elainehendrixes: Pittsburgh-area cancer survivors have reason to strut during fashion show

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Pittsburgh-area cancer survivors have reason to strut during fashion show

By JoAnne Klimovich Harrop

Published: Thursday, August 23, 2012, 9:04?p.m.
Updated 4 hours ago

Walking down the runway will be about more than showing off beautiful fashion.

It will be about courage and survival, and a chance to forget about medications and doctors appointments.

The models walking the catwalk are cancer survivors and/or their family members. They are taking part in the first Strut Your Strength Fashion Show: Where There?s a Will, There?s a Runaway on Saturday night.

The event is a team effort between Gilda?s Club Western Pennsylvania and locally based online boutique ModCloth (www.modcloth.com). Gilda?s Club, which is in the Strip District, offers support programs for anyone living with cancer ? men, women, teens, children ? and their families. Its members will be modeling fashions by ModCloth, which features retro, indie and vintage-inspired clothing styles. The show benefits Gilda?s Club.

?We invited the models to try on something that they might not have worn before,? says Aire Plichta, fashion press specialist for ModCloth and a co-chair of the event. ?Maybe they could try something with sparkles, or in a color that is different than what they normally would wear. We wanted them to have fun doing this, and for it to be an enjoyable experience.?

There will be 19 models. Each chose a song that will be played as they walk the runway. Words from the models about how cancer has affected their lives will be hung on the walls. The quotes are so powerful, says Allison Franks, senior product launch coordinator at ModCloth.

?I really like this dress I am wearing,? says Olga Dubrovsky, a two-time cancer survivor from Plum, who will be wearing a multicolor dress. ?It is not really my style. I thought I should have worn black, but once I put this one on, I really liked it. It is so colorful. It is a little out of my comfort zone, but now I can?t wait to walk down the runway in it. I am so excited.?

Joining Dubrovsky on the runway will be Marla Roebuck of Crawford Square, Uptown. She has participated in many of the activities at Gilda?s Club as a way to support her sister, Margaret Antoinette Bray, who has breast cancer.

?As soon as I heard about this fashion show I thought it was a fantastic idea,? says Roebuck, who has lost three siblings to cancer. ?I have been trying to get my sister to come to events at Gilda?s. Gilda?s is a wonderful place and has helped me so much. I have done everything there from yoga to jewelry making. It is such a wonderful atmosphere when you walk through that door.?

The partnership was formed because Jen McCrady, who is on the board at Gilda?s and is a cancer survivor, knows ModCloth?s landlord. So, she and her colleagues on the board reached out to ModCloth, which has been in the Strip District before moving to Crafton. She and Franks, are chairing the event.

?This is a great opportunity for us,? says Carol Lennon, executive director at Gilda?s Club. ?Everyone from ModCloth has been wonderful. We didn?t know what to expect, but they have been amazing and so accommodating. And, to be working with a locally founded company, it was just a natural connection. It?s a wonderful partnership that we wish to continue in the future.?

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at jharrop@tribweb.com or 412-320-7889.