Fashion with a purpose

Nissa Hanooman, owner of The Little Black Dress at the Falls at West Mall, wants to give back and she is using the thing that she is most passionate about to do so: fashion. On December 9, Hanooman will host her first fundraiser called The Little Black Dress Affair. The proceeds of which will go to the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society (TTCS). It will be a bi-annual event taking place mid-year and at Christmas.

The cocktail series will be held at The Residence at One Woodbrook Place from 8 pm.

She told Newsday, “It’s mixing fashionable night life with philanthropy. So this is my way of giving back. All of the profits from this event goes towards the TT Cancer Society.

“My grandmother passed from breast cancer in 2008, so for some time now I’ve been wanting to give back, and I thought this is the best way to do it.”

The fundraising event is a collaborative effort. Hanooman said sponsors came on board in their own little way. Entertainment will come from Alternative Quartet and DJ Anna.

For Dr Asante Le Blanc, the cancer society’s second vice chairman it is an exciting venture helping the society to spread the need for cancer prevention and screening.

Le Blanc said, “The TTCS is active and even more proactive in spreading the word about screening, especially with young people. We just launched a campaign: ‘I Care, because cancer doesn’t,’ and it is really focusing on the younger generation, because we need them to be more aware so they can also spread the word through all their social media and everything, so we can really and truly make a dent in the morbidity and mortality rates of cancer in TT.”

She said donations from the event are going to help the TTCS immensely because of all the work it has to do. “We’ve upgraded our services so they are all state of the art and meeting the challenges in terms of screening.”

Le Blanc said it will truly be another income stream for the TTCS to do its work.

As for the event itself, Le Blanc said: “I find it is interesting. It’s definitely an out-of-the-box thing for the TTCS, but we are changing. We are trying to really tap into this society as it is. So this is a different thing for us and we are looking to see how it goes, but we are excited because it really is an initiative by young people, so it really means that we have done something to innovate and attract them to want to help us, and this is exciting. It truly is.”