An exhibition of love and lace is bound to take spectators down memory lane as a group of local women band together to raise funds for sepsis.
The fundraiser will be held from Friday, October 3 to Sunday, October 5 at Avocados Bar and Café in Kelmscott.
Kelmscott resident Vicki Clarkson said she was having coffee with her friends one day, talking about their lives, events and fundraisers which led them to the topic of wedding dresses.
“I had been lucky enough to go to Buckingham Palace after William and Kate had married and had the privilege of seeing Kate’s dress displayed in a room with her shoes and earrings, her wedding cake and a video in the background of how they made the lace and her veil,” Ms Clarkson said.
“It was very special and I have always loved royal weddings and dresses and how we seem to copy the royal family in styles of dresses.
“Who didn’t want to see that beautiful dress of Princess Diana’s and we all wanted to have a bouquet like hers in the 1980s.”
After their coffee catch-up, Ms Clarkson said her and three others joined to form a fundraising committee.
“We put a call out to local ladies and friends on Facebook and we had a huge response from everyone saying the same things, ‘oh I haven’t seen my dress for 35 years’, ‘my address is still in a box at mum’s’ or ‘it is in the back of a wardrobe somewhere and I’m not sure what condition it’s in’,” she said.
“The offers started coming in and we expected a lot from the 2000s and 1990s but we were getting offers from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as well.
“We even have a beautiful very fragile dress from 1936.”
Ms Clarkson said the money raised at the event would be donated to Sepsis Australia.
“One of our committee members Lynda Rose is very close to the Sepsis Australia group through her daughter Leana who unfortunately was affected by sepsis and was in intensive care for many, many months and has lost limbs due to the sudden onset and the awful way sepsis eats away at a healthy young body,” she said.
Sepsis Australia program manager Dr Brett Abbenbroek said despite the life-threatening infection being common, it was often a secondary thought during diagnosis.
He said there was no clear diagnosis for the centuries-old infection which made it difficult to treat early and gather accurate data.
“Sepsis is all about the fact that somebody has an infection, their body becomes inflamed, which is normal, but in sepsis that process doesn’t turn off and then the body begins to attack itself,” Dr Abbenbroek said.
“Because of that, it means it’s not as clearly defined as, say, a heart attack or stroke.”
In a September 10 report from Sepsis Australia, they found the magnitude of sepsis across the country was double what was previously understood.
“What we’re saying to people is if you’re concerned about your child or yourself and you’re not sure what’s going on, get some help or get some advice, but always ask the question, could it be sepsis and start the conversation,” Dr Abbenbroek said.
He said he was grateful the committee would be donating to Sepsis Australia.
“We have a few people that do a little bit of advocacy and fundraising for us, usually just very small amounts, but every little bit helps because we have no ongoing funding for our program from the government or anyone,” he said.
Dr Abbenbroek said raising awareness about sepsis was important because about 50 per cent of cases were potentially preventable.
“The cost-savings, the reduced demand on health services and also the better outcomes for patients and their families – the investment, to me, is a no brainer,” he said.
Ms Clarkson said no two dresses at the exhibition were the same and the owners had given a short description of the dress, where they were married as well as a wedding photo.
“Some of them have even provided us with a short story of their wedding day,” she said.
“We have lots of little things like menus, parasols, place cards, shoes, head pieces, jewellery et cetera on display with the dresses as well.”
She said she hoped attendees – older, younger or future brides – would come down to see an array of wedding dresses through the decades.
“We look forward to some ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ and ‘oh, I remember that’,” Ms Clarkson said.
Tickets to the event can be purchased at https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1429019
