SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) -What’s cool in Michigan this weekend?
Well, how about a fashion show that’s making a statement on and off the runway.
Forecast of Fashion is spotlighting mental health on July 31st at the South Bend Armory.
16 News Now sat down with the designer, whose work will be featured on Sunday’s show, to find out why fashion is something he really lives for.
Darris White, known as DWStyles in the fashion industry, may never have been able to share his gift with the world after he was on the verge of attempting suicide in 2016.
Fashion and sewing helped him get out of that dark place, and now he’s helping others use fashion in the same way.
This isn’t usually what you think of when you talk about life-saving technology, but a sewing machine was just that for Darris White.
“Everything was going well and one day it hit me and I no longer had this job. I didn’t have this career and I was like what’s my point? And I tried to live in the moment,” White said.
That’s what he says led him to the edge of the St.
“It took me to a place where I wanted to end my life. So my wife calls me, and I drive the truck, and that’s when I knew I had a purpose, right? So I had to figure it out. Fashion became that goal,” he said.
He says fashion is his healer and his sewing machine – the fan that absorbs DW’s ideas, before churning them out as finished designs.
Although it started as something to help him heal personally, he began to notice that his work helped others see themselves from a different perspective.
“During one of my client sessions, I picked out this dress to match this girl’s hair and she said, ‘That’s really beautiful,’ and she said, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever felt like people complimented me, I agree with him.’ Telling me that makes me realize that she is in another place and my work is done,” he said.
But DW Styles isn’t done yet. He is the featured designer in the upcoming Forecast of Fashion show, with his clothes being auctioned off to raise money for City of Remnant, a nonprofit that provides mental health services to people experiencing homelessness in Michiana.
“Sometimes when people are homeless, maybe it’s because they’ve had a mental health crisis. Once people become stable and realize, ‘Wow, I have to take my meds. I’m in a position now where I don’t want to be homeless, now they are able to get housing. They will stay,” said mental health professional and Forecast of Fashion organizer Marla Godette.
Using needles and stitches to heal open wounds in people’s minds.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by following this link. You can also find out how to become a sponsor here, as well as other details before the event.
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