Autism awareness week culminates in Friday night Service in Style fashion show

On Friday night, Service in Style held its seventh annual Fashion Speaks benefit fashion show, from which all proceeds will be split between Autism Speaks and the Eden Institute.

Autism Speaks is a national philanthropic venture dedicated to raising awareness about autism and funding treatment and prevention research. The Eden Institute is a school that provides educational programs for autistic people. Both groups are based in New Jersey.

This year, the organization raised over $8,000 for the two groups through various means, including a silent auction featuring donated items such as a flat-screen TV and diamond earrings. Other fundraisers included a raffle, on-site donations and pledges.

Since its inception, Service in Style has raised more than $45,000 for Autism Speaks alone through the group’s signature Fashion Speaks event.

This year, co-directors Ariel Powell ’12 and Kara Dreher ’12 decided to increase the advocacy element of the fashion show by holding an autism awareness week prior to the event.

Events held throughout the week included a talk given by the parent of an autistic child enrolled at the Eden Institute.

“We explicitly asked for a parent [speaker],” Powell said. “We thought [it] would make it easier for students to connect on a more personal level.”

After the talk, which began their awareness week, the group also engaged in a poster campaign and occupied a table in Frist Campus Center for several days, selling Fashion Speaks T-shirts and specially-designed ribbons.

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The table also offered information about autism and the two organizations receiving the funds, along with a blank puzzle that passersby were encouraged to sign to show their support. The puzzle pieces will be donated to the Eden Institute.

Dreher and Powell also asked representatives from Autism Speaks and the Eden Institute, as well as Claire Cole ’12, former chair of the Student Volunteers Council Eden School program, to open the shows.

“[Cole] shared her personal experiences with children with autism,” Dreher said. “It was a really powerful way to frame the whole thing.”

During the show, emcees Catherine Cohen ’13 and Gabriel Crouse ’12 performed skits that included facts about the disorder and the two beneficiaries of the event.

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Other changes to the show included the addition of a second show to accommodate the high attendance. The events, one standing room only, attracted over 500 attendees, a group comprised of students, prospective students and community members.

Designed to emulate a professional fashion show, the show included over 150 looks from over 20 New York-based, Princeton-based and national brand-name designers. A 32-foot runway was constructed in the Rockefeller College common room and lined with four rows of chairs. Just outside the room was a step-and-repeat, a black backdrop in front of which attendees could have their photos taken by a student photographer, similar to a red carpet event.

“A lot of the designers that we had contribute were high-end enough that they would not be used to contributing to a student-run fashion show,” Dreher said. “But they were impressed by the professionalism of the show and the impact that we have.”

Nell Diamond ’11, both a model and former Fashion Speaks model chair, said she has seen the group grow enormously during her four years of involvement. Whereas during her freshman year the group struggled to find funding and to fill seats, this year “too many designers wanted to donate clothing and the seats were packed,” Diamond said.

Audience members said they were also eager to take part in the planning process.

Carly Paris ’14, a first-time attendee, was taken by all aspects of the event, from the clothing to the music, courtesy of the student group the MashMaticians.

“I really want to get involved with it next year,” Paris said. “It’s a great cause.”