New York City is largely known for its “models and bottles” crowd, but seldom does that crowd do any good while sipping on overpriced liquors and ogling underage Amazons. But on Oct. 21, 2010, that will all change when the Seven Bar Foundation brings together sensuous European lingerie worn by even more sensuous models in a fashion show whose guests include everyone wanting to empower women worldwide.
Wait what?! If that last part caught you off guard, don’t worry. It did us too. How do supermodels Elsa Benitez and Veronica Webb sauntering down the catwalk in their skivvies help a mother of four in Guatemala? It’s all through the aforementioned Seven Bar Foundation, which started as a microfinance institution in 2001. Since then, its evolved through these lingerie fundraisers to raise money to fund female entrepreneurs.
The first one took place last year in Miami, hosted by Eva Longoria-Parker. The organization raked in $180,000 to impact 2,233 women in India, Mexico and Brazil. And guess what? Nearly all of those women have paid back their loans through profits from their own successful businesses. The next one will be at Cipriani’s 42nd Street location.
Now for the moral question: Is it right to use women as objects to help other women in need? Well, women need to wear panties, and they might as well be pretty panties. It’s kind of a sliding scale. But as our mothers used to say, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and from the looks of it, everyone at the Seven Bar Foundation has a lot of heart.
To order your seat at Lingerie New York, click here.
Photo courtesy of the Seven Bar Foundation.