Fashion promotes AIDS-less generation

Last night fashion offered itself as a bridge between the world's deadliest pandemic and students who feel there's little they can do to counter it.

The Third Annual Red Dress Fashion Show drew in the campus masses with an evening of scarlet glitz that not only impressed the fashion-forward students of Oregon State University, but also advocates for a world free of HIV.

As an audience large enough to fill the seating provided in the Memorial Union Ballroom settled in, representatives of various student health and advocacy groups kicked off the event with PowerPoint slides providing statistics about the disease.

Every 9.5 minutes, someone in the United States is infected with HIV.

Sita Ping, Vice President of OSU FACEAIDS, and Bridget Phillips of Peer Health Advocates, gave opening remarks about actions their respective organizations are taking to combat AIDS.

"The fight has made a lot of progress," Ping said. "But AIDS is not a disease that can be eradicated with a cure."

Phillips, who described the subject of AIDS as taboo in society, reminded the audience of the evening's theme of red: a universally recognized color that represents the fight against HIV and solidarity for its victims. "I encourage you all to remember why we're here,"Phillips said.

"I want to commend the student body for paying attention to this disease," said Keynote speaker Chris Gray from the Benton County Health Department, who took the stage to express the longevity of the issue in not only in urban areas and developing countries, but also in rural towns like Corvallis. He presented an anecdote about an OSU student named Matt, who had contracted the HIV virus as a baby and died only four years ago.

Gray described Matt's life as one "full of rejection," a result of the stigma that follows victims of the disease. "We can stop it by loving those who are different than us; we can stop it by being advocates for condoms," Gray said.

The runway glamour followed, shifting the stoic mood completely as the audience cheered audibly over the bass of the soundtrack. Twenty-seven handcrafted creations epitomized the hope for the future in the battle against the sickness.

Amanda Grisham, a student in apparel design and red dress designer, said fashion is a way to make an uncomfortable subject comfortable. "It's a great time for awareness," Grisham said.

How fitting, then, that a dress made of 536 red condoms designed by student Jana Boyle concluded the show.

Joce DeWitt, news editor

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