Prom Dress Fashion Designer Blog: Animals, fake fur, and fashion

Last night I attended a dinner/auction fundraiser for Animal Allies called the “Fur Ball - cough it up for the animals!”. My company donated two handbags for the cause and both sold for full retail. This auction means more to me that any other auction I have attended. People would probably say it’s because I was the one who originally started the Fur Ball in the first place, but the reality is, it’s all about the animals, it’s all for the animals and this is where my heart lies.

The objective of the Fur Ball was to bring in money to build a new shelter. The current shelter is in awful condition. There is no ventilation, and if one animal urinates in his stall at the end row of cages, this forms a stream which runs all the way through every other animals stall on the way to the drain in the center of the building. People don’t want to visit a shelter and see what these dogs/cats are going through. Hence, the less people that go through the shelter, the less animals that will have an opportunity to find a good home.

If you love animals like I do, I highly suggest to donate your time towards them. I have, and it has been a very rewarding experience. Here are some things you can do to volunteer at a shelter:

* take the dogs for a walk (you also benefit by getting exercise). If no one shows up to help walk the dogs, the dogs have to stay in their kennel all day. Dogs start to turn constant circles if they are left in kennels all day. I believe it’s some kind of mental condition that they develop from having to be in a kennel all the time. In many instances, animals rescued by the shelter are already going through this kennel turning.

* clean cages. I know you wouldn’t want to live in a cage like this.

* if you cannot tolerate messes, what about helping at a fund raiser. The Animal Allies is in our area is in constant need of volunteers to help staff the walk for animals (handing out t-shirts, collecting donations, running the dog Olympics), x-mas card photo for dogs having their photo taken with Santa,, the dog gone good time event, the list is endless.

* are you good with bookwork or filing? Animals allies is always looking for help filing papers to putting out the next newsletter.

* help writing the newsletter.
There is something for everyone. The only thing needed is your time.

* most importantly, if you know of someone who needs an animal, tell them about your local shelter. Many of the dogs that are admitted are pure bread dogs.

So what to animals have to do with fashion? Think about cavemen, the fashion was to wear fur. Speaking of fur, I need to add a little tidbit. You will never find any real fur being used in my designs. This is the 20^th century, the need for having to wear fur was probably appropriate in the caveman ages. Now-a-day’s it’s not necessary and it’s downright cruel. Animals also provide inspiration for my designs (see below):

White Faux Fur Bolero Jacket