A sea of lavishly decorated top hats. Fashionable runway nods to whimsical children's book characters. Entertainment that included acrobats, stilts walkers, fire twirlers and statue imitators.
Sounds like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland, right?
An Alice in Wonderland theme indeed prevailed at the third annual Models & Jocks Presents ALS in Wonderland Fashion Show. The event May 17 at the Villa Marre attracted an overflow crowd. Prior to the show, VIP guests ascended to an upstairs room in which they were allowed to choose from an array of "mad hatter" hats bearing various themes.
Actor Malik Yoba (New York Undercover, Alphas, Revolution) and KTHV-TV, Channel 11, news anchor Denise Middleton served as hosts for the show, which featured Alice, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the White Queen, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Mad Hatter and additional characters, along with other models who displayed fashions by Jeante, J.M. Gentry's, Love R.O.C.S., RK Collections, House of BSquared by BNicole, Lavender, Chavon Shree and, for the finale, Romas by Linda Rowe Thomas and Bauman's Fine Men's Clothing. Highlighting the show was entertainment by singer Amber Shehadeh, violinist Tazonio Anderson, and a "Creation Cirque" performance by members of ReCreation Studios.
Yoba -- who kept the audience in stitches with his remarks about the unseasonably cool weather and his scolding of anyone who carried on their conversations while he was addressing the audience -- also conducted the live auction.
The evening ended with a moving testimony by Daniel Young, who was recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Gross proceeds for the show were $26,000 as of May 20. The money will benefit the ALS in Wonderland Foundation, created to meet the needs of patients and their families. ALS in Wonderland was founded by Lara Blume whose father, Richard Blume, was stricken with ALS in 2009. Patients are welcome to contact the foundation at alsinwonderland.com.
High Profile on 05/25/2014