STYLEAID BLOG

Well hi there…it has been a busy week but I thought I would take this time to sit down and tell you what has been happening this week.

FIAT have now come on board and are now the official car for STYLEAID Renaissance…you will be able to see some of the great new FIAT cars at STYLEAID this year and we thank them for coming on board to support the event and the charity work for the WA AIDS Council.

Also working madly this week on the STYLEAID magazine as the deadline looms near and along with Tamara Day ( who is working in the office with me a couple of days a week) and the wonderful Desiree Selvey our graphic designer who is putting the magazine together we have been working on getting something together that will be hotter than ever before.

Add the great photography from this year, some hot adds from our great sponsors and the top WA fashion and you will see a magazine that really is amazing…I am so unbiased as you can tell but this does promise to be the best magazine we have done in support of the event so far.

Finalising prizes for the auction as well and making sure that the auction items all get finalised…oh yes and also taking bookings and payments for tables…

 Get in quick as we are selling lots of tickets each day at the moment and I am hopeful that we will sell out within 2 weeks!

Well that is enough for now…hope you are enjoying the new site this year and I hope to see you at the fashion fundraising event of 2008 - STYLEAID Renaissance…

 Mark xox

Well here we are just 6 weeks out from STYLEAID and the buzz is building…after our very successful Veuve Clicquot Sponsors night on Wednesday at (A)LURE at the Burswood Entertainment Complex - look out for the pics to hit the social pages next week!

Tonight sees us move the photographic exhibition into the Turner gallery for 3 weeks…so if you get a chance do drop in and have a look at some of the great shots on show.

More news soon…

Keep coming and I look forward to seeing you on July 18 at our night of nights.

Mark xox

Well I am a little late starting the blog this year but here we go.  Sorry for the delay but as you would be aware if you have followed our blogs for the past couple of years organising this event takes a little time and that has been my focus so far.

Now with the sensational new site for this year, we have once again taken a trip to a new dimension…add to that our move to the Burswood Grand Ballroom and a move to July and you have a great new look and feel for an old favourite.

This is year 11 and it promises to really be the best yet.  I have been working along side one of the hardest working committees ever on making everything about this year special…so you can look forward to something unique, extraordinary and amazing as we head towards Friday 18 July.

Keep checking back as I promise you will get more and more as the weeks progress.  We will also have some great guest bloggers on this year as well.

Mark xox

Well here I am rested after having a few days of and already my mind is moving onto 2008! Oh well why rest on your laurels when you have another great event to start planning for our 11th amazing year.

I received some great pictures of the fashion today but all the images are so big that I am waiting to make them smaller so that I can post them on here for you to all see…they are from a great photographer Brendan Beirne and I should have them up on here in the next day or so…please check back so you can have a look at them.

I am so pleased this year that I have received some wonderful emails from guests who attended the event to say how much they enjoyed it and that they thought it was the best one yet!  This will give us all some thought about how we can make 2008 an even better event…that is why we start planning now…

Anyway pics to come in the next day or so…

Take care til then.

Mark xox

With just 2 more sleeps to go the excitement is building and with bump in beginning tomorrow the day promises to be huge!

I know I have talked about it lots but the stage is shaping up to be spectacular and we now just have to work out how it is going to get in and all will be great, of course there will be no problems and it will blow peoples minds.

This really is a special year for me, what with a fantastic naming rights sponsor and a stage that is fantastic, but once again to be working with the most amazing team of professional people around.  From Aly and Tony to Annette and Stephanie and all the others on my committee who are putting in the hard yards to really make year 10 a big night.

Plus I have a dear freind who worked with me on STYLEAID 4 years ago flying in from Singapore with his partner to attend as well as one of my best freinds flying over from Sydney with his partner…it will be so nice in the five minutes that I usually get to sit down to have these people here with me for the event.

Speaking of support for me…my partner Trevor has been his usual inspirational, supportive self allowing me to come home grumpy and tired but always being there for me and letting me just be when I have needed to be.  If I did not have him there it would make this all the more difficult.

STYLEAID really has evolved over the past 10 years and with some exciting announcements on the night promises to shine for more to come.

I will endeavour to post a couple more blogs before the night if I get time but if not be sure that there will be a full wrap up on Monday once the event is over and the dust has settled a bit.

We have already had over 100,000 hits this month alone and we are only at the 8th day so once again thanks for tuning in…

Mark xox

Well here we are nearly at the end of fittings for this year!  With only 12 days until the big night we only have 3 more disigners out of 18 to see today and then we are just about there with our fittings.

I cannot beleive how smoothly it is all running.  Thanks to Aly who ran the day like clockwork and made it all flow so well that we actually had time to do other things, like eat lunch.

With over 80 models and 18 designers all coming in, having 3 fitting rooms going at the same time really helped us to make the process run well.  It is a credit to Aly and the fact that we have a strong team working with us that we were able to have such a great fitting day.

Now it is time to move into the nitty gritties of the event and finish following up goodies for our gift bag, extra tombola items and bits and pieces that all make the night a hit!

After seeing the amazing stage in construction at the end of the week, the excitement is palpable for us here.  I even got a chance to have a chat to Pat from Preacher about the shirt that she is designing me to go with another amazing suit this year.

The website keeps going from strength to strength in terms of the numbers of people visiting and I do hope you are enjoying it this year and also the blog.  You will get more from Aly this week as well so keep a look out for it.

Mark xoxo

Last week Matt Lee and I hit the streets of Mt Lawley and more specifically Preacher to have a chat to Pat about designing and making something for Matt for STYLEAID. As the naming right sponsor for the event and all round fashion icon…Matt has a distinct and amazing style that needs a creative eye like Pat to put something together for him that will really meet his desire in terms of look for the event.

With much discussion on fabric, style, cut, cuffs, look, etching and design on the table a unqiue and amazing design evolved from out of Pat’s creative mind and I know she will create the vision of what Matt is looking for to give him an outfit that really melds his personality with his flair for clothes.

It promises to be a HOT look that people will be talking about on the night and is sure to make all of the social pages.

I will also be wearing Preacher on the night, which has become a bit of a tradition for me over the past 3 years and have once again been fortunate to have an amazing suit created for me and the shirt is something that will truly reflect our theme for this year…

Earlier this week we met with stage and light gurus Tony Salom and Dave at PCEC to look over the design and do the table placement…finally seeing the full drawings of the stage with lighting options and everything that will be in place on the night really makes the event even more exciting.  With the theming from Emily Salom and flowers from Code Bloom all working together to create the look for the ballroom this will blow peoples socks off.

Add to that an amazing installation from Majool (the fantastic new furniture and homewares store in Subiaco) in the pre dinner drinks area and yet another creation from VanLee all taking shape I can’t wait!

Well dear reader another week has come and gone, well almost, and we are heading towards the weekend…probably one of the last one’s that I will have off before the big night.

Some exciting news that is happening at present is our sponsor launch on Tuesday night - something that we do that lets us say thank you to our sponsors who support our work and make STYLEAID possible.

This promises to be a great night and we will be unvieling the STYLEAID DVD that we will be showing on the night that will remind people of why they are there and who they are supporting.

With just over 100 people due on Tuesday night the Veuve Clicquot should flow freely along with a stunning menu of canapes that will keep our kind sponsors happy.

It will also be where we show the STYLEAID photographic exhibition for the first time, before it heads off to the Johnston Gallery in Gylde Street Osborne Park for 9 days.  This is the first time we have had a gallery space to display the photographs and once again adds a whole new component to the event.

So keep in touch and keep reading.  Next week we will have Aly once again chatting about her road to the night as well as Lisa from Grace and Scarper chatting about what she is hoping to do on the night when we showcase her wonderful jewellery.

Have a great weekend and thanks for supporting STYLEAID, the WA AIDS Council and our website which has had just under 300,000 hits this month alone!!!!

marc xox

Dear Reader of the blog…it is already Thursday and yet another week is zooming by.  I am in discussion with one of our sponsors from last year to once again come on board with another diamond for the treasure chest - some of you may not know but this element of the night is so much fun, people purchase a red wrist band that has a key attached and one of the keys opens the treasure chest and if it is you you win the diamond…will keep you posted on this one.

I also have a vmoto scooter to give away as a door prize to one lucky guest this year to add yet another dimension to the night.

And our VIP packages are available too…if you want to make the best night of the year even better then a VIP package would be perfect…email me for more information and I will let you know about it…

So will keep updating as things evolve…

Have a great day.

Mark

Welcome blog reader as we work our way into the last 8 weeks before we hit the event again.

This year finds me well and hectic as usual.  I am currently working on STYLEAID but also on a number of education and prevention initiatives here at WAAC.  At the end of last year once the dust had settled from STYLEAID we produced a DVD called “Being Positive” which focusses on the lives of 3 people living with HIV - of which I am one.  This was produced with the support of the WA Health Department because we we having trouble getting people who had the time or desire to go out and continue the work we had been doing with our public speaking program in schools here in Perth.  The project began over 20 years ago and is just as important today as it was then in putting a human face to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS here in Western Australia.

So with the number of speakers diminishing we had to come up with a creative solution to allow us to keep putting that human face on the epidemic.  This DVD was the answer and we are currently working on the teaching guide to go with it.  Once this is completed we will get it out there into schools and other groups that see a benefit from a resource like this.

I am having a shorter version put together currently that we will be showing at both the sponsors night (more about that in another blog) and on the night of the event just before the auction.

It is my hope that this important DVD will give people a real understanding about what it is like to be living with HIV in 2007 and beyond. It focusses on 3 very different people - a positive woman, a young man born with HIV and myself.

Other than that I have been involved in running education groups and working on a few other projects since I last posted here that has been keeping me busy as well of course of resigning old and new sponsors for STYLEAID for this year.

 I have also taken on a role of writing fashion articles for our local gay and lesbian publication here in Perth - OUT In Perth and am really enjoying working with editor Zoe Carter each month to produce, what I hope is some fun fashion articles.

With plans well and truly at full steam and bookings rolling in this does promise to be an amazing night.

I look forward to keeping you updated as the days and weeks progress up to and beyond the night.

Keep your eyes on the blog.