By Amy Schneider

The Daily Barometer

In recognition of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, Peer Health Advocates and the OSU Fashion Organization jointly hosted a Red Dress Fashion Show Tuesday night in the MU Ballroom, a first-time collaborative event involving red-themed dresses modeled and designed by students.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, World AIDS Day has been observed since 1988 when it was established by the World Health Organization. While about a million Americans have been tested HIV positive, 33 million people worldwide are living with the disease. In light of these facts, the fashion show acted to draw attention to the issue.

"It seems like there's a lot that we don't know about AIDS," said Debbie Christel, a graduate student adviser and affiliate of the OSU Fashion Organization. "I hope that this show can make people feel more comfortable with the AIDS issue and can also help people understand that it's okay to talk about it."

Several other components were involved in addition to the main fashion event, including student group tables, guest speakers and a video presentation. The show was primarily focused on raising AIDS awareness, not only on a local level but globally as well.

"HIV/AIDS isn't such a major issue in the Corvallis area, but it is a problem elsewhere in the world," said Dan Horner, the main organizer of the event and a senior in microbiology. "Some parts of the event will show AIDS on a wider scale."

Prior to the fashion show, tables were set up with information pertaining to AIDS.

"We have several student groups represented," Horner said.

Student group contributors included the Pride Center, FACEAIDS and the Valley AIDS Information Network.

A five-minute video sponsored by the group FACEAIDS was shown, followed by two prominent guest speakers.

"We wanted some star power," Horner said, "so we asked the mayor of Corvallis, Charles Tomlinson, if he would be willing to speak and he was more than happy to do it."

The mayor recognized the importance of World AIDS Day at the beginning of the fashion show.

"We need to think about those with AIDS every day of our lives," Tomlinson said. "World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to promote focus on a local and international level, and I encourage citizens to join the global effort to prevent the spread of AIDS."

After the mayor spoke, Valley AIDS Information Network President Bob Skinner spoke about his experiences with AIDS. Having been diagnosed HIV positive nine years ago, Skinner encouraged everyone to be tested for HIV.

"I'm a big advocate of testing," Skinner said. "Just a prick of the finger and you're done."

The remainder of the program was devoted to the main event on the runway, with many of the 26 designers doubling as models. Each dress was specifically fashioned to incorporate red into the design, since red is the symbolic color of AIDS awareness.

"Student Health Services contacted us to help out with the fashion show," said Kristen Drzayich, vice president of the OSU Fashion Organization and a junior in apparel design. "In past years we've helped out with the Recycled Fashion Show, so it was fun to try something new this year."

Members of the fashion group were already working on projects when they learned of the Red Dress Fashion Show, and they only had about two and a half weeks to design and put together their red-themed dresses.

"We tried to incorporate some red into each dress," Drzayich said. "With some dresses we had a variation of red or a red accessory."

Christel, who organized the dresses and emceed the fashion show, emphasized that the take-home message was one of worldwide AIDS awareness.

"Even though Corvallis is a small community, we can all work to make a difference internationally, and I think that's amazing."

Amy Schneider, staff writer

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