Celebs donate luxury goods for a cause

Chennai: What if someone told you that you could pick up an expensive bag or designer wear owned by your favourite celebrity for a steal? No, this is not part of any online price wars, but for a good cause instead! This is what Giving Back from the Heart, an initiative by Gayathre Rajam, has planned out for the fashionistas in the city.

From a Louis Vuitton bag and Gucci sunglasses to Tommy Hilfiger dress and Satya Paul saris, the two-day sale will see an exquisite spread of designer clothes and accessories of international brands that were previously owned by K-Town celebrities and socialites.

Happening for the first time in the city, a number of celebrities like Jyothika, Jayam Ravi and his wife Arthi Ravi, Arjun Sarja, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Radhika Sarathkumar and Anita Ratnam, among others, have contributed a few of their favourite clothes, bags, shoes and accessories for the sale. The proceeds of the sale will go towards AIM for Seva by the Swami Dayanand Saraswati organisation, to educate children in rural areas.

Being a devotee of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Gayathre Rajam says, “Though I have contributed towards children’s education in some means, I wanted to do something bigger.

That’s when I decided to organise a fundraiser event for charity,” recounts Gayathre, adding, “Besides, many clothes remain untouched after a few outings. Also, I reckon it is almost a fashion crime to repeat a dress thrice for parties and public events, especially for actors and actresses.

Though we want to give it away, we don’t know whom to give it to. So when I approached my celebrity friends and others to pitch in, they were more than happy to dive into their wardrobe to give their share,” she says.

Actress Radhika Sarathkumar commends the idea and says, “When celebrities like us wear a particular outfit to a public event, it gets photographed and hence renders it unusable for another event.

Yes, I sometimes reuse a few of my saris, but not always. I think such concepts should come up more often.”

In addition to the price tags, each item will also bear a tag of the contributor. Celebrity items will be displayed on a dedicated section. “These items have been used by the celebrities and socialites just once or twice.

If a designer wear was originally bought for Rs 20,000, it is put up for Rs 3000, which is 100 per cent tax deductible and billed under Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s charity trust.

Care has also been taken to screen every product before exhibiting them. Items with colour fade, minor tears and any other similar defects were rejected or even discarded,” she explains.

With good response from celebrities, Gayathre hopes to give momentum to this trend. “There were a lot of naysayers who were apprehensive if once-used clothes would ever be purchased by another person.

But I believe we also tend to wear the dress that our sister once wore or passed it down to us. I intend to start this as a trend in India. I am planning to host such exhibitions in other cities like Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune and Mumbai,” she says.