Local Women Promote Fashion For a Cause

Two local young women are promoting fashion with a cause at a show to be held Thursday in New York City.

 Bottomless Closet, an organization dedicated to helping underprivileged women find jobs, will be holding its first fashion show with the help of  Mahzada Qarizada, 19 of Kings Park, and Jamie Kelly, 23 of Hauppauge.

Qarizada and Kelly began volunteering at Bottomless Closet in August last year and began to push for a fashion show about a month later. For Qarizada, it was a chance to join two interests together. “I love fashion and I love helping people,” Qarizada said. All proceeds will be going to Bottomless Closet.

A monthly committee was formed to put together the show and, according to Kelly, it was the connections to the fashion industry that many people in the committee had that provided the sponsorships for the show. Companies sponsoring include Skyy Vodka and who is providing the clothes for the show. “We really didn’t expect to get the sponsorships that we did,” Kelly said.

Qarizada and Kelly have followed the processes the whole way from its conception to its realization this next week. Both were in charge of picking out the clothes for the show along with celebrity stylist Derek Warburton who will emcee the event.

It won’t be professional models walking down the runway Thursday night. Instead the actual clients of Bottomless Closet will be the modes for this show.

The ultimate goal for the show is to help spread awareness of Bottomless Closet. “It always thrills me to introduce someone to Bottomless Closet and they say to me ‘what you do means so much to me,’”  said Jessica Land Director of Volunteers and Partnerships at Bottomless Closet.

“We plan on doing this every year, but it depends on how successful this one is,” Qarizada said. Organizers are hoping to sell about 300 tickets and have already reached the halfway mark. The show will be at The Park in Manhattan. Tickets are  $35 in advance and $40 at the door.