One of my favorite events in the entire month of April is the annual fashion-forward fundraiser, Discarded to Divine. Presented by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco (SVDP-SF), the seventh annual Discarded to Divine Gala auctioned off 120 one-of-a-kind fashions, accessories, and home décor items made with textiles reclaimed from discarded garments. And I went home with two of them!
Ever since spying this caftan at a media preview, I knew it was going home with me.
The event covered two floors of the San Francisco Design Center.
Discarded to Divine Co-Chair Bette McKenzie created a necklace made from her mother’s button collection.
A friend, Tyese Cooper (who is also a Bay Area stylist), created a super cute jacket.
Let the live auction began!
I was determined to win the jacket above, created by Olga Shor. Unfortunately I was priced out after 30 seconds of bidding. But the two ladies below, fellow Discarded to Divine volunteers Jen Lu and Jennie B!, managed to convince me to bid on the gown by Monique Hutchings. Emboldened by them egging me on and the three glasses of wine I downed in quick succession, I made the winning bid!
The highest bid of the evening—$1600—went for a Mad Men-inspired, black silk cocktail dress and fuchsia swing coat by Karen Caldwell that had been commissioned in honor of fashion innovator Christine Suppes. Christine founded the first online fashion magazine, Fashion Lines, and is a long-time supporter of SVDP-SF and Discarded to Divine. I had the great privilege of interviewing her, and I was so relieved to hear that she liked my write-up.
Doesn’t Christine look ravishing in Rodarte!
All proceeds from Discarded to Divine benefit two of the SVDP-SF’s programs: the Help Desk, which serves 12,000 homeless and low-income individuals annually with clothing, toiletries and household goods, and the Riley Center which provides an integrated network of services and shelters. So even though I got carried away winning bids for both the caftan and the gown, it’s kind of a no-brainer given how many people will be helped. Plus, every year the designs get better and better – so I’m already saving up for Discarded to Divine 2013!
Photos by Tyler Freeman
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