Pure Fashion models pose with Stacey and Bert Weiss.

May 13, 2010. Atlanta, GA.  Pure Fashion shows are often presented in church buildings or neutral settings for a crowd of families and friends who are already sold on the idea of modest fashions for teens. This year, however, the Atlanta Pure Fashion team decided to reach for a wider audience of secular young women who need to hear the message about dressing in a way that reflects their own dignity.

The opportunity presented itself in the person of a new volunteer, Stacey Weiss. Back in September, Stacey met with Laurie Flanagan, who is the local director of Pure Fashion in Atlanta, and together, they began developing a plan to bring Pure Fashion “into the battlefield of culture.”

A new location

“We need help with our venues,” Laurie told Stacey. “We want to find the best opportunities and places to spread our message.” 

It turned out that Stacey’s husband Bert, who hosts the “Bert Show” on Q100 radio station, had plenty of contacts and was able to help them get connected.

In the end, the venue chosen for the show was one of Atlanta’s biggest nightclubs. When Laurie first visited the site, she said she almost laughed and cried at the same time.

“When Stacey picked this place out (or should I say when our Lord picked this place out) she did not warn me of what goes on here at night.  When I walked in and saw all the dancing poles, I almost died! They assured me they would all be removed for our show. I could not believe where our Lord is sending us. We are truly entering the battlefield today,” she said.

Thanks to Bert’s radio program, the advertising for the show reached about a million new listeners who would not have been reached through the typical church bulletins.

“We know that the people our Lord needed to be at the show were there,” said Angela Kirsch, a consecrated woman who helped prepare the 40 models for the fashion show, which took place on Sunday, April 25 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Thanks to the radio advertising through the “Bert Show,” Angela Kirsch estimates that almost one-third of the audience was new to Pure Fashion, including quite a few young women from a more secular background.

Mission accomplished: countercultural message was delivered right in the heart of an icon of anti-modesty culture.

Partnering to help children

This year’s show also had a new charitable dimension as a fundraiser for chronic or terminally ill children.

Bert has a foundation called Bert’s Big Adventure, a non-profit organization that gives children with chronic or terminal illnesses the chance to experience a magical five-day adventure with their families at Walt Disney World. Laurie decided that the Pure Fashion show should not be a fundraiser just for itself, but that it should benefit Bert’s Big Adventure. So, from the start, the Laurie and Stacey worked together to synergize the two programs.

God-incidences

Over the course of the year, Laurie and Stacey saw another form of synergy at work: God’s hand was discreetly at work as they organized the show.

For example, at one of the planning meetings Laurie asked Stacey to consider Jonny Diaz as a performer. One connection led to another, and they went from seeing a video of him on YouTube to signing him on for the show as a guest speaker.

“We pulled him up on YouTube and Stacey LOVED him and said she would have Bert try to get him,” Laurie recalled. “Two weeks later, she was in Florida meeting with her PR guy who does all her magazines and brochures and tells him to start thinking of a logo for Bert’s Big Adventure and Pure Fashion and how we are partnering for this fashion show in April.  She then tells him that we are trying to get this guy, Jonny Diaz to perform.  She asks him if he had ever heard of Jonny and he laughed, saying, ‘Jonny and Matty Diaz?  I only played kick the can with him every night in the circle growing up.  Here is his cell phone number.  Let’s call him!’ Jonny knew of Pure Fashion and wanted to support it if he was available,” she said.

When Stacey called his manager, he just so happened to be in Atlanta that weekend in concert on Friday and Saturday and free on Sunday, the day of the show. 

“This was not just a COOL thing but this was an amazing GOD thing!” exclaimed Laurie, adding, “There are many more stories like that!”

To find out more about how Pure Fashion is teaching young women to dress with dignity, visit the Pure Fashion web site at www.purefashion.com.