Wangechi Mutu print dress for Born Free fashion line.
Kenyan-born, New York-based artist Wangechi Mutu has teamed up with 23 designers to create a new limited-edition line of clothing and accessories that will be sold to benefit Born Free, an organization dedicated to ending mother-to-child HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Born Free Collection is available as of this morning exclusively at Shopbob.com, an Amazon Fashion site. The participating designers include Diane von Furstenberg, J. Crew’s Jenna Lyons, Carolina Herrera, Victoria Beckham, Gisele Bündchen, Donna Karan, Ivanka Trump, Donatella Versace, and Vera Wang, all of whom are mothers.
Wangechi Mutu print for Born Free fashion line.
“As a busy artist and now a busy mother, I never take for granted how fortunate it is to have healthy and happy children,” Mutu told arnet News in an email. “Being able to help eradicate mother to fetus HIV transmission moves the most inner part of me, the little girl who always wanted to draw and speak about the world through images.”
Mutu has contributed two prints based on her artwork, which have become the textiles used throughout the fashion line.
Wangechi Mutu print for Born Free fashion line.
“I am thrilled that the fashion community has so generously added their time, talent and voice to our collective efforts to meet the serious, but achievable challenge of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV by December 31, 2015,” said Born Free founder and chairman John Megrue in a press release.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from the line will go directly to Africa to help the next generation be born HIV-free. Condé Nast is also partnering with Born Free, donating all the fees for subscriptions purchased through www.condenast.com/bornfree. The M∙A∙C AIDS Fund, part of M∙A∙C Cosmetics, will match the first $500,000 in donations to Born Free.