South Africa Fashion Event in Support of Those Living With HIV/AIDSs

Positive Heroes and the City of Cape Town will host Bloom, a fashion show and auction with a difference, at the Civic Centre on 3 November, 2011. For the event, 22 of South Africa's top designers will come together to showcase Bloom-inspired collections and donate their creations to raise funds for HIV/AIDS initiatives.

Positive Heroes is a South African non-profit organisation founded in 2007. Their vision is to prevent millions of South Africans dying needless deaths as a result of the stigma, fear and ignorance surrounding HIV/AIDS.


Positive Heroes provides compelling and inspiring role models, all living openly with HIV, to encourage and support others with messages of hope. They encourage those living with HIV to live positively in the world: free of fear, shame and discrimination.

Living positively is also about having fun, feeling good and looking amazing. It is for that reason that Positive Heroes chose fashion as a way to engage Capetonians. Sue Wildish, executive director of Positive Heroes, explained: "Our aim is to emphasise the idea that Living Positively and Fashionably is entirely possible if you manage your status."

The concept for the third annual Positive Heroes event was inspired by the Tennessee Williams' quote: "The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks." The message is that despite challenges and rocky times our heroes speak out against a mountain of stigma and people can bloom like Tennessee's violets.

Funds raised by the auction and ticket sales will be used for core organisational funding and various Positive Heroes initiatives. The Positive Heroes Ultra Marathon Team, made up of five individuals all living with HIV, train themselves, take their ARV medication while they run, and prove that with drive and determination, one can live a long and healthy life. Local Heroes supports our heroes in their communities, both urban and rural, around South Africa to create support groups, provide peer counselling and share one-to-one advice and encouragement where it is needed most.

On the evening of the event guests will enjoy cocktails, canapés, live entertainment and designer collections. The soaring entrance foyer of the Civic Centre, Cape Town will be adorned with pale flowers, a specially designed runway and an all-white lounge. The fashion show will be divided into two halves: day wear and evening wear, with a short auction of fashion prizes, facilitated by Auction Alliance's Ariella Kuper, following each section.

Springleap.com and The Cape Town Fashion Council (CTFC) have launched a design competition entitled "Inspire Courage". The competition invited creatives to produce a design that encapsulated the courage needed to overcome stigma and embodies the Positive Heroes concept of "ordinary people living extraordinary lives".

Voting is taking place in the week of 24 October. The winning designer will receive a prize of R10 000 and two runner-up prizes of R2000 will be awarded. The design will be featured on volunteer T-shirts at the Positive Heroes fashion show as well as on printed A0 canvases available for auction on the night.

Post-event, winning designs can be purchased on the Springleap.com website with proceeds going to the Positive Heroes initiatives.

The event starts at 6.30pm for cocktails, with the show starting at 8pm.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!