Studio News - GV Donates to Dalton School 2011 Spring Benefit
NYC luxury designer German Valdivia makes donation to Upper East Side’s Dalton School.
NEW YORK, Apr. 15, 2011 – German Valdivia donated $3,500 in merchandise to be auctioned at the Dalton School 2011 Spring Benefit held at Cipriani’s Wall Street on April 14th as part of his company’s Fashion Forward initiative. The German Valdivia Fashion Forward initiative is a company program encouraging critical awareness of younger entrants into the fashion industry, particularly interns and younger staff, with the underlying aim of increasing their involvement with their local communities.
“The Dalton School’s vision is premised on American educator Helen Parkhurst’s approach of creating natural inquisitiveness in students, which I respect greatly,” said Valdivia. “Though there is no formal partnership with the school, the school’s underlying vision matched our Fashion Forward program’s desire to create critical thinkers and so I felt a donation would be appropriate.”
Valdivia donated a navy cocktail dress from his Fall 2011 collection (retail: $2,000 USD) and a champagne clutch (retail: $1,500 USD) after a client asked if he would be interested in making a donation to the benefit. The winner of the auction will have the navy cocktail dress made to measure at the company’s studio in Midtown Manhattan.
Valdivia’s interest in education stems from the experiences of his sister, who passed away after a battle with breast cancer in June 2000. Valdivia’s sister was a K-12 educator whom Valdivia indicates valued the natural critical thinking skills of her students. “My sister always sought the best ways to increase a student’s interest in a topic, and avoided traditional ‘lecturer’ methods whenever possible,” said Valdivia. “She wanted students to learn based upon their own interests in manners relevant to their learning styles and experiences.”
Ultimately, Valdivia hopes to have as many of his Fashion Forward program participants see the fashion industry more as a community with many stakeholders. By encouraging activities that connect the studio to the local community and external institutions, he hopes to mitigate the uni-dimensional view of fashion as an industry that solely emphasizes the selling of goods to consumers. “As a company, I want to constantly question ways to do things better, to redefine what it means to be a brand these days. ‘Transforming’ is a concept I learned early on in life by my mentors who challenged me to always be myself, to think and be different,” said Valdivia. “I support organizations that are premised on similar principles.”
For more information on German Valdivia’s Fashion Forward initiative, please contact the studio at (212) 664-1580. You can find more information about the Dalton School at dalton.org.
Navy cocktail dress donated to Dalton School ($2,000), auction winner will have it made to measure at the company’s studio in Midtown Manhattan.
