Last night I photographed Project Runway All Stars winner Mondo Guerra at a party held at the Hotel Palomar in Center City. It was a party where people dressed to impress this Valentine’s Day.
In case your not familiar with Mondo, he was a contestant on the 10th season of Project Runway. During the season there’s a
custom print challenge. Contestants on the reality television show have
pulled inspiration for their designs from childhood memories,
relationships and pop culture, and the resulting patterns have been
nostalgic, raw and abstract.
They are also extremely personal, as was
evidenced on national TV during the 10th challenge
of Season Eight in 2010. Armando Thomas “Mondo”
Guerra courageously told the judges that his pattern – bright, bold
plus signs – had been inspired by his HIV+ status, and that he had been
keeping it a secret for nearly a decade. Even his closest friends and
family were surprised. It was a pivotal moment for the young fashion
designer, who went on to win ProjectRunway All-Stars two years later and
has been designing limited edition t-shirts
and merchandise to benefit HIV/AIDS organizations around the world as
his company has grown.
The Project Runway alum designed a limited-edition t-shirt for
2013, which he unveiled at the party held in his honor. The shirt is
available at the ActionAIDS website.
Michael Byrne, Treasurer Director of Development ActionAIDS, Mondo and Kevin J. Burns, LCSW Executive Director of Action AIDS
Dean Evans, Chief Marketing Officer at Subaru of America (r)
Many fans of the show came out to show their support for Mondo
Elicia Gonzales, GALAEI executive director, Heshie Zinman and David Fischer
Kevin J. Burns, LCSW Executive Director of Action AIDS and Donald Carter
Josh Middleton,
G Philly and
Alan Graves
Wayne Knaub and Rex Rotosch
Rex want’s you to know about Fire and Ice’s new Drag Brunch every third Sunday. Check out info
here.
Julie Schollenberg and Nigel Richards, 611 Lifestyle (Hubby of Nicole Cashman. Cashman & Associates represent Hotel Palomar and help to execute this party.)
Miss Summer Clearance and Miss Stormy Weathers
Mondo addresses the crowd (as Kevin Burns looks on) and discusses how important getting the message out about HIV/AIDS awareness is, as well as finding a cure. He shared his personal story about coming out to the Project Runway judges and how on the day he did so, his beloved grandmother Betty, who had passed away a decade ago, was standing there with him in spirit.
Afterwards there was a mini fashion show with the tees. He did a salt & pepper graphic, and the ladies wore spoons and forks. Check PhillyMag.com for photos of the ladies.
They charitably had the models throw them into the adoring crowd.
Larry Toft and Natasa Toft. I asked them what their favorite romantic song was on this Valentine Day and they said “Am I Blue”
Denette Stetler and Denaire Paproth
Congrats to Joann Leszczyhsky who won two of the big time raffle items last night, with her was equally excited for her Courtney Dunn and Rhona Goldfein, all of the AIDS Law Project.
Travis Breen, Director of Sales and Marketing at Kimpton Hotels and Rachel McGowan, Area Group Rooms Coordinator at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
Last
year, more than 200 participating restaurants across the Delaware
Valley raised more than a quarter of a million dollars. Locally, nearly
20,000 people areliving
with HIV/AIDS, and the rate of new infections is about four times the
national average. At the same time, government HIV/AIDS prevention
funding has been drastically cut. Your support for this event will
enable us to deliver life changing services, including
“treatment as prevention” – a proven approach to creating the first
AIDS-free generation.
Mondo and Matthew Vlahos, Vlahos PR
In
1991, an ActionAIDS volunteer turned to a group of Philadelphia
restaurateurs to develop a new event to respond to the devastation the
epidemic had on that close
knit community. Through the generous participation of foodies,
volunteers, corporate sponsors and the restaurants themselves Dining Out
for Life quickly became a “must do” event in Philadelphia. Shortly
thereafter, ActionAIDS created a new non-profit, Dining
Out for Life International, & sold the trademark to the group in
order to allow other organizations dedicated to the fight against HIV
AIDS to benefit from this great event. Today, DOFL is held in more than
60 cities in North America, includes 3,500 restaurants
and raises nearly $4 million annually.
The
monies raised stay in each respective community and are used to fund
care, prevention, education,testing, counseling and other essential AIDS
services. In addition
to ActionAIDS, the monies raised help AIDS Delaware, Family and
Community Service of Delaware County, and Planned Parenthood of
Southeastern Pennsylvania (PPSEPA).
A
complete list of participating restaurants will be available in
mid-March. For more information in the meantime, call 1-877-EAT4LIF (1-877-328-4543) or go www.diningoutforlife.com/Philadelphia.(PS Sorry these are so late, I shot the event for the Hotel and had to prep the pics for them first. That means if your photo isn’t on these pages, they could still show up in other media outlets.)
