PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — As fashion week takes place in major fashion capitals around the world, an inspiring fashion show in Philadelphia this month will look unlike any other.
DreamWalk Fashion Show was made for every girl who’s dreamed of fiercely strutting down a runway.
“All shapes, all sizes, all differences, all backgrounds, all personalities, all abilities” are welcome, co-founder Lexi Scaffidi said
Scaffidi and her sister, Alyse, founded the fashion show, which celebrates body positivity and diversity, in 2017. Their mission is to show women they don’t have to look like a Victoria’s Secret model to be an angel on the catwalk.
Each year, at least 100 models from across the country participate. And when it comes to attire, there are no rules. The Scaffidi sisters leave the designs up to the models like Breanna Sipple.
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“This year, I chose [to wear] blue for organ donation,” Sipple said.
In 2018, she walked for the first time, a year after donating her kidney to a stranger she met on Facebook. Sipple’s recipient, Erin, soon became her best friend. The two proudly flaunted their post-procedure scars in bikinis and angel wings on the DreamWalk runway.
“Everybody’s so scared of a scar and how you look after a donation,” Sipple said. “So to be able to hold [Erin’s] hand and walk down the runway and both proudly show our scars and be like these scars are something beautiful. They tell a story of her life being saved.”
At this year’s show, a special Dreamer Award will be presented in honor of Charisse McGill, founder and owner of Lokal Artisan Foods. McGill died in January, and Lexi Scaffidi said she was one of DreamWalk’s first sponsors.
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“It’s something near and dear to my heart,” Lexi Scaffidi said. “We don’t make money from this; we donate whatever we make to a charity of our choice.”
“[Charisse McGill] believed in us back in 2018,” she said. “That’s when she was starting, so it’s like she had nothing as well and she still took time to give us something”
DreamWalk Fashion Show is Feb. 24 from 1-3 p.m. at Fabrika in Fishtown. Tickets are available online.
