Tag - artists for peace and justice

It was an exceptionally gorgeous day in LA when DecadesTwo held their annual Shoe extravaganza-benefiting the non-profit organization Artists for Peace and Justice (founded by Paul Haggis)- who had built schools, a hospital and an orphanage in Haiti, but unfortunately, all buildings were destroyed by the quake.

I spoke with Decades owner Christos Garkinos, who told me that people were lined up around 4am that morning. This was their fourth major shoe event. They had reached out to their clients, who then donated their shoes and allowed Decades to mark them down in price for the fundraiser. The number of people that lined up (from their first event)grew from twelve to five-hundred. He said this exorbitant amount of people was almost like a “Shoestock.” When I was there, about two hours after the event started, over seven-hundred pairs of shoes (ranging from Manolos, Jimmy Choos, Diors, Valentinos and Marc Jacobs) had been sold, leaving around one-hundred fifty pairs left. 100% of the proceeds are going to Haiti. Celebrities like Holly Robinson Peete, Lisa Rinna and Selma Blair stopped by to show their support. Actress Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon who is a loyal client and friend of Christos, was also on hand at the event. She and Christos had partnered together to put on the event for such a great cause. Though for Garcelle, who is Haitian, the news of the quake hit a little too close to home. She still has family there and at the time we spoke, her Aunt was still missing. My heart goes out to her and I hope her family gets reunited with the Aunt soon.

Dear Readers, I wanted to also talk briefly about my experience at DecadesTwo. First, Christos aka “Fashion Robin Hood” loves fashion and loves that his business is about recycling (whether it be shoes or apparel). The store was such a gem, in that I saw brands of shoes and especially red carpet gowns (vintage is their specialty) from notable designers like: Versace, Vera Wang, Dior, Chanel, Proenza Schouler, Elie Saab, etc, that I only read about in fashion magazines and dared to dream about actually seeing them in person. *If you’re a fashionista growing up in the Mid-West, you’d know what I’m talking about*

SPECIAL THANKS: J, DecadesTwo (www.decadestwo.com) and is located at 8214 Melrose Ave. (323)655-1960, Christos Garkinos, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, the many clients that donated their shoes to the cause and Artists for Peace & Justice (www.artistsforpeaceandjustice.com),