America in the 1960s more. She’s an icon of style,” said museum spokesman Harold Holzer. “The show is also a natural for us because Onassis was a great friend of the museum and she lived nearby. She was part of all of our lives.”
The show is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy inauguration. Onassis died of cancer in 1994.
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Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.
