Healthier People, Healthier Planet: Fashion 4 Development Honors World Leaders for Change – GWC Mag

It’s that time of the year again for Fashion 4 Development’s 3rd Annual Sustainable Goals Banquet, 11th Annual First Ladies Luncheon, and the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, both much-anticipated events surrounding peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all. Founded in 2011 by Evie Evangelou, Fashion 4 Development (F4D) is a global private-sector platform created to Support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and “Every Woman, Every Child.” Over the last 13 years, F4D has reached global recognition and supported programs that preserve culture and empower women, from promoting responsible lifestyle practices to offering solutions to environmental issues. 

The 3rd Annual Sustainable Goals Banquet in partnership with the Human Kind Institute, awarded medals of honor to Agents of Change who are addressing food security, extreme poverty, education, and those taking action for a healthier planet, preservation of culture, and the empowerment of women and children.

Evie Evangelou began the night’s program by welcoming everyone and introducing the Honorable Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, who was awarded the Human Kind Institute Impact through Food Award.

He stated, “No one wants to engage in the conversation of the over-proliferation of meat in our diet. How it’s hurting our impact. We’ll talk about carbon emission that comes out of buildings, but we don’t want to deal with the carbon emission that comes out of the overuse of food and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest to get more feed and more cattle. We need to be honest during this moment. If we want to tackle this problem, we must stop poisoning the mother that gave birth to us and stop poisoning the mother that sustained us.”

Adams continued, “We have great organizations like this team here under our leadership of Kate MacKenzie. We have meatless Mondays in school, Plant Power Fridays in our schools, and in our hospitals, we have plant-powered food as a deep-form menu. We are looking at how we use our dollars to purchase food in a real way. And even the clothing that we wear. We want to lead the way in this city.”

Throughout the evening agents of change took to the stage to receive their Human Kind Awards (HKI) for their unwavering efforts toward sustainability, addressing food security, extreme poverty, education, preservation of culture, and the empowerment of women and children.  The other Agents of Honor included:

H.E. Mr. Lazarus Chakwera, President of Malawi, Gender Champion Human Kind Award presented by Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Dr. Sima Sami Bahous.

Jasmina Bojic – the Founder of UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival), Impact Through Film Human Kind Award.

Dr. Ramon Tallaj, Founder and Chairman of SOMOS Community Care, Public Health and Community Service Human Kind Award. 

Ingmar Rentzhog, CEO & Founder, and President Sweta Chakraborty, WDHT, Impact Through Media Human Kind Award. 

Governor Mauro Mendes of Mato Grosso Brazil and Marcelo Carvalho de Andrade, Human Kind Award for Environmental Impact.

F4D’s 11th Annual First Ladies Luncheon, co-hosted by F4D Founder Evie Evangelou and Princess Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, honored the late Queen Elizabeth II in partnership with the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. This high-level event celebrated the cooperation between diplomacy and fashion for the greater good of women and children, uniting 55-plus First Ladies from around the globe. The Queen’s Tribute featured special guests and exhibitions by Thebe Magugu, recipient of this year’s 2023 Franca Sozzani Award, Freddie Toye of Toye, Kenning and Spencer, British refashion designer Kate McGuire, couture fashion designer Stewart Parvin, and milliner Rachel Trevor Morgan. Surrounding Suzanne Couture Millinery’s couture hats, the tables were adorned with Queen Elizabeth II’s signature delights: tomato basil soup and Coronation vegetable stew to name a few. 

The luncheon featured the signature green carpet, graced by philanthropist Jean Shafiroff – 2023 Philanthropy Award, President of S&P Global Market Intelligence Martina Cheung – 2023 Women’s Empowerment Award, and Evie Evangelou herself. A special performance was given by opera singer Emanne Beasha, from the fourteenth Season of America’s Got Talent. Evangelou and Stephanie Dillon also presented the launch of “Global Runway”, a book they are co-authoring of storytelling, art, and photography that will showcase fashion designers from 193 countries who are part of the UN. As a visual representation of shared values and common humanity that connects us all, it celebrates diversity and highlights the unique contributions of each country. 

The afternoon concluded with a fashion show paying homage to the past and future of F4D, “Inspirations of the Ottoman Empire” by designer Mirela Nurce of TONNI’86. Stephanie Potter presented the President of S&P Global Market Intelligence, Martina Cheung, with the 2023 Women’s Empowerment Award for her work improving pay transparency and female empowerment.

To learn more about F4D, click here.

Raise awareness while making a fashion statement by wearing sustainable brands like Tiny Rescue. Check out the Climate Change Collection!

Vegan But Make It Fashion Tee By Tiny Rescue: Animal Collection

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