The Fleur Fashion Show sold out 140 tickets in less than 48 hours, received generous support from numerous community businesses, lingered long into the evening, and raised $10,000 to support the mission of Moose Jaw Transition House.
With such an enthusiastic response from individuals and organizations, the question organizers keep hearing is, When is the next one?!
The show raised $5,000 initially through ticket sales, sponsorships, and one particularly large personal donation. Then, Moose Jaw-based transportation company Rockport Carrier Company matched the $5,000 to bring the total to $10,000.
“It was such a wonderful event. We are just blown away by the support we’ve received,” said Jenn Angus, executive director of Transition House. “The ladies from Bella Chic, Clothes Encounters, Cranberry Collective, Rowan Clothing, ShadesofJay, and Untamed Blooms are just amazing. They put their hearts and souls into making the fashion show a success.
“So many others contributed to the success of the event as well! The raffle table was piled with donations, the drinks and snacks, the models, hair and makeup, photography, and of course the hilarious and talented Megan Nash as emcee! And then we were surprised by a matching donation from Rockport Carriers that just blew us away.”
The Fleur Fashion Show was held at Rowan Clothing and organized primarily by:
- Heathir Coakwell — Rowan Clothing
- Christine Keck — Cranberry Collective
- Lee-Ann Allan — Untamed Blooms + Botanicals
- Andrea Amiot — Clothes Encounters
- Jay Stewart — ShadesofJay
- Michelle Strawford — Bella Chic
“It was super fun. A beautiful chaos,” Jay Stewart commented. “We had 11 models, each store did 22 looks, so each model had two outfits from each store. … We had all the models go around to the different stores the previous week, and based on their size and what made them feel comfortable, that allowed to get a feel for what they might want to wear.
“And then we would just make the look that we as boutique owners would represent. … It was a lot of chaos in the backroom, and like clothes are flying everywhere and it was a very quick pace, you only had maybe a minute behind the curtain to get your first look off and get your next look on and then we line up ready to go again. The models had so much fun.”
Further support was given to the event by Annie Kot Hair, Bomb Hair by Brooklyn, Pravda Studio + Spa, Holly-Would Rentals, Luby Bower Distillery, Melanie Pasolli Videography, Sam Tran Beauty & Wellness, Stacia Whelan Photography, Taste Patisserie by Katrina, and Your Mane Rae.
Local singer/songwriter Megan Nash provided her buoyant, humorous energy as the fashion show’s emcee.
“It was better than we anticipated,” said Christine Keck. “A group of boutique owners in town got together with the intention of creating an event to gather some women and raise money for the Transition House. It was a great group of people to work, and everyone kind of had a diversified skill set, and we were all really committed to making it happen.
“We’ve had such great feedback. … There are definitely talks of maybe creating an annual thing around this. No one is fully committed to that yet, I don’t think, but we are really happy with how it went and we’d like to keep things rolling and see if we can’t recreate it.”
Keck and Stewart both commented on how completely positive the energy of the event was. Everyone was chatting and making friends, and guests lingered for hours afterwards — that’s how you know it went really well, Stewart said.
“As a result of this event, there is also an increased awareness in our community of who the Transition House is and what we do,” Angus added. “That is also so very important for us — so that if someone is living with abuse, they know there is a way out. If you need to leave, or just talk about what is going on, please call our 24-hour crisis line at 306-693-6511.”
