Look To The Stars News: Twiggy

British Stars Donate Dresses Fit For A Princess

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0000

In collaboration with the Princess Alice Hospice charity in the UK, The Bentall Centre in Kingston is hosting a star-studded fashion exhibition from 26th September 2009 until 19th October showcasing celebrity party attire in store windows, which will then be online at www.ebya.co.uk/charity from 19th October, to raise money for the Hospice.

Over forty personalities and luminaries, including; Dame Helen Mirren, Lynda Bellingham, Samantha Cameron, Beth Ditto, Girls Aloud’s Kimberley Walsh, Helena Bonham Carter, Geri Halliwell, Paloma Faith, Joanna Lumley, Trinny Woodhall, Fearne Cotton, Twiggy and The Saturdays have all kindly donated dresses to the Fit For a Princess event.

Unique pieces include an Alberta Ferretti sequin skirt and top which was worn at The Planet of the Apes premiere by Helena Bonham Carter, Paloma Faith’s gorgeous green silk and lace prom dress, which she wore in her latest ‘New York’ music video and a Herve Leger gown from Beverley Knight. There is a wonderful two piece worn by Joanna Lumley at a James Bond gala, which in her letter given with the dress boasts that they have been ‘shaken and stirred’ by two 007 agents – Daniel Craig and Roger Moore!

Most of the attire donated comes with provenance from the celebrity patrons i.e. signed pictures and letters, which potential new owners will gain.

Garments from these celebrities amongst other musicians, actresses and fashionistas will be displayed exclusively in The Bentall Centre for one month. Visitors to the Centre will then be able to bid for their favourite idol’s outfit through an auction on eBAY, with all proceeds coming to Princess Alice Hospice.

The auction goes live on October 19 and runs until October 29. To be sure of getting your hands on a celebrity treasure visit www.ebay.co.uk/charity and type in Fit for a Princess as your search term.

Darran Hutchings, Communication Officer at Princess Alice Hospice, said, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with The Bentall Centre on such a large and high profile project. Not only are they dedicated to supporting local charities, they are also able to deliver highly professional and rewarding events. Together we will be able to raise money for, and raise the profile of this vital local charity”.

Princess Alice Hospice is a registered charity based in Esher, Surrey. It provides specialist end of life and palliative care for people with life-limiting illnesses and their families both at the Hospice and in their homes. The Hospice catchment area includes Surrey, South West London and Middlesex serving a population in excess of 1 million. Over £7 million is needed each year to provide these vital and much needed services, with limited NHS funding over 75% of funding must be raised through voluntary donations and fundraising.

More info about the Princess Alice Hospice can be found at www.pah.org.uk.

Ricky Gervais Designs Manbag For Charity

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Ricky Gervais is among celebrities who have made their mark on a new fundraising initiative designed to raise awareness of prostate cancer.

Leading online retailer manbagcompany.com threw down the gauntlet to some of the UK’s favorite celebs to let their imaginations run riot and customize one of its exclusive Messenger bags. The great and the good from the arenas of fashion, comedy, art, music and film stepped forward to add their personal touches to a Manbag – and raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity into the bargain.

A host of contributors rose to the challenge and joined Ricky in supporting the initiative, including Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Alan Carr, Rio Ferdinand, Twiggy, Jade Jagger, Joe Corres, Spandau Ballet, Darth Vader, Bruce Oldfield, Jimmy Choo, Tom Baker (Dr Who) and many more.

The resulting collection of bags – from the comic to the cool – will now be auctioned on eBay on 24 June, with all of the proceeds going to the Charity.

Ricky Gervais explained his belief as to why so many celebrities have come forward to support the campaign: “Prostate cancer touches the lives of 35,000 men and their families every year in the UK. I hope the auction of celebrity manbags will raise as much money as possible for The Prostate Cancer Charity.”

Manbagcompany.com has enjoyed great success since it launched its collection of top of the range men’s bags last year, so much so that it now wanted to give something back.

Says manbag founder Bain Ellisdon: “We are delighted to be raising funds for such a worthy cause as The Prostate Cancer Charity. We have received great feedback from those we have contacted so far; this initiative really seems to have brought out people’s creative as well as philanthropic side!”

John Neate, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “This collaboration really seems to have struck people’s imaginations – and revealed some hidden artistic talent. The designs range from a glittery prostate by Jason Gardiner to a playful creation by Jimmy Choo. We would like to thank Bain and the rest of the Manbagcompany team for their support, as well as all of the celebrities who have taken the time to customize a bag. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. I think this project will really help raise awareness of the disease across different age groups, as well as generate funds for the Charity.”

To find out more and view the designs, click here.

Geri Halliwell Donates To Charity Auction

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Anyone wanting to get their hands on clothes or memorabilia from the stars should head to a fashion show and auction in Walberswick, near Southwold in the UK, to benefit Comic Relief next month.

The auction will feature items such as a designer jacket owned by Jo Brand, Davina McCall’s dresses, a t-shirt signed by Twiggy, a shrug owned by former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and one of Clive Anderson’s ties. Also going under the hammer are a Bourne Ultimatum DVD signed by director Paul Greengrass and a signed copy of a Gerri Halliwell children’s book.

“There is something for everyone over this weekend from children to adults to enjoy and hopefully people will don a red nose and spend lots of money,” organizer Angie Power told the East Anglian Daily Times. “I have really done a lot of begging and asking for these items and hopefully it should be good fun and will lift people’s spirits in this recession period.”

For tickets or more information, call Angie Power on 07816575631.

Celebrity Clothes Get Ripped For Charity

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A new fashion initiative with a difference has been launched – featuring the shredded old clothes of celebrities – to raise money for charity and persuade people in the UK to recycle their unwanted threads.

Kate Winslet’s suit, Twiggy’s jeans, and boxer Ricky Hatton’s favorite football shirt are some of the celebrity clothes that have been cut up and customized by young volunteers to create Fashion Favours, a project that aims to highlight the issues surrounding throwaway clothing.

The items that have been created will be auctioned on www.fashionfavours.com, and will also be part of a huge fashion show being held in London on World AIDS Day on December 1. Proceeds from the auction and the show will go to Body and Soul, a charity that works with young people affected by HIV in the UK.

Other names to donate clothing to the initiative include Fearne Cotton and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

British Stars Sign Favorite Books For Africa

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Some of Britain’s best loved stars have signed editions of their favorite books for a new charity auction.

Helen Mirren, Joanna Lumley, and Ian McKellen are amongst the celebrities to sign the books, which cover a wide variety of genres.

“Education offers a route out of poverty and books are the foundation of lifelong learning, yet the majority of people in Africa cannot afford books of their own,” said Lesley Pinder, Book Aid International spokeswoman. “The proceeds from this online auction will help Book Aid International support reading and learning in some of the world’s poorest countries by getting books into libraries, universities, hospitals and refugee camps.”

The range of books chosen as favorites by the stars is vast and revealing. Mirren has signed Suite Francais by Irene Nemirovsky, Sir David Jason has chosen Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows – which he voiced for a BBC series in the 1980s – and Gary Lineker has inscribed A Good Walk Spoiled by John Feinstein. Joanna Lumley has chosen Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, while Robbie Coltrane has signed Huckleberry Finn. Other names to take part include Twiggy, Alexander McCall Smith, Alan Rickman, Sue Townsend, Frederick Forsyth, Tim Rice, and Julian Fellowes.

Book Aid International is a non-profit organization that sends over half a million books to sub-Saharan Africa every year to support literacy, education and development. The books are almost always new books donated by UK publishers, and are distributed to national libraries, local and regional libraries, community libraries, schools, prisons, refugee camps, and NGO resource centers in 12 African countries. They also provide grants for purchasing books locally (especially those in local languages), and training and advice to ensure that books are targeted to the right groups of people and are well used.

The auction runs until October 27, and can be accessed through eBay.

Stars Target Breast Cancer

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Some famous names from British entertainment are lending their faces to a new advertising campaign targeting breast cancer.

Natalie Imbruglia, Anna Friel, Alan Carr, Edith Bowman, and Twiggy have been shot by acclaimed photographer Rankin wearing Fashion Targets Breast Cancer T-shirts for the campaign from Breakthrough Breast Cancer – the UK’s leading charity fighting breast cancer. The campaign aims to raise £1 million (US$2 million) to assist with research, campaigning, and education about the disease which kills around 35 women every day in the UK.

The campaign’s message is “Whatever your reason, wear one,” and each celebrity taking part has agreed to send themselves up by featuring their own comic reason. In the ads, which can be seen on Breakthrough’s website, Alan Carr jokes that the T-shirt shows off his man boobs, and Natalie Imbruglia admits that she is supporting FTBC because she has a thing about pastel colours. However, they also all see the serious side of the disease which affects 44,000 women in the UK every year.

“As a woman, I feel it is important to support this wonderful campaign,” said Imbruglia. “I was shocked when I saw the latest UK figures – 1 in 9 women are diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. The Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign makes so much sense. All you have to do, like me, is buy a T-shirt and wear it with pride. You will be helping to build on the £8.5 million already raised by this fantastic campaign to help Breakthrough Breast Cancer continue its crucial research, campaigning and education work. Breakthrough’s vision is a future free from the fear of breast cancer. I really do believe that together we can help Breakthrough achieve this. I can only reiterate what this year’s advertising campaign is saying: whatever your reason – please please wear one.”

A range of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer clothing – including T-shirts, swimwear, and accessories – will be available at stores such as Marks and Spencer, Topshop, and River Island. The range will also be available from the FTBC website. The campaign is Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s premier fundraising campaign and has raised over £8.5 million over the last 11 years. The money raised by this year’s campaign will go towards projects like the Triple Negative Trial – the first UK-based clinical trial to improve the treatment of “triple negative” breast cancer, a type of aggressive breast cancer that often affects young African women.

“My real reason for supporting Fashion Targets Breast Cancer is simple: No less than £4.50 from this T-shirt goes directly to Breakthrough Breast Cancer,” said Alan Carr, who represents the 300 men diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK every year. “So there really is no excuse is there? I want to see every one of you wearing this T-shirt with pride and supporting this fantastic charity. Just think you could look as you good as me, well, without the airbrushing and the girdle.”

Celebrities Clean Out Their Closets For Charity

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:09:39 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Is your closet looking a little empty? Or maybe a little boring? Have the moths eaten holes in your favorite frock? Well, never fear, help is here – in the form of a couple of celebrity auctions for great causes.

March will see the opening of Katherine Heigl’s new film 27 Dresses, and to mark the occasion, 20th Century Fox is auctioning 27 celebrity dresses on eBay. Fabulous frocks from Heidi Klum, Thandie Newton, Mariah Carey, Geri Halliwell, Naomi Campbell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Alesha Dixon will be up for sale in the special event, with all proceeds going to the Lavender Trust, an initiative of the UK charity Breast Cancer Care to raise money for young breast cancer sufferers.

The auction also features a stunning white John Galliano dress worn by Kylie Minogue to Cannes 2007, and a full length silver halter top belonging to her sister, Danni Minogue. The auction starts on eBay at 7pm on March 4, and a different dress will be auctioned every day.

If accessories are more your thing, then an exciting auction being held in Britain may be of interest. The Grace House North East Children’s Appeal Celebrity Bag Auction features a range of bags donated by some of England’s top stars, including members of Girls Aloud, as well as Dame Judi Dench, Twiggy, Sarah Ferguson, celebrity chef Ainsley Hariott, and newsreader Kirsty Young.

The event, to be held at the Apartment Bar in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on March 6, is sponsored by Makoosh, an online jewelry store, and will raise money to build the region’s first hospice for terminally ill children. The auction follows a similar event held last year, which raised $19,500, and featured items donated by Annie Lennox and Graham Norton.

“It is fabulous to see so many household names come out in force to support Grace House by donating their favourite handbags and manbags to be auctioned,” said Grace House Fundraising Assistant Sumera Bashir. “I would like to thank them all for making this event possible.”

More information about the auction can be found at www.gracehouse.co.uk.

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