Asia World Media: Fabulous Fashions For Charity At Fashion For A Passion

by Anthony Tran, Asia World Media | November 3, 2014

The Three Three Three First Avenue was the place to be on Saturday night, November 1, 2014. Dallas Fashion enthusiasts flocked to the sixth annual ‘Fashion For A Passion,’ eager to bid on a line-up of designer dresses up for auction in support of Against The Grain Productions (ATG), a non-profit organization raising awareness for orphanages in Asia, scholarships for Asian American students and brings together the talents of emerging Asian American fashion designers, artists and musicians. In its sixth year, ‘Fashion For A Passion’ event provided a place for the community to celebrate up and coming talents and at the same time, raised money for a worthy cause. Some designers have launched careers with the event, including Khanh Nguyen of Nha Khanh, who started as a UNT graduate and within a few short years, her brand has been featured in Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. Another talented designer, Hanh Dang of Lucy Dang, went on to win the title of ‘Texas Next Top Designer’ and is currently at retail giant Belk, with the potential of landing a million dollar contract with Belk.

Designers Khanh Nguyen and Becky Hollands

Held in the remote location in downtown at the chic Three Three Three building, attendees and VIP guests, like Dr. Loc and Anh Trieu, Stacie Adams from the Crow Collection of Asian Art Museum, Daniel Eng from EngVest and others, were treated to a night of fun, cocktails, food and fashion. Delectable hors d’oeuvres by Royal Catering were display at the entrance to the runway room, as were the fabulous designs from Asian designers, like Vatana Watters, Mai Pham and more, floated flamboyantly throughout the room. As the ladies sipped their drinks and circled the floor, an array of photographers clicked away at their cameras to capture the spectators unique looks. This sold out event raised over $30,000 for ATG and provided the audience a unique experience in fashion fundraising. Some were fortunate to go home with designer dresses while other win bid on auction items, like one of a kind painting by artist Elaine Wang, bottle of wines and gift baskets.

This year rosters included designers Becky Hollands, Jerry Matthews of Nine Muses, Brandy Pham of Brandy Pham Jewels, Mai Pham, Hue Tran of Lizzi London, Vatana Watters of Watters Bridal and Dora Yim of d.p.c. by Dora Yim. Musical entertainment and performers, Heart & Hero, Jonavi, Andrew Yun and Lizzy Tan, displayed their talents and this year, ATG featured a first-time ever dance performance by 2014 Against the Grain Artistic Scholarship winner Lizzy Tan, who is an incoming freshman dance major at UT Austin. “We are excited to deliver many firsts to make this year’s event even more unique and exciting,” says Against The Grain President and Co-Founder Tammy Nguyen Lee. “It’s a testament to the show and our own evolution. We challenge ourselves to keep things fresh for our loyal audience, and it’s in keeping with the spirit of ‘Going Against The Grain’.” Dallas local CBS 11 Morning News reporter Elizabeth Dinh and actress, spokes model LeeAnne Locken team up to emcee the evening, with additional voice-over talent Sam Liu.

Designer Hue Tran of Lizzi London