Published March 30st, 2010
East Meets West Fashion Show and Luncheon
By Moya Stone
Spring has arrived and many of us are thinking about celebrating the warmer weather with some new threads. To help us perhaps expand our fashion horizons, The Lafayette Library and Learning Canter Foundation is holding their 2nd Annual East Meets West Fashion Show and Luncheon: A Journey along the Silk Road on May 5, 2010 at the Lafayette Veterans Memorial.
The Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation is a non-profit group raising funds for various needs of the Lafayette Library such as increased hours, new materials, building maintenance, and special programs. "We cover 52 percent of the cost of operating the building," says foundation president Kathy Merchant.
Thanks to the monies raised by events like East Meets West, the Lafayette Library Foundation helps to keep the doors open an additional twenty-one hours a week.
Event Co-Chairs Suzanne Everly and Tamra Moon say this years' event promises to be full of fashionable fun and inspiration, highlighting the eastern cultures of Turkey, India, China, and the Philippines. Included in the fashion show are Nisan Designs, Saffron Rare Threads, and Swati Couture - all designers located in the Bay Area. The fashion show will use community members as models in a Tea Room style show, where the models forgo the impersonal runway and circulate among audience members. "It's a more intimate atmosphere," says Suzanne Everly. "The audience can get a closer look at the designs, see the fabrics and construction."
As well as the fashion show, a trunk show is planned with three additional designers presenting their wares for sale - Maria Lench Handbags, Suay Silks Handbags and Soo-ling Chan Jewelry. An Indian-themed luncheon will be provided by Lafayette favorite, Susan Foord; Lafayette native Kristina Owyoung, Ms. Chinese Chamber of Commerce, is confirmed as the event's mistress of ceremony.
But there's more - a raffle. Twenty dollars a ticket or 6 for $100 will buy a chance at a weekend in St. Helena, an exotic Tahitian pearl, tickets for two to California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda with a gourmet picnic basket, a VIP wine tasking tour at Tudal Winery in St. Helena and many more exciting prizes.
After a sold out fashion show last year, the Library Foundation is confident this year will be equally successful not just in raising funds but also in sharing the arts of other ethnicities. "This is an opportunity for our community to learn about other cultures," says Suzanne Everly.
Tickets for East Meets West are $85 per person and must be reserved by April 23, rsvp@lllcf.org, or call Chris Schiavello, 283-6513 x101. The fashion fun starts at 11:00 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial, 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette.

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