Fashioning Cancer Fundraiser

A Night of Fashion, Art, and Music Supporting Cancer Prevention

WHAT:

alumni UBC welcomes fashion, art, and music lovers to Fashioning Cancer, a fundraiser in support of the Canadian Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Centre at UBC.

The event is part of Western Living Design Week and will feature the auction of ten exquisite evening gowns that were designed as works of art to inspire conversations about cancer.

The gowns, designed by Jacqueline Firkins, Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Theatre and Film, were inspired by colourful microscopic images of cancer cells and cellular systems.

·      Auction and ticket proceeds will go to the Canadian Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Centre at UBC.

·      Canada’s queen of punk, singer/songwriter and cancer survivor, Bif Naked, will perform a live set.

·      Cocktail party food and drink provided by Hawksworth Restaurant.

WHERE:  Porsche Centre Vancouver – 688 Terminal Ave, Vancouver

WHEN:  Tuesday, September 23, 2014 – 6:30 – 9:00pm

TICKETS:  $100      For further information and to buy tickets, visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/fashion

Fashioning Cancer is part of Western Living Design Week.

The Fashioning Cancer Research Project

The ten show-stopping ball gowns are part of a larger project entitled Fashioning Cancer: The Correlation Between Destruction and Beauty, an interdepartmental research project at UBC made possible through a Research Mentorship Grant from the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.

Assistant Professor in costume design and designer of the dresses, Jacqueline Firkins, discovered that many women who had battled cancer expressed a disconnect with the usual fashion imagery that is commonly associated with the disease, such as the pink ribbon, a signature fashion statement for breast cancer awareness.

The aim of this artistic project was to bring science and art together to encourage a more open dialogue about cancer, beauty, and body image and generate artistic imagery that is more closely connected to the disease itself.

FACT SHEET – Fashioning Cancer

The dresses were inspired by images of cancer cells and cellular systems taken by Dr. Christian C.G. Naus and his colleagues in UBC’s Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences and Life Sciences Institute. Professor Naus is a Peter Wall Distinguished Scholar in Residence and Canada Research Chair in Gap Junctions and Disease.  

Quote from Jacqueline Firkins, Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Theatre & Film:

“My hope is that somehow through fashion, I more closely tap into what a woman might be feeling about her body as she undergoes the disease, but simultaneously reflect a strength, beauty and resilience, which are three words I would immediately ascribe to the women I know who have been through this harrowing journey”. 

Event Partners

Fashioning Cancer Fundraiser partners: Canadian Cancer Society, Western Living Magazine, and alumni UBC.

Auction and ticket proceeds from the evening will go to the Canadian Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Centre at UBC.