Fashion can be fleeting. But on Oct. 25, The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary of Washington, DC will host the 70th Anniversary Platinum Celebration Fashion Show Luncheon and Auction at The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner.
This post originally appeared in our October 2019 issue. For more style content, events and more, subscribe to our newsletters.
The enduring event raises funds for local charities, like Turning Point Center in DC, which offers transitional housing and life skills courses for young homeless mothers and their children; Camp Happyland in Central Virginia, which hosts 400 children from low-income families each summer; and the Salvation Army’s new Anti-Human Trafficking Program, which provides 24-hour emergency response and housing for women and men.
The fashion show has illustrious roots, with boldface DC names like Marjorie Merriweather Post, Alice Sheets Marriott and Gwendolyn Cafritz all involved with the Women’s Auxiliary throughout its history—along with Bess Truman, who was the first of a long line of first ladies up through Laura Bush to attend or support the fashion show.
This year, former Redskins player Brian Mitchell will emcee the event, which will include a live and silent auction. Look for fashion to be front and center with bags from Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade and Tory Burch all up for grabs via a ticketed raffle. Private rounds of golf with several former Redskins players and a weekend for two in NYC will also be on the auction block. And, of course, there will be shopping.
Bloomingdale’s, the fundraiser’s longtime fashion partner, provides all the clothes for the runway models—and the following morning will host a reception for the fashion show’s guests.
“I like the energy. It’s a lot of work,” says Robyne Barth, the fundraiser’s chairwoman. “But it’s exciting to know that you’ve done something that’s going to mean so much to people and help them in their lives. It feels good and you wish you could do even more.”
Now that’s a catwalk we can get behind. // The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner: 1700 Tysons Blvd., McLean; individual tickets $150, table $1,500
