Rotaract Jumeirah Charity Fashion Show

After the success of Fashion My Community in 2011, we are going to put on Dance My Community in May 2012.

To help out, email khadra.osman@rotaractjumeirah.org with the subject line, "I want to help out with Dance My Community!"

Here's our original report on the fashion show last year:

I just got back from Juba and it's time to update you on the fashion show that rocked Dubai on May 21st 2011! (Yeah. . . Juba. . . I traded models and hors d'œuvres for heat and mosquitos)

Check out the video on MyDubai: Rotaract Jumeirah Charity Fashion Show! It's a poor substitute for being there, but it's all I've got. . .

And Whoa does it look spectacular! The video of the show that I got looked like something I would see on TV. . . and we put it on with no money at all, just lots of volunteer time and tremendous effort from Khadra and Sevan and everybody else at Rotaract Jumeirah and beyond.

It's amazing what you can do with a vision, a desire to help, and the support of the Rotaract community.

It all started with an idea at a Rotaract meeting in the Mina Salaam hotel, and I can't pinpoint where it took off from there, but getting the Media 1 hotel on-board with a venue was a the first milestone.

When I heard we had an entire floor overlooking the Palm Jumeirah I was ecstatic - and when I got to go up and see the space the weekend before the event and found out it was shaped like an ellipse I was over the moon. I love curved space! Then I thought, "Oh man, we need to wash these windows 'till they're crystal clear!" and low and behold, window washers showed up within the hour.

Then there were the sponsors that made the world turn 'round! Especially all the help from Mall of the Emirates, Saatchi & Saatchi, . . . oh gosh, since I wasn’t involved in that part I'll probably miss people out so I'd better stop there!

A bunch of favors and models from Bareface gave us the people-power to move forward, and our short list of possible designers grew into a long list and then a cutthroat competition for the people that made the final cut.

After the 7 Days report of a lackluster showing for the Dubai Fashion Week, (the pictures they ran were somewhat uninspiring. . .but maybe 7 Days had an ax to grind. I thought we might have a problem with community and fashion in Dubai, but the designs I saw on the video were great.

More on the designs: I'm a jeans & t-shirt kind of guy (you can make a note that I fall in love with every girl in jeans and a white t-shirt I meet) and in the past I must admit that when my GF showed up for a party in a fancy, tasteful dress, I thought, "Why'd you change out of your jeans & t-shirt? Before you looked so HOT! Now you just look like some girl in a nice dress. . . like every other girl in here." - That didn't go over well. Anyway, that was all a long-winded setup to my main point: the formal designs were fabulous!!

Now, I could just be all starry eyed because this is my fashion show (okay, I admit it. It’s not mine. It's really Sevan & Khadra and Rotaracts'. . . but that makes it sort-of mine!) and this is the only time I've had a reason to pay attention to formal wear. (My girlfriend gave up and just wore jeans & t-shirts all the time) but I am impressed by the quality of the designers we had for Fashion My Community - I was like, "Whoa! These guys are really from my community?! My community has awesome designers in it, it's not just all hot air?! If we can do this with fashion, just think what we can do the rest of the community!!!

Haha! So maybe that's the new Rotaract motto:) 'Fashion your community... into our very own service-above-self Rotaract mold!' Make Dubai like us (or better than us!) and we'll find ways to do even more for charity, community impact, and building connections and relationships in society.

After we finish these two big events (the Fashion Show and, upcoming, The Extraordinary Entrepreneurial Mind - you don't want to miss it!), we're thinking about where to go next with Rotaract. We don't want to grow into a club that's just really good at glitz and glamor and putting on large events. - Sure that is part of what we do and we enjoy the excitement, but I think that we can be more than that. I want us to have deep roots. So we will be exploring in the next few months what more Rotaract can do, whether that means to plug people in to volunteer with charities in the UAE, or work with universities to motivate young professionals to impact their communities, or moving beyond Dubai to other areas in the UAE. (Fujairah is the up and coming place in my books, they just announced a big deal with Juba involving trade & services and media channels:)) There is exciting stuff for Rotaract everywhere!

So keep tuned for what Rotaract is up to next, whether we're volunteering at charities, starting businesses in Africa, or putting on our next event. With the inertia we've got going, it will be great.